We the undersigned female members of the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT), recognizing that the rights of women in sport are under attack, understanding that entry of males into the female category of our sport is antithetical to fair competition, and only recently informed of a lawsuit threatening entry of a male competitor in the women's category of the Stockton OTB Open, do hereby join together to declare and defend the rights of women in disc golf.
All athletes deserve access to fair competition. At its inception, Disc Golf had only one division. As more people began playing, Disc golf evolved with both skill level divisions as well as two separate categories of divisions based on sex, in part due to the undeniable strength and speed differences between males and females that result in a significantly higher level of play on average for males. For example, males have greater strength and speed which positively affects all aspects of disc golf-- throwing drives, scrambling, approaching and putting. Additional strength manifests itself most obviously as increased distance on tee shots from power generated from the whole body, but this is also due to the ability to spin the disc faster because of increased hand size and strength, allowing for more rotations per minute. This trait increases a player's ability to scramble from the rough, approach the pin with accuracy, putt from farther, and putt with more accuracy from short. In addition to the numerous physical differences, the male advantage extends beyond just physical strength, into the physical and emotional difficulties associated with the hormone cycle of menstruation, as well as peri- and postmenopausal challenges, that a male body does not experience. To ignore the undeniable advantages that exist is to oppress female born athletes.
We have competed against men. We know competing against male athletes is not fair for women, regardless of whether the competitor may have identified themselves as transgender. When male athletes, including those who may identify otherwise, are allowed to compete against women, women are discriminated against based on sex. No men are at a competitive disadvantage by having those with female biology competing against them, only women are disadvantaged in this way.
Women have historically been targets of discrimination. Though once regarded as a protected class, women are steadily losing protections and rights, due to a growing refusal to recognize and protect our sex. The failure to protect the female category in sport is sex discrimination, it discriminates against and disadvantages women.
We do not stand against any individual. Instead, we stand up for our rights as women to compete in fair competition, and to not be discriminated against as women on the basis of sex. We hold no ill will against Natalie Ryan, the individual now suing the DGPT to be able to compete against us. We hold no ill will against any individual with a transgender identity. But we do recognize biological facts. Natalie Ryan was born a male, went through male puberty, and if allowed to compete in the Stockton OTB Open will have an unfair advantage over all female competitors.
The last-minute effort to change the eligibility rules for the Stockton OTB Open is dismaying. As professional athletes we make careful choices regarding our training, travel and when and where we will compete. We look for opportunities to gain exposure to sponsors and we try to focus our training to put ourseives in peak physical, mental and emotional condition when we compete. The eleventh-hour effort to obtain an injunction will shift focus away from our athletes, turn attention of the public to a court dispute, and distract all who are preparing to compete. The lawsuit is yet another obstacle put in the way of women that men do not have to face.
Women experience emotional harm when forced to compete against biological males identifying as transgender. It is traumatic for a woman to have trained hard and honed skills to a high level only to realize she is foreclosed from reaching the pinnacle of success in her sport simply because she is female.
As female competitors who have competed against Natalie Ryan, many of us have lost prize money, competitive opportunities, notoriety, sponsorships, and endorsements. Worse, however, is to realize that we are trapped in our bodies, and that our future as competitive athletes is outside our control. If a court rules against us, unlike men, we will be condemned to a life of competitive irrelevance. We will never again experience the hope that men may have, that one day with hard work they can reach the top of their sport.
Instead, we will be permanently relegated to second tier status, to the back of the bus in our sport, merely because of the sex of our birth, a biological fact we are powerless to change. If courts will not protect the right of women to compete against women on a level playing field, many will leave sport, and the idea of women's rights will become a fleeting memory that powerful men and women were unwilling to protect. Biological women will have become a disfavored, unprotected, powerless, minority. We will look back on the days when a woman could aspire to success in her sport as a memory ripped cruelly from us.
Let it be known, however, that we the undersigned women will not give up our rights and those of our daughters and sisters without a fight. We will continue to fight for women and speak out against the discrimination we face. Therefore, we the undersigned female members of the DGPT do hereby express and declare our full support for the eligibility policy of the DGPT and stand firmly alongside our representative Catrina Allen in defending the DGPT policy. We respectfully request the court uphold the policy, and urge all who care about women to join us in the battle to save women's sports.
eDuCaTe HiMsElF
