By Lori Adelman • @ladelman • 13 years ago

LPGA Scraps Discriminatory “Female-at-Birth” Policy

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In exciting news, ESPN reports that LPGA players have voted to remove a “female at birth” requirement from the tour’s constitution in order to allow transgender players to compete on tour!

Lana Lawless, pictured below, a former police officer and trans woman, is the badass responsible for this exciting development. She filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco in October claiming the “female at birth” requirement violated California’s civil rights law.

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According to ESPN, Lawless won the annual women’s long-drive golf championship in 2008 with a 254-yard drive, but was barred from competing this year after organizers adopted the LPGA’s gender rules.

I think this is a huge step forward in what is sure to be a much-too-long and bitter fight to end transphobia and discriminatory policies in professional sports. Congratulations to Lana Lawless, and to the entire LPGA for making their league a bit more inclusive.

Brooklyn, NY

Lori Adelman started blogging with Feministing in 2008, and now runs partnerships and strategy as a co-Executive Director. She is also the Director of Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, where she promotes meaningful youth engagement in international development efforts, including through running the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. Lori was formerly the Director of Global Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has also worked at the United Nations Foundation on the Secretary-General's flagship Every Woman Every Child initiative, and at the International Women’s Health Coalition and Human Rights Watch. As a leading voice on women’s rights issues, Lori frequently consults, speaks and publishes on feminism, activism and movement-building. A graduate of Harvard University, Lori has been named to The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans in the United States, and to Forbes Magazine‘s list of the “30 Under 30” successful mediamakers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lori Adelman is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Partnerships.

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