In a judgement that can have far-reaching consequences in the sports sector in the country, the Kerala High Court has said that transgender people should be allowed to participate in the category of the gender they identify themselves with. On Friday 29th July 2022, the Kerala High Court ruled that in the case of lack of a distinct category for transgender people to compete in a sporting event, they must be allowed to compete in the category of their choice. Justice VG Arun was hearing a petition by a transwoman who wanted to compete in a district-level Judo tournament but was instructed by the organizers that transgender people are not permitted to compete.
Justice VG Arun asserted that every transgender person has the same right to compete in sports and that they must be permitted to take part in the category of their choice if there is no distinct category.
Transgender persons have right to take part in sporting events in gender of their choice in absence of separate category: Kerala High Court
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) July 29, 2022
report by @GitiPratap #LGBTQIA #keralahighcourt
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The court said in its order, “It is my considered opinion that a transgender person is having equal right to participate in competitions. Here, in the absence of any category for participating transgender persons, the petitioner is seeking to participate in her identity as a woman. If the organizers have not made arrangements for participating transgenders, then the petitioner will have to be permitted to participate in her chosen category.”
The Court ordered the tournament’s organizers to accept the petitioner’s entry and let her compete provisionally, pending the resolution of the case. The Court made the ruling in response to a petition filed by a transwoman who claimed to have competed in competitions her whole life, even after getting gender-affirming surgery, though she did so under the transgender domain. She was told that transgender people would not be permitted to compete in the tournament when she tried to register her entry to compete in a District Level Judo tournament.
The petitioner’s attorney, Dhanuja MS, argued that since the operation and approximately 5 years of hormone medication to transition from man to woman, the petitioner has a strong sense of her gender identity as a woman. As a result, the petitioner ought to be allowed to compete in the women’s category. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the historic case of National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, in which the highest court recognized transgender as a gender identity, was cited in this case.
The Kerala Judo Association and the Kozhikode Judo Association were ordered by the court to approve the petitioner’s plea and grant her permission to compete on a provisional basis.
Issues with the participation of transwomen in women’s categories in sports
Participation of trans persons in sports is a contentious issue and is associated with additional questions apart from usual issues related to the trans movement. In most cases, it is transwomen, men who have transitioned to women, wanting to participate in women’s category in various sports. But it has been alleged that this put them at an unfair advantage in sports that rely on physical strength, as even after converting to women, they retain some male characteristics, including higher strength and stamina.
While the trans community claims that sex-change surgery and hormone therapy remove all male characteristics, biological women who are forced to compete with men-turned-women deny that claim. Studies have shown that transwomen retain a significant amount of strength related to men. Moreover, even if they lose some strength due to therapy, they never lose other physical characteristics like height, which play important role in several sports.
While many sports organisations have formulated rules specifying various factors allowing transwoman to participate in the women’s category, some like the International Swimming Federation has banned transgender women who had experienced male puberty from competing in women’s events.
In a ruling issued last month, FINA said that transwomen who transition to female after attaining puberty as male retain significant physical advantages, and this puts biological women players at a great disadvantage. The decision was taken months after transwoman Lia Thomas had become the first transgender woman to win an N.C.A.A. Division I swimming championship.
After FINA, the International Rugby League also issued a similar order, barring transwomen from participating in international women’s events.
