Texas officials had a dilemma: a girl who was transgender became a boy. His name is Mack Beggs. He took testosterone for the past two years to aid his transition. Mack loved to wrestle. He was a good wrestler. He wanted to wrestle boys, but state officials insisted he had to wrestle girls, because his birth certificate said he was born a girl. So Mack wrestled girls and won the state championship. Mack had 52 matches against girls and won every one of them. Some people in the crowd booed and jeered and said that “she” had cheated because Mack was pumped up with testosterone.
Beyond the politics are the young people who have been forced to participate within a discussion and scene that, by any measure, is difficult to make sense of. The coach said one of his girls quit the wrestling team rather than face Beggs, who has documented and shared the results of his testosterone use on social media. James Baudhuin, the attorney suing the UIL over Beggs’s participation in the girls’ division, has a daughter who had wrestled against Beggs and, at least before the suit, was among his friends.
The ordeal grew complicated, on and off the mat. Baudhuin himself said he was so conflicted that, though he’d filed a petition to keep Beggs off the mat, he would nonetheless be cheering for Beggs to win the championship.
“The 16 girls who are in [Beggs’s] bracket have been put in a very, very unfair situation because of the grown-ups,” Baudhuin said. “To me, this is a complete abject failure of leadership and accountability from the people who regulate sports in Texas. They’re doing wrong by Mack, and not just these 15 girls but all the other girls she wrestled all year.”
Veteran sportscaster Dale Hansen in Dallas tried to think his way through this nuttiness.
Mack has been taking testosterone and it shows. There’s a reason we have rules in sports against steroids, and it was an incredibly unfair advantage for him. It was also unfair to the girls who had to wrestle him….
Transitioning is a struggle I cannot imagine. It is a journey I could not make… and it is a life that too many cannot live.
The problems that Mack Beggs is facing and dealing with now remind me again that I don’t have any problems. He needs our support, and he does not need a group of old men in Austin telling him who to wrestle because of a genetic mix-up at birth.
We have argued long enough about birth certificates. It’s an argument that needs to end. You don’t have to understand – I myself don’t understand. But Mack Beggs is not the problem so many people make him out to be. He’s a child simply looking for his place in the world, and a chance to compete in the world.
Do we really not have the simple decency to allow him at least that? Because it seems to me it’s the very least we can do.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can understand the girls being upset having to wrestle Mack. He’s a boy. He should wrestle boys. It’s really not that complicated.
To me, the difficult question is how do you write the general rule that determines whether a student should compete against girls or boys, and is it possible to write a rule that doesn’t result in similar problems of fairness. What gender should a wrestler who transitions from male to female compete against? Should it matter for that question if, because of her transitioning, she is unable to compete with boys, or girls are unable to compete with her?
The simple answer would have been: Taking testosterone, then can’t compete (as most likely it is a banned performance enhancer) in either category-surprised the UIL adminimals didn’t do that. Barring that, the second simple answer would be to have had him wrestle against the boys-and even that runs into the banned substance problem.
But I wouldn’t expect the UIL administrators to have the intelligence to do the right thing and have the student wrestle as a boy.
A pyrrhic victory at best for him. I am sorry for him and all the girls denied their opportunity
That’s right, Duane.
Duane: from what I have learned about the situation, I think your comments are sensible and a good attempt at trying to be as fair as possible to all those involved.
Thanks.
😎
Agree with you Duane. I think it should go a step farther. No transitioning until age 18. We should not be letting children make life altering decisions such as this or allowing parents to determine the fate of their children. I understand that the suicide rate of those that have transitioned is pretty high. Sometimes life is not all it is cracked up to be on the other side of the fence.
I don’t agree with your “step further”. Mainly because from my understanding is that transgendered individuals know/feel how they do at a very young age and it is persistent throughout their growing up. Also, do you have any reference to a peer reviewed study for your statement of ” I understand that the suicide rate of those that have transitioned is pretty high.”?
