CrossFit will allow transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identify rather than biological sex after the organization reversed a longstanding policy.
“In the 2019 CrossFit competitive season … transgender athletes are welcome to participate in the division with which they identify,” CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman said in a Friday statement, Outsports.com reported Sunday. The announcement came shortly before the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin, concluded Sunday.
“This is the right thing to do. CrossFit believes in the potential, capacity, and dignity of every athlete. We are proud of our LGBT community, including our transgender athletes, and we want you here with us,” Glassman also said in a statement. (RELATED: Transgender Athletes Place First And Second In Track Championship. Fury Erupts)
CrossFit is “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity,” according to its official website. The workouts are based on functional movements that reflect the “core movements of life” and incorporate weightlifting, gymnastics, running, rowing, among other exercises.
The policy change comes after transgender athlete Chloie Jonsson sued the company for $2.5 million in 2014 after the organization required he compete as a male when it was discovered he’s biologically male and had been living as a female.
My best friend @ChloieJonsson sued Crossfit in 2014 for not letting her compete as a woman, despite being 20yrs transitioned. Today Greg Glassman announced that transgender athletes will now be able to compete as the gender they identify in CF. Largely due to Chlo. I’m so happy. pic.twitter.com/z6hktVVrGY
— Krissy Mae Cagney (@krissymaecagney) August 4, 2018
“It feels like a little bit of closure,” Jonsson said applauding the new policy, Outsports.com reported.
Glassman has not indicated whether the 2019 policy will require transgender athletes to have fully transitioned medically or whether they will have to meet hormone thresholds.
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