Transgender surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson faced a lot of pushback when she tried to compete in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro as she was initially barred from competing before the State of California ruled that she must be allowed to compete. And despite the pushback, she has vowed to continue competing in women’s events.
Lowerson was initially told that she would not be allowed to compete in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro competition even though the International Surfing Association (ISA) explicitly allows transgender women to compete in women’s if they meet certain criteria around testosterone levels. But the California Coastal Commission said surf competitions could “not discriminate based on gender,” ruling that she must be allowed to compete in the women’s competition.
“I was really disappointed and surprised [at being excluded],” Lowerson told the BBC. “You can’t cherry-pick the rulebook. If you’re going to use the rulebook, you use all of it.”
The pushback she received may have been discouraging, but she has vowed to continue surfing in women’s competitions despite this.
“I’ve inadvertently become a poster-child for trans women in surfing,” she said. “Not that I wanted to do that, but it just kind of happened.”
“Sport is about community,” she added. “It’s about sharing and having fun with other like-minded people, and the fact we’re losing sight of that is really sad.”
Lowerson just wants to compete with other women, and she’s going to continue doing that as long as the rules allow.
[BBC]