Bravo to Mack Beggs for being such a brave and courageous boy at such a young age. One can only guess at all the hate and opprobrium that he must encounter on a daily basis.
Hmm.
I am a man.
I was born a man.
I naturally have a crazy low testosterone level. I mean subphysiological. In my doc’s words, “approaching castrate level”. I take Clomid (a drug designed for women who can’t get pregnant and want to) and Anastrazole (a drug designed for women with breast cancer) in order to raise my T levels to levels that I can tolerate.
This is a serious medical condition. Without the drugs, the physical and mental symptoms make my life so bad that I’m not sure if it would be worth living. I know a thing or two about testosterone.
I bring this up because, to my knowledge, even the fact that I take Clomid — which boosts the body’s natural production of testosterone by fooling it into thinking that estrogen is low (it’s complicated) — would disqualify me from participating in competitive sports with a title at stake. Never mind if I were actually on testosterone replacement therapy.
It may not be “fair” that this trans man is in a situation where he cannot compete in sports because of the circumstances of his birth, circumstances that were beyond his control. Well, welcome to the club. It isn’t “fair” for me, either.
Not sure about Clomid, but I think some sports governing bodies allow for medical use exceptions.
Werebat,
If they insist on keeping this boy in the girls’ division, he will be the national champion.
What’s the rationale for gender segregated sports? Academically or in combat there is no distinction, what makes sports unique?
Same reason there are weight divisions in wrestling and boxing. People like a good contest.
Exactly, fairness in athletic competition has been a driving force in almost all of the rules that govern any sport.
Forcing Beggs to take part in a gender bracket within a sport that he does not even identify with is insulting to his identity. Beggs is a young trans man; he is not a girl, he is a boy, and he deserves that recognition at school. Mack absolutely needs all the love and support as someone who is surfacing as a trans athletic figure in the spotlight. The academics in charge should be encouraging his desire to “find his place in the world.” An important aspect of education is allowing students to find their ways to grow, especially through their identity. Dishonoring Mack’s identity is a shame on the community and educators that bestow the authority in assigning his place in the world.
Like!
I have an opinion about wrestling but I won’t mention that now. This is a problem of injustice. Mack deserves his community to support his identity. He should wrestle boys of his size, it’s a simple solution for equity. This is also a political issue, as Texas is widely republican. Some politicians and wise problem-solvers argue that equality and other abstract concepts like this should not be sided on, Democratic views that support equality should not be in opposition with Republican views on equality. People being afraid of going against the rules for the sake of justice has only burdened our own and many other societies– we see this pattern repeated in how Mack was told his transition hormone was against the rules and forced to wrestle against girls because they accept information on identity scribbled at birth over the information that comes from his developed identity.
It seems like you feel that Mack should be allowed to compete (as a boy or a girl) while on testosterone replacement therapy.
Would you feel the same about a cisgendered male who was on TRT?
What if his natural T levels were “low”?
How low would they need to go?
The accepted “range” for men is roughly 250-900 ng/dl, but this includes all ages of men from 18-85. Many docs will tell a man with a T level of 300 that they are “in range”, even though that number is abysmally low for (say) a 25 year old man, and he will most likely be suffering physical and mental symptoms. (At time of diagnosis, my own levels were in the low 100s — NO doc will claim that that is normal, for any man).
So, say a young man has a total T of 100 — extremely low, low enough to cause really severe problems for him — and he finds a doc who will put him on Clomid or TRT, which raises his total T to 1000 (almost superphysiological). He puts on a lot of muscle mass. Should he be allowed to compete?
Note that if he is, then you will also have young men with T levels of, say, 300 — technically “in range” according to many docs but low enough to cause them serious problems — who try to participate after getting on TRT and raising their levels to 1000 or above.
And some very competitive boys — make no mistake — WILL try to get on TRT, by hook or by crook, to raise those levels as high as they can.
And then other boys will feel pressured to do the same if they want to have a shot at winning.
