(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)
Molly Cameron, a 39-year old local professional cyclocross racer and owner of Portland Bicycle Studio, has just gotten some bad news. Despite a stellar racing season where she amassed 14 top five finishes in the highly competitive men’s “A” category, she has been told by USA Cycling (USAC, the governing body of racing in America) that she cannot race in the men’s event at the Cycloross National Championships next month in Asheville, North Carolina.
“At first I was forced to race with the dudes and now I’m being forced to race with the women.”
The reason? Cameron is transgender. She was assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman. She races with the men, but both her driver’s license and her USAC license both list her as a female (at her request). According to Cameron, USA Cycling is citing rule 7B.1(c) which states, “In National Championships, women may not enter men’s events.”
USAC does registration by the gender stated on one’s driver’s license. Cameron’s driver’s license has said “female” for the past twenty years.
Cameron has lived in Portland since 2002. She opened the Veloshop bike shop in northeast Portland in 2008, moved it downtown a few years later, and now has moved it to the Pearl District. Now called Portland Bicycle Studio, Cameron and her shop are huge supporters of the local race scene. She sponsors races and this year upped the ante by investing in a women’s racing team that competed all over the state.
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According to a 2008 profile of Cameron in the Portland Mercury, Molly started racing with women when she first moved to town. After getting harrassed by female competitors, she was ultimately forced to race with men. (The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association said despite the fact that Cameron had taken estrogen hormones, she could only race with women if she had gender-reassignment surgery.) Cameron raced with the men begrudgingly. As she progressed in the sport she became one of the top racers in the country.
This year she was making plans to race at nationals but got concerned when she wasn’t able to register. The irony for Cameron is that when she first started racing in the 1990s, her USAC license listed her as a woman. “Then at some point they changed it without telling me,” Cameron said via a phone interview today. “I was like, what the fuck?” At Cameron’s request they changed her racing license back to woman, which is what it has been ever since.
Now that change has come back to haunt her.
Cameron says she’s exasperated by the situation but she’s not anti-USAC. On Facebook this evening she wrote, “Put away the pitchforks and torches, USA Cycling is not always right but they are trying. They are not the enemy.”
USAC hasn’t responded to our requests for comment. Cameron says they’ve offered her the ability to file a petition. But that process wouldn’t be completed in time for nationals which are just a month away.
Cameron is keeping a positive attitude about the situation. “I’m of two minds about this. Part of me is like, I’ll go race the woman’s category. Win or lose I’m sure it will piss a lot of people off.”
“I know I’m not the only trans woman out there,” Cameron continued, “Is it going to do more harm than good to let me race with the men? This is really kind of hilarious. At first I was forced to race with the dudes and now I’m being forced to race with the women.”
UPDATE, 8:48 pm: USA Cycling Manager of Communications Kevin Loughery has just sent us the following statement:
“Our national championships rules — unlike regional or non-championships events — state that competitors must race in the gender category stated on his or her license. However, we understand that this is a complicated issue and the application of our existing gender rules in this case may not be what was intended. We seek to be fair to all transgender athletes, including Molly, and will immediately look into this case to see if we can find a just solution.”
UPDATE #2, 12/16: USA Cycling has reversed its decision. Read more in VeloNews.
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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“born as a man” “identifies as a woman” “driver’s license and her USAC license both list her as a female”
Male and female can no longer be used interchangeably with man and woman. What you are born as shapes the physical developments. You can alter some of these with hormones, other features are locked into place such as bone and muscle structures.
The varying degrees of gender identities and the physical effects thereof creates an interesting conundrum for professional-type sports. Is the correct response to sub-divide league into Male, Female, MtF, FtM?
Just to clear up any confusion, the “born as a man” phrase Mao mentions in the comment above originally appeared in the story. That was incorrect. I’ve changed it to read that Cameron was “assigned male at birth.”
It looks like that update did not make it into the article, Jonathan. WHen I read it, the “born as a man” language is still there?
Otherwise, great piece about a shitty situation. Molly sounds really cool, like she gives a lot to the racing scene. I hope she gets fair treatment at some point, and that the governing sports bodies stop governing sports-people’s bodies. I know it is more complicated than that, but the phrase was irresistible, and the feeling is real. Trans folks need to be included, without discrimination or alienation.
