Color me confused and confounded over this one.
A transgender athlete — a girl who is becoming a boy — has just won a state high school wrestling championship as a girl. The athlete hails from Euless, Texas, a Fort Worth suburb.
I am not going to get into the debate over transgender rights with this blog post, but I do want to express my utter bafflement over how this story is playing out.
Mack Beggs wrestled this year as a girl despite taking testosterone — the male hormone designed to assist in the gender transformation. The University Interscholastic League, which governs high school athletes in Texas, has a rule that stipulates that athletes must compete according to the gender noted on their birth certificate.
Beggs was born a girl. He is taking hormone injections that — if I understand it correctly — boost an individual’s physical strength.
So, while competing as a girl, Beggs has the strength of a boy, which was apparent in the fact that Beggs went undefeated this year. He won all 56 matches while grappling with girls.
Beggs’ family said Mack wanted to rassle with boys, but the UIL rules wouldn’t allow it.
I am uncertain as to the number of transgender wrestlers out there who find themselves in Mack’s shoes. They are part or most of the way toward their journey from one gender to another. Must the UIL stick to that birth certificate identification rule or is there wiggle room for the governing body to make exceptions for someone such as Mack Beggs?
I cannot help but wonder about this individual’s future and whether winning a girls wrestling championship will have any meaning for him later on.
I presume Beggs will complete his gender change eventually. He’ll become a man. Will he display his trophy on his fireplace mantel and recall with pride and recall how he beat up on girls to become a state champion?
It looks to me as though the UIL has some rule revisions to ponder.
