If it's welcome I'd love to air things out. I'm very sensitive & sincere to point out that I'm not wanting to overstep into terrain where I shouldn't be, but if it's welcome somewhere I'm happy to be there.
I'd actually love to see this discussion, and I don't want to sound like I don't, but we've been having a lot of productive conversations about the trans inclusion issue here lately, and they've pretty much all ended up with locked threads, because the conversation gets derailed into other things. A new water cooler thread about science, and the practice thereof?
I'm learning a lot from you and mostly just listening. I'm still trying to figure out what the "glass half full" attitude Spring is talking about and "separate but equal" perspectives mean here & to you or Natalie or Nova etc. I'm also still trying to figure out what that means in the context of the FPO women who have issues with transgendered inclusion and perceive that it's an intrusion/fear stimulus/unfair etc. into something they wanted and felt they needed in a male-dominated society. I'm curious about your/others thoughts about that.
None of what I'm writing is intended to be leading comments or questions, even if that is how some of it came across.
*One of my favorite topics in all of science, ethics, and philosophy is relevant here: When is "informed consent" really informed, and really consent? Is there even answer to that question? Don't worry, there are hundreds of pages of arguments and studies on that, too.
I can't speak for Nova, though Natalie and I were both sitting on my couch cringing at the DGPT's announcement.
Spring's words are utterly bogus, when it comes to speaking for the trans players. Trans players were
told what was going to happen, not asked if that was okay, or for any input, and the input given when it was made clear what the plan would be, was unwelcome. All of this talk about this being a collaborative process between all parties is a
lie. I was privy to the single conversation that was had with Natalie about it - a 10 minute phone call from Paige, asking her to be okay with it. She said, rightly, that there was no world in which a trans player should ever be expected to be okay with that. That was it. That was the only time there was interaction. When Natalie tried to voice opposition to the idea, or when I offered suggestions for alternatives to the few people who I know how to contact, our words fell on deaf ears. No other trans player has, to my knowledge, ever been consulted about the issue. Judging from the responses, Laura may be the only one who would've - but I wouldn't imagine so.
When he talks about "DGPT Tour Card players on both ends of the issue", he's speaking exclusively of cisgender women. His "glass half full" attitude ignores what exactly the glass is full of... His hope is that the trans players will be okay enough with some scraps, that we'll all just give up fighting against the ongoing discrimination in our sport, or at least on the tour. He's adorably naïve...
As far as the "separate but equal" comparison - I'm actually trying to walk people away from that specific phrase. It's a phrase with a history, and a lot of the trans community doesn't feel right about using something from the struggles of black people, for our own fight. There is a long and brutal history that black people were forced to endure, that trans people weren't. No matter how brutal our history
is (and to be sure, there have been shameful things done to trans people individually, and as a group), we were never stolen from our homelands, and forcibly enslaved. What you're inquiring about, though? It's no more palatable to the trans community, than what came before it. In many ways, it's even worse, because of the manipulative actions Jeff Spring, Todd Rainwater, and the DGPT took in trying to sell it to the cisgender community as such a big win for everyone. They're acting like narcissistic abusers, in a very real sense. Withholding opportunities from the cisgender players, so that what comes after, even though it's still discrimination, will seem like a big win to them. The self-congratulatory pats on the back from not just the DGPT staff, but several FPO players, have been incredibly saddening to the trans players - and, frankly, insulting.
That said, I would like people to keep pointing out that the same words being used to advocate for the exclusion of trans women from sports
are the same ones that were used to keep black players out, and women in general, in the past.
When the players like Hokom and Allen speak against our inclusion, they're speaking hate. They don't see us as women, they see us as men trying to steal from them. They see us as diminishing their femininity and womanhood, by appropriating it. They jump through
ridiculous hoops semantically, to come up with more and more outlandish ways of addressing us that don't include the word "woman" or "women", because they refuse to believe we
are women, no matter what the studies on our brains and other physical makeup pre and post transition say. My favorite so far is "chemically and or medically altered biological males". It's truly the most over the top one they've come up with, and even after a very long and honestly polite discussion of the realities of trans physiology, the person who said it (Discraft team member Sarah DeMar) still refuses to accept even the possibility that I might be a woman.
When it comes to the issues people like that have with my presence, I will educate where I can, and shrug off anyone who refuses to be taught. I will not engage in debate with someone who refuses to even acknowledge the basic truth of my existence. I've been able to successfully show
many players first hand that what gives me the edge in play is 21 years of experience, not male puberty. That is a far better use of my time, than arguing with people who don't come to the table in good faith, in the first place.