Thanks Davey Oil. I overlooked that one. Fixed it.
But why would fair here be to let Molly compete as a woman in a men’s event? I mean, does Molly get to compete because she’s demonstrated her athletic capability and competed well against men generally? Okay, so how far do we go in applying that to other women? Who gets to decide that one woman gets to enter a men’s event but another woman cannot?
Further, what do you think about men entering women’s events? How do we sort that out? Or are men to be barred from women’s events? Why?
I see below that someone has simply asserted that “gender” is simply a social construct. Of course, the poster provides no further elaboration. But it cannot be denied that there are clearly biological differences between men and women. It rests far below the mere outward physical appearance distinctions.
And, as I posted below, it is wholly unfair and misleading to argue that the sanctioning body here is attempting to govern what is in someone’s pants. It’s a bogus argument.
Men and women are physically different. Sure, a few women can hold their own in regional and even in some national-level events, but it ends there. It is not bigotry, it is not sexist, etc. to observe these well-established biological and medical facts.
How do you know there’s little in common?
On a regular basis my mom’s ovaries would turn out eggs. On three different occasions those eggs hooked up with a sperm from my dad, that he delivered in person. Those fertilized eggs found a comfortable spot on the inner wall of my mom’s uterus. They grew and after about nine months she naturally, and painfully gave birth. And then breast fed her kids.
The most fundamental differences between men and women are about reproduction. A man’s experience pales in comparison to a woman’s. And when it comes to those differences, a transgender woman is no closer to being a woman than I am.
Compared to the reproduction process, the things that a transgender woman would have in common with my mother, or any mother, are superficial.
And to be clear, I accept the medical community’s conclusion that transgenderism is real.
So if a trans woman’s is no closer to being a woman than you are based on ability to have a child, a non-trans woman who doesn’t have a child is also no closer to being a woman than you are? There’s more to being a woman than bearing children.
I was born with “female reproductive organs” and assigned a woman at birth. I go by the pronouns “she” and her” – I wear skirts, heels, and even sometimes make-up. However, due to disease that ravished my body at a very young age, my body doesn’t “regularly release an egg.” I will never have to make the decision of having children or not.
Does this make me less of a woman? The capability of reproducing. Are we cattle to put in column A or B?
Europe is rolling their eyes at our old-fashioned, puritanical view of sexuality. Germany allows birth certificates to be left blank now.
Except, you’re not assigned a gender at birth. You are born as you are. We need not distort biology to serve of individualistic needs to “identify” as x or y or m or whatever.
Thanks for sharing your opinion BeavertonRider.
Thanks for allowing one of my posts to be posted!
Happy to. I just want you to consider how your posts are felt by others… both the person you are directly replying to, and anyone else who reads it. I love a back-and-forth, but only when they are done with mutual respect. Same goes for Soren, 9watts, and everyone else!
Content of the comment is just one thing I consider. Tone is almost more important to me. If i feel your tone is mean or combative, I will not post the comment.
Except that gender is not based on genitalia alone and no one here is suggesting that genitalia alone determine gender. So I am curious about your response.
MRI of self-identified transsexuals has revealed significant differences in brain structures, nerve tracts, and white matter:
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/46/15466.full
>Results showed widespread significant differences in mean diffusivity between groups in almost all white matter tracts. FCs had highest mean diffusivities, followed by FtM transsexuals with lower values, MtF transsexuals with further reduced values, and MCs with lowest values.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395610003250
>MtF transsexuals differed from both male and female controls bilaterally in the superior longitudinal fasciculus, the right anterior cingulum, the right forceps minor, and the right corticospinal tract.