Sometimes, life isn’t fair, and this is especially true for people with medical conditions. It sucks — sometimes it REALLY sucks — but that is how things are.
If we view Mack differently and give him special treatment because he happens to have been born with a female body, then we are engaging in a sort of discrimination UNLESS we also grant cis-males with low T the right to participate while they are on Clomid or TRT — and once we do that, we open up a can of worms.
wb73,
Thanks for the testerone levels explanation!
No problem, Duane. I know more about testosterone and hypogonadism than I ever wanted to!
Note that male T levels are inextricably linked to male estrogen levels, as the male body converts T to estrogen constantly, at a rate that is influenced by many things including body fat percentage.
The whole hormonal thermostat is very complex and difficult to explain quickly. Sadly, many docs don’t understand it either, and just throw antidepressants and other drugs that don’t get to the root of the problem at their patients. This is bad for a variety of reasons, including the fact that there appears to be a link between low T in males and heart disease. Indeed, after learning about and correcting my extremely low T, I learned that I already have two kinds of serious heart disease — at the age of 43. My coronary arteries have plaque levels typical of a 70 year old man.
So the fact that there are docs out there telling young men with T levels in the 200s that they are “in range”, and just throwing antidepressants and other band-aid drugs at them when they complain of mental and physical symptoms, kind of pisses me off.
Similarly, the fact that the FDA recently chose to block acceptance of a “new” drug, which is really just one isomer of Clomid (the isomer that helps guys like me), in part because of a so-called feminist group pressuring them out of fear that all men will try to use it to raise their testosterone and become raging rape apes. It’s important to understand that the OTHER isomer in Clomid does nothing for guys like me, in fact it causes problems by jacking up our estrogen levels to the point where I have to take ANOTHER drug that was designed for women (Anastrazole) “off-label” in order to bring it down (and it’s a real pleasure trying to chop those 1 mg Anastrazole pills into eighths, let me tell you). So I have to take a drug that is essentially half poison, and then ANOTHER drug to counteract that poison, because the FDA seems to have no clue about this condition. So much IGNORANCE.
This is a serious medical issue, it is not just middle aged men complaining because they have low energy. I’d like to take some of the folks who try to minimize it and lower their T levels into the 100s for a few months and see how trivial THEY think it is THEN. It would serve them right.
The dilemma is that we no longer know what “equal” means and we go to such absurd extremes to “make everyone equal.”
Disagree.
Personally, I do not believe a child should have the right to “transition” until they are 18 years of age. You are not allowed to get a tattoo, join the army, get an abortion, or many other things until you are 18. & there is NO SUCH THING as “genetic mix-up at birth”. People are born either MALE or FEMALE. You can NOT “identify” yourself into the opposite sex. Birth certificates are issued at birth for a reason and they should not be able to be changed for a whim.
silverapplequeen,
I agree with you – 18 seems like more of an appropriate age to make that decision. I’m not sure why anyone would want to undergo a sex change before then. I commend this person for having the strength to do it.
I 1000% agree when you said “there is NO SUCH THING as genetic mix-up at birth. This is definitely psychological. Kids are still developing, even after 18. It’s NOT genetic.
Genetically, technically there is mixing up of the DNA material during meiosis (crossing over). This is the only “mixing up”…it’s an exchange of material to promote diversity. For sex chromosomes, you get what you get from your mom and you get what you get from your dad. Are you XX? You’re female. Are you XY? You’re male. I don’t want to start any arguments, but genetically there is no sex chromosome pair that makes someone non-binary or transgender.
There are cases where you can be XXY (still male) and XO (still female). There are other cases, but that’s enough Biology for the morning.
Of course, the lines get very blurry in the case of Mack, where he has XX chromosomes, but has taken testosterone. I guess regardless of your sex chromosome combination, if you are a female genetically, but are taking measures to physically be a man, you should wrestle other men. My humble option 🙂
“I don’t want to start any arguments, but genetically there is no sex chromosome pair that makes someone non-binary or transgender.”
