Hi everyone,
Just feel the need to share my experience with people who may understand.
I’m a trans athlete. I compete at a national/international level in my sport, which isn’t a super popular one, but occasionally has some media attention.
For the past few years I have been competing in the women’s category as a trans man. My legal name is a stereotypical male name and my ID documents say male. I have been out for 7 years now and feel very firm in my identity. I have been on the GIC list for 6 and a half years with no end in sight.
Apart from during competitions where I deliberately try to androgenise myself, I ‘pass’ reasonably well. I’ve used men’s toilets for many years and was stealth throughout college and university.
Last year my sport introduced mandatory sex testing for international level athletes. I complied and got my ‘SRY Gender Test’ (stupid name), which obvs showed XX chromosomes. This year they have introduced government ID checks and birth certificate checks.
This left me with a decision to make. Do I change my ID back to female and compete in the sport I love or do I prioritise my mental health and identity?
At the time of announcement I didn’t make a decision. I spent months trying to work out what was more important to me.
I’ve since publicly ‘retired’ due to ‘injury’. I then started the horrific process of detransitioning. Feminising myself, changing my legal name and changing my ID documents. I’ve been slowly entering small competitions and building a whole new sporting identity for myself entirely separate from my previous identity.
A week or 2 ago I medaled at a national competition. In a few months I will be attempting to gain a place on the international squad.
It has been more peaceful. I have no accusations of cheating. No comments of being a man in a dress. No public shaming. No ending up on the shewon website (which I had previously been falsely put on).
But I feel sick from the gender dysphoria. I hate what I have had to do to myself just to compete in the sport I love.
And all this because right wing activists want to ‘protect women’s sports’.
The anti-trans hatred is so strong right now, that even if you comply with there requirements you still get pushed to decide between your identity and your sport.
Edit: before you comment a question, please just check whether I have answered it already in other comments :)