Up to 2% of the population are biologically intersexual:
Not XX and not XY one in 1,666 births
Klinefelter (XXY) one in 1,000 births
Androgen insensitivity syndrome one in 13,000 births
Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome one in 130,000 births
Classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia one in 13,000 births
Late onset adrenal hyperplasia one in 66 individuals
Vaginal agenesis one in 6,000 births
Ovotestes one in 83,000 births
Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause) one in 110,000 births
Iatrogenic (caused by medical treatment, for instance progestin administered to pregnant mother) no estimate
5 alpha reductase deficiency no estimate
Mixed gonadal dysgenesis no estimate
Complete gonadal dysgenesis one in 150,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening in perineum or along penile shaft) one in 2,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening between corona and tip of glans penis) one in 770 births
Total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female one in 100 births
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11534012
BeavertonRider, you simply don’t understand. That’s ok though. Just like hetero people shouldn’t have a say in gay rights and males shouldn’t have a say in women’s reproductive rights, cis identified people only need to learn about transgender equality. If you are cis, just learn. Your opinion doesn’t need enter the equation.
Oh my. The “you-just-dont-understand” argument. Youre right that I dont understand why a man would want to identify as a woman. However, that is irrelevant here because I am not evaluating or trying to understand why Molly, despite being a male, wants to be a female. Quite frankly, I dont care, either.
What is being discussed is the issue of whether a person who identifies as a woman and was pissed when the sanctioning body changed her gender registration male and successfully petitioned to have that reverted should be permitted to race in a mens championship event when the rules clearly prohibit women from competing in men’s events.
So, see? I dont need to understand transgender-ism, cis, or even why Molly chose this identification to discuss how Molly should be treated under these rules.
I also take issue with your insistence that non-gay, non-trans, non-women should have nothing to say when it comes to issues affecting those who are gay, trans, etc. That’s quite a tyrannical approach that seeks only to suppress and exclude others. It’s also intolerant. I am sure that when a non-gay expresses an opinion supportive of gay rights you do not reject that opinion as irrelevant because it came from a non-gay, do you?
Being supportive has nothing to do with setting policy. You can support whatever you want, the rights and decisions surrounding the issue are what should be left to those that are affected by the rights and decisions of the issue.
I’m spinning wheels here though because you think this issue is something someone wants or decides upon. On that, you are 100%, completely, and totally wrong.
Discrimination begins with people who don’t care or try to understand.
That’s an interesting cliche, but that’s all it is – a cliche. Discrimination comes in many forms, including those that are acceptable, e.g., excluding the sick, elderly, and children frim military service to the unjust like banning Muslims from entering the country. Discrimination often occurs ehen people have exercised quite deliberate thought and intention.
Like most conservatives, I dont care what sexual organs Molly has or how he uses them. It’s quite irrelevant to the issue here of whether someone who prefers to be classified as a woman should be permitted to race with the men.
Overlooked here is the fact that the rules honor her preference to be a woman. If I were the organization, I’d allow Molly to race because Molly is, in fact and in reality, a man despite Molly’s preference to identify as a woman. However, Molly would have to enter as a man and that would changing her license and registration with the sanctioning body. This is Molly’s choice and the sanctioning body is under no obligation to treat Molly as a man when she insists to be treated as a woman.
You’re discounting it as a cliche because it applies to you. Underlying your flowery wording is a kind of authoritarian stance on gender identification that seems rather cemented in archaic thinking.
You care so little that you rant on a cycling blog about how hard it has been for you since you have had new ways of thinking introduced to you.
Instead of racing to figure out who is best and who is not, perhaps we should just be happy with the wide gradient of humans and their abilities.
And we can all get Participation Medals too!
Hi Gabe,
I couldn’t help but notice that you want to “be happy with wide gradients of humans” but then you give what I perceive as a slight aimed at people who enjoy racing and competition.
Touché. I considered including a winky face, because although competition really isn’t my bag I understand it’s something many enjoy.
At its core racing boils down to determine absolutes, a concept we also like to apply to gender. Neither the gender nor the joy of riding a bicycle is so cut and dry, at least from my perspective.
A significant fraction of the wide gradient of humans enjoy figuring out who is the fastest bike pedaler.
Tolerance is hard work.
Tolerance is really easy. It seems like those who spend a lot of time preaching tolerance are the ones who have the most difficulty actually exercising tolerance. I see this in my everyday HR life. In fact, I live it. As a very lonely white, conservative male in a HR office dominated by men and women (I’ve been warned off of using such identifiers, of course), I’m almost universally shamed by all. If I try to explain proper procedures and compliance requirements, I am mansplaining. If I express an opinion that we ought to simply ignore skin color and focus on diversity of ability, I am called a bigot.
