In recent years there has been a debate about whether transgender people are eligible to participate in sports competitions of the gender with which they identify because in the case of men who have transitioned to women, they would have a biological advantage.
However, it is very difficult to achieve total inclusion and for everyone to feel on an equal footing, because for many, the solution would be to create a transgender category and make it there where they compete, but this would again separate them instead of including them.
In the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, there was a lot of this controversy, as some competitors asked that trans women not be allowed to participate in their same category, since it was not a fair competition for them.
However, since 2003, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has a normative on the conditions that trans women must meet in order to ensure fair competition free of discrimination for all.
The rules are intended to ensure that no one has to go through a hard time or feel discriminated against, as happened to Jhoana Trujillo, a transgender athlete who a few weeks ago competed and won a 5 km marathon at the Universidad de los Andes ( ULA) in Venezuela, in the female category.
Jhoana was very upset because she was the first to cross the finish line, but to her surprise, the event organizers denied her the award for not being a biological woman. Apparently, the other competitors complained, alleging that Jhoana had a biological advantage because of her past as a man.
The race director was interviewed to give his point of view and explain what they based on to award the competitors, for which he said that they classified it in a transgender category and that is why they could not give it a female award. However, he clarified that Jhoana was given recognition.
But Jhoana said that it was not only the fact that they denied her the award, but also that they made her feel very bad, because the director had referred to her in a derogatory way despite the fact that she is a human being like anyone else. She even clarified that she had already been allowed to compete before her in five marathons, winning some of them, and she had never had a problem with her gender.
The teacher here, an older person, says to me, in front of everyone here, ‘What do you call this?’ I am human, on the contrary, the conditions that I have are to be admired, because not everyone has the courage that I had to assume my identity.
Unfortunately, nothing that Jhoana argued helped her to be recognized in the female category, which is where she feels identified. In addition, she adds that it does not make sense for her to be allowed to compete if by winning, she is not going to be recognized as such, in any case, she should be informed or simply not let her compete if she did not meet the necessary requirements. .
This fact drew the attention of organizations in favor of the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, who condemned the act of discrimination against the athlete. However, it is true that many network users supported the organization’s decision.
Hopefully this will help the sports authorities to standardize the rules in all countries, so that there is no more embarrassing case that threatens the integrity of the athletes, as well as the organizations.
Source: Okchicas
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