Well, you started one. There are many instances of genetic combinations that do not follow the strict XX or XY makeup. Please see my response to SAQ for an explanation of the limitedness of both of your takes on gender.
A chimera is formed when two twins merge in the womb, completely, to form one normal-looking human with two sets of DNA. Some parts of the body use DNA from one twin, others use DNA from the other.
In the case of fraternal twins of two different genders, and a brain being formed from one twin and reproductive system from another, I could see a chimera being a real case of “genetic mix-up at birth” with regard to gender.
I am unaware if this has ever been proven to have happened, but I would not at all be surprised if it has.
One can get a tattoo, an abortion and many other things with parental consent. This student obviously had guardian (the grandmother was the primary and apparently legal caregiver) approval. Decisions to transition into a different gender is not done on a whim. On the contrary it usually is a long and agonizing one.
Where you are mistaken is in misunderstanding the concept of gender as a dichotomy-male/female when in reality it gender should be considered on a circular continuum with male and female being on the “poles”. Most folks will cluster around those poles in their self identity as it relates to their physical characteristics-that multitude of hormonal, endocrinal and physiological brain processes about which we know relatively little as to how those things all interact in an individual.
But many others would be considered to be on other points of that circle depending on many things besides physical characteristic. Gender is much more than physical characteristics and certainly includes the individual’s mental take on their being.
SAQ, with your statements you are denying that mental component of gender, and therefore do not have a complete enough understanding of gender.
One further thing. Genes are not the ultimate determinate of our fate. The interaction of various genes, the interaction of the environment with/on genetic expression is a lot more complex than just saying if one has XX chromosones the individual will be male. It just doesn’t work that way all of the time due to the inherent imperfect nature of all physiological processes where many unknown factors come into play.
oops should be XX = female not male.
Interesting. I was speaking just from a genetic sense. Not paychokogical. Though, I like your “pole” concept of center where most cluster around poles (male, female). I think this pole concept only works when the psychological and social, and probably environmental, factors are taken into account.
As I said as far as male, female, there are combinations other than XX or XY. Combinations like XXY still make you male and XO still female. They are fertile, but biologically, they’re male/female from a development standpoint. How these other factors play in gender identification is where the lines blur.
Interesting. I was speaking just from a genetic sense. Not paychokogical. Though, I like your “pole” concept of center where most cluster around poles (male, female). I think this pole concept only works when the psychological and social, and probably environmental, factors are taken into account.
As I said as far as male, female, there are combinations other than XX or XY. Combinations like XXY still make you male and XO still female. They are fertile, but biologically, they’re male/female from a development standpoint. How these other factors play in gender identification is where the lines blur.
Wow. Autocorrect, horribly. Psychological.
Was having fun trying to figure that one out. Artificial intelligence needs some genetic counseling and then replacement therapy.
Fertile should be sterile. I need to stop using his iPhone or reset my autocorrect. Lol.
Good points, Duane.
I thought it was sterile and not fertile. Glad I don’t have to worry about that autocorrect. (interesting that word just got underlined for not being recognized as a correct spelling) I turn it off on any program whenever I can. Don’t mind the spell check and grammar functions that underline words giving me the option.
Yeah, this autocorrect has been changing complete words. It’s an interesting thing. I am going to have to reset autocorrect.
But, yes, sterile. Looking at the keyboard, I guess I can see why fertile appeared instead of sterile. The only letter difference is an f in fertile and s in sterile. Lol, interesting…
A while back, my autocorrect kept changing Reform to Deform, so sometimes it is actually quite intelligent.
And I really like “paychokogical”
I’ll have use that in a poem some time.
Does that mean “paid enough money to choke a horse” by chance?
“Paychokogical”
Your argument
Is paychokogical
Enough to choke a horse
Emolument
To say illogical
Things — for pay, of course
PS
Former Teacher
I didn’t mean your above argument.