So, again, tolerance is really easy, unless you cannot tolerate other disagreeing with you. I’ve encountered that here, too, having been accused of bigotry for simply expressing an opposing opinion. Note that the opinion was not ever actually addressed, I was simply accused of racism. Orwell is truly spinning.
“If I try to explain proper procedures and compliance requirements, I am mansplaining. If I express an opinion that we ought to simply ignore skin color and focus on diversity of ability, I am called a bigot.”
Interesting. Maybe what your saying to your colleagues sounds problematic to them? I know some of the things you’ve said here struck me as problematic in just the ways you describe. Those terms your colleagues reference are not just made up, you know; they draw our attention to actual social issues we as a society are doing a rather mediocre job of acknowledging, addressing, leaving behind, much less solving.
“Problematic”? Yeah, they, like you, disagree with some of the ideas or thoughts I express. And then, rather than logically and rationally addressing the point, I am accused of some social faux pax or pathology.
For example, express that you’re opposed to affirmative action programs that rely on preferences based on race because that is exercising discrimination on the basis of race, you’re told that you’re a racist bigot. Note that the actual reasoning I employ is not addressed. It’s merely that their disagreement with me means I am a bigot.
I am sure that my comments here will have me labelled as transphobic or some such. Of course, it won’t be because I expressed a hateful or intolerant attitude toward the transgendered. It will be only because I expressed an opinion that was in conflict with what the accuser believes or what Molly here wants/desires. That’s not transphobia, of course, but it’s how people around these parts respond to arguments/opinions that they disagree with, they accuse the other person of being a bigot.
Egads, I’m a closeted bisexual from 1972 and your reply to BevertonRider bores me to tears. Molly rocks. Insure she is laughing at most of this drivel.
Why would she be laughing? The comments here are thoughtful, provoking, and made in good faith. There is no hatred, intolerance, etc., being presented.
Expressing an opinion is not intolerance but expressing an opinion in a manner that invalidates or excludes the opinion of others is intolerance.
For example:
“Except, you’re not assigned a gender at birth. You are born as you are. We need not distort biology to serve of individualistic needs to “identify” as x or y or m or whatever.”
Wait, what? It is “intolerant” to express an opinion that “invalidates” the opinion of another? I think you’re really taking some liberty here with our language. Expressing an opinion that is opposed to an opinion of another person is hardly intolerance. Real intolerance would be to demand that the other person’s opinion be removed or banned.
Are scientists acting in an intolerant way when they peer review scientific studies and when unable to replicate the conditions and results end up refuting the claims/conclusions of other scientists? Of course not.
Further, by posting my comments here how exactly am I excluding the comments of others as you suggest? How is posting a comment in a public forum am expression of intolerance.
As noted above, I think you’re taking a lot of liberty in stretching our language to accommodate your definition of intolerance in an attempt to shame me.
I hope Jonathan permits this to be posted.
Invalidate and exclude are not synonyms.
Soren, I didnt say or imply they were. I was responding to your comment wherein you used those words. Its also why I separated them into separate paragraphs.
Scientists do not peer-review opinions. In fact, science and rational discourse has little to do with “opinion”.
Soren, I didnt suggest or say that scientists peer-review opinions. You did say that I was behaving in an intolerant way because I was posting an opposing viewpoint. Just as scientists are not intolerant of their peers when the peer review and arrive at conflicting conclusions, neither am I being intolerant of others by posting facts or reasonable arguments.
Simply disagreeing with others is not a sign of intolerance. Arguing with others is not a sign of intolerance.
opinions are subjective personal expression, not data or facts. as someone who often complains about liberals’ lack of critical thinking it seems to me that you could practice what you preach.
Wait… OBRA actually cares what is in her pants? That makes me profoundly uncomfortable. Her genitalia should only be of concern to her and those she is intimate with.
FWIW OBRA was
and isbound to their sanction with other governing bodies like USAC, which is governed by the IOOC (as in Olympic).To be clear, OBRA is not a part of USAC and as such, they have no affiliation with the USOC nor with the IOC.
Makes sense, and yet still not anyone’s business what’s in her pants. Interesting.
