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Thought it might be useful to mention that the current (5/28/12) issue of Sports Illustrated has a six-page article with the above title. (It doesn't seem to be available on their website to non-subscribers, but many public libraries subscribe and may also have computer access to it.)
From the article:
"...Michelle Dumaresq, a transgender mountain biker from Vancouver, told Outside magazine that she talks with some 115 closeted trans athletes from all over the globe. And since taking over as the NCAA's director of gender initiatives and student-athlete well-being in 2006, Karen Morrison has received about 40 transgender-related inquiries from universities, prospective trans athletes and those athletes' attorneys..."
The athlete fully profiled there is Keelin Godsey, FTM trying to make the U.S. Olympic track team in the women's hammer throw. He dresses and lives as a man, but hasn't taken hormones so that he preserves his eligibility for women's sports.
Also featured:
Kye Allums, FTM basketball guard who played eight games for George Washington University's women's team in 2010-11 after publicly identifying as a TG male. Now taking testosterone, he tells SI he's interested in using his remaining year of eligibility with a small-college men's team.
Joanna Harper, 55-year old MTF distance runner who "started losing speed and strength" within three weeks of starting on hormones -- she was 11 minutes slower in a Portland half-marathon (13.1 miles) as a woman in 2005 than as a man in 2003.
Lindsey Walker, seven-foot-one MTF who played college basketball as a male (at Central Michigan) until 2006-7. On hormones ever since and saving up for surgery, she says she has "definitely considered" trying out for the 2016 women's Olympic team.
Jazz (last name and state withheld), 11-year old diagnosed at age three with GID who transitioned MTF six years ago and currently plays for a girls' traveling soccer team; after two years of appeals to the state's youth soccer federation, the U.S. Soccer Federation stepped in six months ago and forced them to allow her to play.
Eric
There shouldn't technically be a problem
with MtF because taking oestrogen for six months wipes out muscle mass and strength, however, going the other way, testosterone is banned as it enhances muscle growth and strength, plus performance - see Floyd Landis, who was disqualified from cycling and winning the TdF a few years ago - he took testosterone.
Perhaps if competition wasn't such a force in sport, there's be no problem other than the social one - people who change sex are unacceptable to a significant percentage of the population, which is why so many of us live in stealth.
Angharad
some sports its easier to come out in
Being a transgender athlete, and a damn good one I might add (I was a 2 x national champion as a heavyweight wrestler, am undefeated internationally in Greco Roman wrestling [yes I have matches and 3 international gold metals to prove it] and a 12-1 record international record in freestyle wrestling) I will just say that in some sports it is almost impossible to come out as anything divergent. That doesn't mean only transsexual, but homosexual or bisexual as well. I certainly know that this is the case with the two major contact sports that don't readily have a female counterpart Football and Wrestling (yes there is some push at woman's wrestling but it isn't a d-1a sport even though there are international tournaments.)
When I was wrestling, I kept my secret to myself in fear that I would get killed (literally). This may be more true in my chosen sport because of the homosexual innuendos that people make about rolling around the floor with sweaty guys and the fact that athletes that participate in real wrestling tend to portray an ultra macho-hetero facade. I have heard the remarks that other athletes have made about "queers" and there non-acceptance in the sport and exactly what would happen to them.
Though I applaud SI for touching on the subject, I think it will be some time before wide acceptance is reached. I also can see some issues about level playing fields (more for M2Fs than F2Ms)and also about taking hormones. (I was tested twice yearly and also had to have a body fat comp test; in wrestling you can't go below 7 percent body fat in ncaa or you are disqualified for the year). I know if they saw some hormone in my system there would be eligibility questions (and I naturally produce low T so I would've had a legitimate reason for taking it, but why would I).
In the end you may see some archaic rule that says a transperson can compete but cannot place in event or something along that line until things get sorted out. I don't know exactly what hormones of the opposite gender will do for performance when it is applied for transitioning and I'm sure that is one step that needs to be taken for this all to be figured out.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life