I am using the generic “your”
Lol @ SomeDAM Poet. Great poem. I guess that’s the new definition haha.
And I assumed it was the general “your”.
🙂
http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/high-school/high-schools/2017/02/28/transgender-wrestler-mack-beggs-explains-transition-overcame-gender-dysphoria-felt-unhappy-just-figure-unhappy?_ga=1.173478378.815031769.1486493807
Follow up article on the heroic Mack Beggs. Also, a shout out to Dale Hansen for bringing this to the forefront. Encourage all readers of this blog to view Hansen’s videos on Youtube, particularly his commentary on Michael Sam, and his subsequent appearance on Ellen. Will not copy/paste videos here because they hog to much space.
http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Dale-Hansen-Interview-Ellen-Show-Video-34036131
http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2014/02/watch-dale-hansen-michael-sam-gay-nfl-commentary-dallas-anchor
(articles contain videos mentioned above)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)
Guys, well Wikipedia, with links to many other relevant terms, has the most comprehensive quick information found about Chimeras, a new word for this reader. Of course, always with Wiki, do extra fact-checking, but the terminology here seems mostly legit. Learning this term, chimera explains so much, if true
Chimeras (chimerae?) are really very interesting. You could be one yourself and not realize it.
These idiots want little to no government interference in our lives except when it comes to what happens in the bedroom and the bathroom.
The officials managed to make the absolute worst decision all around.
If making everyone unhappy was their goal, they have succeeded in spades.
IMHO, if Mack wanted to wrestle boys, why not let him?
In fact, why not let a girl wrestle boys if she so desires?
There are definitely many girls who can hold their own and even excel against boys in sports and if they want to compete against boys, why not let them?
I suspect that the number of girls who would actually choose to do this would be pretty small, at any rate.
PS the inverse argument to let any boy who wants to to compete in the girl’s league is not warranted, in my opinion.
There is actually a quite legitimate reason for not allowing the reverse (a boy to wrestle in (or play in) the girl’s league) because, on average, there are differences in strength, height, reach etc that have more to do with hormones than physical training. I realize this could — and probably would — lead to arguments of bias and unequal treatment but the natural physical differences between the genders are very real and to deny them is simply not reasonable.
Why not allow weaker, smaller boys to compete in the girl’s league if they so choose?
Unfortunately, it would be difficult if not impossible to implement fairly in practice, because, even if one had a test for strength that all girls took, how would one know that the boy who took the test was not simply feigning weakness to get in the girl’s league?
It’s an inherently asymmetric situation.
A girl who chose to compete in the boys league would go in knowing full well that she would be competing with individuals who were taller and stronger on average than those in the girl’s league. She would know that it would therefore be harder to compete.
The opposite would be true for a boy wishing to compete in the girl’s league.
Not that I think there would be a lot of boys who wished to compete I. The girl’s league. I actually think the peer pressure alone would keep most of them out.
No more gender biased than the draft, I suppose.
“The officials managed to make the absolute worst decision all around.”
They’re adminimals in the education realm, top dog adminimals at that. Why would you expect anything different than “the absolute worst decision”. They can’t help it. By adminimalling all the way to the top they epitomize the heightened inanity of adminimals in general.
In 2011 the NCAA summed it up this way:
“The following policies clarify participation of transgender student-athletes undergoing hormonal treatment for gender transition:
A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for purposes
of NCAA competition may compete on a men’s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women’s team without changing that team status to a mixed team.
A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for
Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without
changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression
treatment.”
Click to access Transgender_Handbook_2011_Final.pdf
Basically if you received testosterone then men’s or mixed team, If testosterone suppression for a year then women’s or mixed team.
Thanks, Tim, that’s helpful.
Texas could have saved lots of trouble by reading the rules.
Tim, I am curious — does the NCAA make similar allowance for cisgender end males who require TRT due to low testosterone?
I would not be surprised if they do not. So much of the treatment of male hypogonadism feels stuck in the dark ages, and awash in ignorance.