If it doesn’t matter, would you be comfortable removing the gender divisions in MMA and letting any male who identifies as female beat the shit out female competitors?
Well, I know I want to see POS Floyd Mayweather take Ronda ROusey up on her challenge…
This has been an issue recently in track and field.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_Semenya
Gender is a social construct, not a body type.
Perhaps for athletic purposes, there shouldn’t be gendered categories at all.
Maybe there’s a way to typify body types and create categories accordingly. But you’d have to be scientific about it and not use gender or sex as a factor.
Or subdivide as mentioned above… but having more than 4 categories might get cumbersome… it’s an interesting conundrum indeed.
Gender is a social construct, not a body type.
Gender is a social construct but it’s also a biological construct and that biology is far murkier than many ideological conservatives are willing to admit.
Go, Molly, go!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_verification_in_sports
Well said. Gendered sports certainly makes it a problematic issue.
It seems to me if Molly wants to be ” list her as a female (at her request),” then she needs to accept the fact that she must compete in the women’s category. Until the categories change, this is the only reasonable course of action. Since her classification as a female is at “her request,” this decision shouldn’t come as a surprise. There doesn’t appear to be any news here.
Molly did race with women, after being harassed and female racers lodging complaints, she was forced by the sanctioning bodies to race with men. The article failed to mention that she raced with elite men as well for several years in Europe.
This is news because the sanctioning body, USAC, has a double standard of rules, one for non championship races and one for championships.
Her palmares alone should give her the ability to race with men, regardless of her license or gender.
It’s not a double standard. Across many variables, the rules will shift between championship and non-championship events, including timing systems used; and drug- and doping testing. And it’s quite reasonable, too. If you’re going to compete for an official championship, then you seek to ensure that competition is fair.
“Her palmares alone”
Palmares? What is that?
And I looked it up. Couldn’t figure out what you were saying.
Twenty dollars says, ( now that you have learned this word..) you will view the literal translation in French, as a “micro-aggression “.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palmar%C3%A8s
thanks, Spiffy. You are better with Google, apparently.
@ Matt… Why would the women complain if Molly raced with them? “she’s a women–right?” They are supposed to be enlightened and accepting of transgender folks–right? 😉 Molly, herself identities as a women.. so, I say race with the women and win!…. own it! Heck, win the women nationals and then go on to win the worlds… I don’t see what racing with the men gets her?
I don’t recall all the details, but Molly was dominant in the women’s races and I would bet would win the National Championships if racing the women’s Elite/Pro category.
Yeah, this is a slippery question. I don’t pretend to know what’s “right,” but I imagine that Molly has testosterone levels way higher than other women, which means she’s stronger / benefits more from training. In a male competitor, that would be a sign of steroid use, and would bar you from competition…so…having Molly race in womens’ competitions seems problematic to me. Just my $.02.
I don’t know how much you know about hormone replacement therapy, but I can almost certainly guarantee you that the range of variation between Molly and her competitors in the woman’s field is almost nil. The point of HRT is to get testosterone levels and estrogen levels to where they are in most cis women, through the use of an anti-androgen and synthetic estrogen. Also, races arent decided by who does or doesn’t have the most testosterone in them. Chris Boardman had extremely low testosterone throughout his career. Furthermore, attitudes like yours lead to ridiculous and harmful practices, like the rude and invasive testing of Castor Semenya.
I remember from the baseball steroid things, that the benefits of testosterone don’t stop when you you stop taking it. So growing up with it could give someone an edge against the female field.
So she is placing herself at a disadvantage in racing against the men (estrogen certainly is) to ensure an even field for the women, and this is a problem?
Gendered sports create lots of issues. When I was in high school there were girls at other schools being allowed to kick for football teams and at my own school several girls were allowed to participate in boys wrestling because there were no girls football or wrestling teams. However when I and several other boys wanted to play volleyball, of which there was also only one team we were not allowed to do so because it was a “girls” sport and that would be unfair. I have a feeling that Molly is going to experience more ire from other competitors in the women’s race if and when she wins that.
Just added this update to the story from USAC:
UPDATE, 8:48 pm: USA Cycling Manager of Communications Kevin Loughery has just sent us the following statement:
Awesome. See? The world is gonna be ok. Go win a bike race Molly! Whoo effin’ hooooo !
