The Olympic rings floating on a platform near Odaiba, in Tokyo Bay, in anticipation of the Olympic Games – Photo: Real Estate Japan, via Wikimedia.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is slated to become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics after qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Games, which were postponed a year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Hubbard qualified for the games in the women’s super heavyweight division, due to a rule change passed regarding the qualification system, which originally required athletes to participate in six events across three six-month-long phases, with the best result from each phase, plus the best remaining result, being used to qualify. By competing, athletes also offered themselves up for testing for performance-enhancing drugs.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rule was changed so athletes only needed to post one event from phase one (back in 2018), one from phase two, and any two other performances during the qualification window, according to Inside the Games. The deadline for qualification is July 5.
Under current International Olympic Committee rules, a transgender athlete may compete as a woman, provided their testosterone levels are below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months before their first competition. Hubbard already met that particular eligibility criteria, but there was still uncertainty over whether she’d have the requisite number of qualifying performances due to the cancellation of many different competitions.
Now, having qualified, the 43-year-old Hubbard will be the oldest weightlifter at the Tokyo Games later this year. Just about two years ago, she sustained an injury at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia that could have potentially ended her career.
But she rebounded, winning gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa — although her victory over Feagaiga Stowers, Samoa’s Commonwealth Games champion, sparked outrage among Samoans and among opponents of transgender participation in female-designated sports. She also placed sixth at the last IWF World Championships that year.
Hubbard’s best total in qualifying is 285 kilograms, which could place her among a small group of athletes who might potentially win a medal. She is currently ranked 16th overall, but six athletes ranked above her — four from China and two from South Korea — will be absent, due to a rule limiting each nation to one athlete per category.
Additionally, a North Korean athlete ranked above her will not compete due to North Korea refusing to participate in the Olympic Games, and a Russian athlete ranked above her is currently suspended.
In a 2017 interview, Hubbard noted that the rules enabling her to compete as a transgender woman first went into effect in 2003.
“They are known as the Stockholm consensus with the IOC but I think even 10 years ago the world perhaps wasn’t ready for an athlete like myself — and perhaps it is not ready now,” she said at the time. “But I got the sense at least that people were willing to consider me for these competitions and it seemed like the right time to put the boots on and hit the platform.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Tennessee law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth with gender dysphoria.
A group of families of transgender youth and a doctor who treats them sued to overturn the law, arguing it was unconstitutional, infringed on parental rights, and violated nondiscrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. Lower courts ultimately dismissed the parental rights and ACA-based claims.
A new Williams Institute report shows LGBTQ adults are more likely to rely on food assistance -- and could be disproportionately harmed by Republican-led efforts to slash SNAP funding.
A new report from the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ-focused think tank at UCLA School of Law, finds that 15% of LGBTQ adults -- nearly 2.1 million people -- received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in the past year.
The report arrives as Congress prepares to pass legislation backed by President Donald Trump that would make his 2017 tax cuts permanent. In exchange -- particularly for high-income earners and corporations -- the Republican-backed bill proposes significant cuts to domestic social safety net programs.
A Christian school in the Atlanta suburbs forced a senior to withdraw just weeks before graduation after attending her prom with a transgender boy.
Emily Wright, who until recently attended North Cobb Christian School, went to her senior prom, which was held at an off-campus venue, with a friend who didn't attend the school.
"It was off-property. I did sign a form allowing her to bring a guest," Emily's mother, Tricia Wright, told Atlanta FOX affiliate WAGA-TV, noting that the only limitation on the form was related to the age of the guest.
Ten days after prom, Emily was called into the principal's office.
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