A parent of a wrestler in Texas filed a lawsuit against a transgender teen to prevent him from wrestling against girls in competitions.
Attorney Jim Baudhuin, a parent of a wrestler on an opposing team, argued 17-year-old Mack Beggs should not be allowed to compete with girls, reports Fox 4 News.
Beggs, a transgender student at Euless Trinity High School, is in the process of transitioning from female to male. Beggs takes testosterone as part of his transition.
The lawsuit argues that Beggs’s presence brings “imminent threat of bodily harm” to the girls competing against him.
The lawsuit also maintains that “somewhere in the process of reviewing this case and looking at the trees, the folks at the UIL missed the forest; they failed to see the impropriety and outright insanity of allowing a girl who is taking a banned anabolic steroid to still compete.”
The University Interscholastic League (UIL), which regulates athletic programs in Texas, states a person must compete based on the gender listed on their birth certificate. While state laws and UIL policy don’t allow participants to take steroids, there are some exceptions to the rule, a spokesperson for the league told reporters.
Beggs meets the expectations because he takes his steroid treatments for medical reasons. He would prefer to compete against the boys, but UIL policy does not allow that, according to Beggs’s mother, Angela.
“At least if Mack wants to compete against the boys, she’s doing it knowingly and willingly,” Angela Baudhuin said. “The other girls in the bracket don’t have that choice. They show up to the girls’ competition, and there is somebody who is not really a girl — not really a boy yet — but who is closer to the boys than the girls.”
A transgender advocacy group said it believes it’s not Beggs’s fault that he has to compete with the girls.
“Mack, in a way, does have an unfair advantage because the testosterone will make him stronger. But because of the UIL rules, they will not allow Mack to wrestle with the boys. So, really, it’s UIL responsibility to let these children do whatever sports they choose to do,” said Finnigan Jones with Trans-Cendence International.
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