After reading this post and the responses of the community that Mack lives in, it is clear to me that many people involved in the situation may not understand what it means to be a transgender youth. By Baudhuin referring to Mack as “she” and by state officials forcing him to wrestle females, Mack’s agency as a male wrestler is not being acknowledged. As a trans male having been on T for two years, Mack is probably finally experiencing his life in a body that he feels more comfortable in. Yes, his body is being filled with higher testosterone levels but in the case of correcting a biological error that goes outside the walls of “being a better competitor (like steroids do),” I would argue that it should not prohibit him from participating in the sport. However, the argument clearly goes beyond the idea of him being on T because he was still allowed to compete, just not with other males.
As far as placing him in the female division and then being upset that he is winning every match, that is the fault of the state officials that would not allow him to compete with other males. Shame on the community for not acknowledging Mack as a male and for continuing to label him as something he is not. As stated in this post, Mack wanted to compete with other males but was not allowed to. The lack of respect that was shown to Mack in the first place is now being reflected because he is winning the matches.
In any case, I think Mack’s story just goes to show that our society has a long way to go in understanding and empathizing with transgender youth. I am not saying that this is something that can happen over night but I think greater efforts needs to be made in order to carry out social justice rights for anyone that identifies with the LGBTQIAA community. By taking the time to understand, we can prevent these situations from occurring in the future. If Mack would have just been placed in his proper division, with the proper competitors, this whole debate could have been avoided and the female wrestlers and parents that feel “they are being treated unfairly” would not feel that way.
“By taking the time to understand. . .
I wouldn’t count any any christo-fascist or many other of the myth believing fundamentalists of what ever brand of god they claim to even begin to take any time to do so. As far as those “believers” are concerned their god told them otherwise.
I definitely believe that Mack should be able to wrestle the boys. I don’t think it’s at all fair to put him or the other girls in a position where they have to compromise their friendships or their identities because of a birth certificate. If Mack identifies as a boy, let him wrestle the boys- it’s that simple. He’s dominated the girls’ section, and is openly taking testosterone, so it shouldn’t be fair to put him up against girls. I think it also puts the parents in an uncomfortable position because many of them are/were rooting for and supporting Mack, and because of the lawsuit against the state it has put Mack in a bad position as well as the parents of the girls he’s wrestled. This issue falls close to the transgendered bathroom ban and the states decision to allow whether or not the students can choose which bathroom to use; it should be the students choice- it’s not the state using the bathroom with them; it’s not the state wrestling with or for Mack- it’s Mack.
This article has really forced me to think about my disposition as a football coach. I like to think that I would be willing to treat all of my players fairly and with equal attention but I honestly don’t know how I would handle a situation similar to that of Mack Beggs.
I love the final point and it rings true for all people: He’s a child simply looking for his place in the world. It is that exact reason that leads me to the conclusion that the best thing I can do as a coach for a transitioning player would be to treat that player equally regardless of gender or any other factor. That is what I love about sports, it’s meant to bring people together by placing individuals onto a team. It shouldn’t matter what the background of a player is; if an individual is eligible to be on the team then there shouldn’t be any stipulation based on any other factors. Beggs is a boy that wanted to wrestle against the best competition possible, that seems very straight forward to me. If Beggs has been taking hormones I feel that factor alone should place him into the boys team because I honestly feel that factor would make him a liability to be wrestling against female wrestlers.
While I would argue that Beggs deserves the opportunity to be on his team that aligns with his gender identity, I have to admit that I think that as a coach I would do my best to make sure that the team accepts him. Perhaps that doesn’t align with my previous statement that I would treat a transitioning student the same way as the other players, but the fact is that a transitioning player deserves the same opportunity to be accepted by teammates as any other player. The unfortunate truth is that young minds often reject other students based on factors that create differences between them. I feel that as a coach their is a direct duty to make sure that all students have the opportunity to be part of the team and play in the game. Identity affirmation is critical to all students, especially those that may be transitioning.