Go USAC go!
USAC is jealous because Molly does more for racing in oregon than they do.
I’m sure USAC will see that it’s in their best interest to make an exception here, if only to avoid the even greater backlash that would ensue over letting Cameron race with the women.
Long term, I’m not sure how we expect sports, built around fat rulebooks, to deal with flexible gender identity.
I figure, if someone’s athletic ability makes for better competition, for themselves and for their competitors, they should waive gender requirements. I knew a woman who actually had to disguise herself to play men’s hockey in high school… she just wasn’t challenged playing with the women. Her teammates were super supportive, great story.
Generally speaking the reason that sports separate men and women into different events is due to biology. Men are physically faster and stronger. For example the men’s running marathon world record time is 2:02:57 while the women’s record time is 2:15:25, somewhere around 10% slower. Since women are not as strong or fast I don’t understand why USA Cycling would care what men’s category Molly was racing. She has competed and placed well in men’s categories in national level events this year. OBRA has always allowed women to compete in men’s categories regardless of the event.
I am male, but nearly all professional athletes are physically faster and stronger than me, including female ones. If I became a professional athlete, why would it make sense to put my in the faster/strong category instead of the slower/weaker category which better matches my actual attributes?
Interesting side note: OBRA has a rule which explicitly states that women are allowed to race in a men’s category (6.6.2). One of the Hart girls has been regularly doing so this cross season.
Until recently there was only one Single speed race, not Gender defined. But you are right, this year there are both male and female Singlespeed races, and she does indeed race and does well in the ‘male’ race as do other females. Go Susanna!
Yep, and you see it even more at track races! There aren’t very many women who race track so the fast ones will usually race with the men to practice competing at high speeds.
Of all the grave injustices going on in the world this one deserves to be near the top of the list. Especially since she tried to race as a female after taking male hormones years ago.
Thank God this also landed on the home page of Velo News, gender~busting revolutionaries like this are sure to bolster Portlandia’s image as a community who is unafraid to challenge social norms and who embraces important issues like this that will pave the way for a American city where everyone is treated equally.
Look at how great Portland is: A transgender athlete gets headlines for challenging social norms in a sporting event. Meanwhile I’m Saudi Arabia homosexuals are still routinely executed. At least we can focus on local sexual identity issues and hopefully they get a lot of publicity and the rest of the world can follow our morally superior example.
Unfortunately this important issue of transgender equality often gets buried by other issues that don’t even have any apparent solution: climate change, religious extremism, ocean acidification, pollution, water & resource scarcity, and over population.
Kind of rude tongue in cheek.
I don’t understand how this is all of a sudden a thing, again. Molly’s been kicking ass and taking names in the Men’s competitions for years. She’s competed in the Men’s national championships before.
Furthermore, what OBRA decides to do in Oregon has shit all nothing to do with how USAC regulates racing.
You’re all beautiful
🙂
We could just have ability levels and no gender and/or sex divisions, but that would cause a problem for women who would get squeezed out at the higher levels. The gender division is partly a hold out from the old days but it’s also partly an attempt to make racing more engaging for women and boost their participation in sports which is still low compared to men (especially in cycling). As long as there is a division I think the only fair way to the sport is to base it on physical anatomy, but then there are privacy issues and gray areas with people who have hormone therapy or fall outside of the male and female absolutes.
But, soren, what is murky about the biology? And why do you suppose that conservatives have a problem with this “murkiness”?
What’s murky about biology? Well, some quick examples that might be easier to understand since they are genetic: XXY, XYY, Turner, mosaicism.
Why do conservatives have a problem with “murkiness”? I don’t think you’ll be happy with cultural anthropology that attempts to explain this.
Hilarious!
thanks, tedder. I thought about a saucy reply but am glad you wrote one instead of me.
Please enlighten me, fellas. I was asking in good faith. I just dont understand the conservatives have a problem with this murkiness line.
Don’t forget Chimerism!
Maybe guys should just keep their issues to themselves and not use women’s sports as a dumping ground or support system for their feelings, gendered or not. Think you could handle that guys? That would really be swell. Sincerely, all women.
