Nonbinary Inclusion Cannot Come At The Expense of Trans Women Athletes

A month ago, Cal Calamia made history by becoming the first trans runner to win the nonbinary division at the New York City Marathon, completing the race in a time of 2:48:46. The new gender category, established in 2021, has been added to hundreds of races nationwide. Recently, it was introduced in four other World Marathon Majors: London, Boston, Chicago, and Berlin, signifying an important commitment to nonbinary inclusion.

 

Assigned female at birth, Calamia had been running in the women’s division until 2022, when they made historic wins in the nonbinary categories at both the San Francisco Marathon and Bay to Breakers. Beyond their accomplishments in running, Calamia advocates for welcoming spaces for nonbinary runners, such as awards, proper pronoun usage, media coverage, and the provision of gender-neutral restrooms.

 

Jake Fedorowski, a nonbinary marathoner, actively engages with race directors and offers their insights as a consultant. Their goal is to assist race organizations in integrating nonbinary options into the registration process for runners. In 2022, Fedorowski took the initiative to create a guide to nonbinary inclusion in running and a database that keeps track of races that have publicized the addition of nonbinary divisions. This bottom-up approach has yielded success in promoting inclusion within marathon events, contributing to a notable increase in the participation of nonbinary athletes over the past three years.

 

Being the first nonbinary runner granted a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for testosterone in their gender-affirming treatment, Calamia stresses the importance of taking up spaces by being visible as a trans runner.  Competing in the nonbinary category has allowed them to “show up as [their] authentic self”. By participating and winning in the nonbinary division, Calamia makes a statement that “we [trans and nonbinary people] are here, that we do want to compete in sports, and that we belong in sports”.

 

Despite concerted efforts to increase visibility for trans and nonbinary runners, the process toward inclusion is often meandering. Nonbinary activists find themselves engaged in constant negotiations with race directors, advocating for the incorporation of essential elements such as monetary prizes, awards, and a dedicated finish line ribbon for nonbinary runners. Currently, nonbinary athletes can “run in marathons, but they can’t actually win” because they are not recognized in elite races, confining them to lower-level competitions and hindering their potential career toward becoming professional runners.

 

The introduction of the new gender category also raises practical concerns regarding gender equity, especially for nonbinary runners who were assigned female at birth. Anti-trans Olympian runner Mara Yamauchi claims that the nonbinary category creates inequity among runners. According to her, assigned-male-at-birth runners tend to dominate the division, followed by transmasculine runners like Calamia, and assigned-female-at-birth athletes positioned at the lower end.  She contends that the new category “conflates sex with gender identity and ignoring the fact that males run on average 10% faster than females”. This, in her view, makes it challenging for runners in the category to “compete fairly against each other”.

 

While Yamauchi’s discontent with the nonbinary division is often dismissed as transphobic, her concerns regarding physiological advantages are not entirely without ground. In major marathons that offer a nonbinary category, almost all winners have been individuals assigned male at birth. Recognizing that cultural factors like sponsorship and training opportunities play a pivotal role in one’s access to the sport, no sport can be completely fair. More data and research are needed to determine the extent to which the impact of physiological and cultural influences on highly accessible sports like running.

 

Yamauchi’s controversy involving UK transwomen runner Glenique Frank during the London Marathon 2023 raises another crucial question about whether the creation of nonbinary divisions coerces transwomen runners to choose between “male” or “nonbinary” categories. Frank, placed at 6160th with a time of 4:11:28, was accused of taking away the opportunity of 14,000 female runners who “suffered a worse finish position” by her participation in the female category without undergoing gender-affirming treatments. The event director of the London Marathon, Huge Brasher, clarified that Frank competed in the mass event of the marathon, designed to be inclusive “for everyone”, and did not “operate under previous World Athletics rules surrounding transgender athletes”.

 

While Frank did not violate the rules regarding female eligibility at the London Marathon, she suffered from a huge backlash. In response, she issued an apology for entering the female category. Although Frank expressed that registering herself in the nonbinary category felt “quite sad”, she promised she would enter either the “male” or “nonbinary” category in future runs, “just to keep everybody happy”.

 

Frank’s story demonstrated that despite the availability of nonbinary divisions in marathons to promote inclusivity, transwoman athletes often find themselves compelled to compete in a category that does not align with their gender identity. While nonbinary divisions recognize those who do not see themselves fitting into the binary gender of male and female, the visibility gained for nonbinary runners comes at the expense of coercing trans athletes, especially transwomen, to participate in the nonbinary or male category due to public pressure.

 

As such, a nonbinary category can potentially be as detrimental as an Open or Transgender category. These categories operate on a similar logic of “harmful ‘othering’” by lumping trans and nonbinary athletes together.

 

Introducing a third category that allows nonbinary runners to compete according to their gender identity while excluding transwoman runners may inadvertently create a new gender hierarchy within the spectrum of trans and nonbinary athletes. While the establishment of a nonbinary division in sports intends to enhance accessibility for gender-diverse communities to express their “authentic selves”, as advocated by figures like Calamia, Fedorowski, and other nonbinary runners, it is imperative for race organizers to actively engage in ongoing discussions with both nonbinary and trans athletes. These dialogues are essential in advancing inclusion for everyone, leaving no one behind.

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Original Article posted in TransGriot.com