This may quite possibly be the most intolerant comment I’ve read on this blog. Also the most polarizing and disenfranchising. Congrats!
I feel like the comment preceding it is a pretty strong contender.
How and why? Please explain. I dare you.
As one of Molly’s friendly competitors in the bike business in this metro area, it’s really disheartening to see one of the genuinely good folks in our racket going through this shit. She’s proven an ability to race with men, let her race. Administrators in racing, just like other arenas, get an unfortunate habit of falling in love with their rule books and job titles from time to time.
Here’s a game to play. If this bothers you, or you have strong opinions against Molly, why? How does this affect you? If you believe there are two genders, black and white, no exclusions, does it really bother you if others feel differently?
Ted,
Doesn’t bother me one bit if Molly wants to be a woman or a man. BUT no special rights for Molly or anyone else. If you’re a woman, you compete with women in sports. If you’re a man, you compete with men. Does that make sense to you? Your gender is determined by what is between your legs – always has been that way and will always be that way – and wishing it were different will not make it different.
If the consensus disagrees and thinks it’s OK for men to compete with women then I will start to compete with women in boxing. You will not like the results.
It is tough to be a female persuing an athletic endeavor. There’s a lot of discrimination and disrespect that men never experience. We often just learn to deal with it because if we complain we get labeled one of the many derogatory terms used to describe women who don’t conform to the traditional roles. It just how it is. Transgender men wanting to compete with genetic women show a lack of respect for women trying to compete in athletic endeavors. If transgender men truly knew what it was like to be a woman, especially trying to compete in athletics, they’d chose to exercise their desires to be like women in other avenues.
Molly is a nice person. She does a lot for cycling. She is genetically a man, that’s a fact not a problem. If she wishes to be thought of and described as a woman, that’s okay. When it comes to competition, to be respectful of the gender she identifies with, recognition of the struggles we’ve had in the male-dominated world of Athletics would be appropriate. We don’t need or want men dominating one of the few venues where we can be strong women and proud of what we accomplish. Competing in the mens field is the most appropriate place for Molly right now. I believe she knows that. USA cycling needs to appreciate and respect what women try to do in cycling. Sadly, though, we’ve always been second to every men’s event in most all ways (unless we dress provocatively which is the wrong kind of attention).
Maybe they’ll do the right thing and actually let Molly again race in the men’s field. That’s where she belong in competitions.
Wait. MOLLY CAMERON IS OVER 40?!
I’ve followed Molly’s racing since 2005, and she can hold her own against just about any male racer on any given day. If she is not allowed to race with the men (as she has at the National Championships in the past), she should be allowed to race with the women. The conundrum is that (a) she doesn’t want to ride with the women (which would realistically be unfair to the majority of the women’s field), and (b) she is effectively asking to race “over her head”, since a woman in a men’s field is typically at a physical disadvantage (assuming all else is equal, such as age and racing category). Why should USAC all of a sudden decide to make an issue of this, if the situation is the same as previous years’ National Championships? Is this just another example of political correctedness gone crazy?
GO MOLLY!!!!!
I somehow made it through every comment on this article and now I have a headache. I imagine that it doesn’t even come close to the garbage that Molly has been, and still has to deal with throughout her entire life, about legitimate or not she is as a human.
This is true. But the fact remains, people generally really suck. People are intolerant close minded selfish buffoons. People can’t even have a discussion, because they assume the worst in others whom they don’t understand. People post blog stories then filter comments from responders. People go to war over religion or land. People live in Portland and hate each other because they don’tuse recycled cconcrete to trim their gardens.
I agree with you Josh. I’m nearly 56 years old. I have simply identified as bi since 1970. I knew I was. not even my best close gay friends included me in their world until this past decade without some kinda pushback. I aint cryin in my soup, im too old to give a crap about it anymore. But i will say im sick of people fighting over this . i dont think it will ever end. Tolerance. Good luck.
I wonder.
Want to make sure everyone following this comment thread knows that USA Cycling has reversed its decision and Molly will be allowed to race in the men’s event. Here’s more from VeloNews http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/12/news/transgender-athlete-allowed-to-race-in-mens-cross-nationals_391068