“What a day, 9 for 9!”
When Mary Gregory filled out the registration form to compete in a local weightlifting event, she checked the box that read “female” without hesitation.
“I mean, that’s my gender,” she said “I didn’t even think about it. That’s who I am.”
If any eyebrows were raised, Gregory didn’t notice, and on April 27, after months of training, she strode onto the platform at the Best Western hotel just east of Charlottesville and wowed the spectators and fellow powerlifters in attendance. That night she posted a picture on Instagram of herself holding a trophy, telling her 120 followers about the records she set for her age and weight class in the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation, which organized the day’s competition.
“What a day, 9 for 9!” she posted. “Masters world squat record, open world bench record, masters world dl record, and masters world total record! Still processing …”
So were the other competitors, I daresay.
But just a couple of days later Gregory was stripped of all the titles.
“She put down female. Clearly, she’s not a female,” said Paul Bossi, 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation’s president. “Not biologically anyways.
“In our rules, we go by biological,” he said. “According to the rules, she can only lift in the men’s division. … I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings but I have to follow the rules.”
He said Gregory never volunteered that she was transgender and event organizers didn’t confirm she’d competed in the wrong category until a post-match drug test was administered.
And by the way when it comes to hurt feelings…what about the feelings of the other competitors?
“We could’ve rectified a lot of this prior had we known,” Bossi said. “In a way, we felt like we were duped.”
Gregory, 44, says she never misled anyone. Two weeks later, she is still hurt and angry, as the larger sports world continues to wrestle with defining and imposing gender classifications, finding a balance for competition that’s both fair and inclusive.
Hurt and angry because prevented from cheating women out of prizes – that is one narcissistic entitled dude.
“I felt like they were invalidating my gender and my identity,” said Gregory, who began hormone replacement treatment a year ago and feels she should be allowed to compete alongside any other female.
Why does Gregor think his “gender” and his “identity” are more important than the other competitors’ interest in having a fair contest? Why does he think it’s so important that other people “validate” his gender and his identity? (The answer probably has to do with the narcissism and entitlement; see also male socialization.)
Defining, yes. But imposing? No, once defined, they are established, not imposed. That is trans-rights language – as though imposing is something that is being done to them, rather than something they are doing to others.
And sex categories should be the criteria here – discrimination has been sex based, and gender is the means of imposing sex-based discrimination. Sports categories are realistically based around sex, because women are, quite simply, built differently than men, and have different strength categories. Different speed categories.
But the article says that it took Mary Gregory months of training to win every title and set new records! Months, I tell you!
Most people just pick up a barbell or two the day before strolling into a weightlifting competition and walking off with all the honors. This is so unfair!
“any *other* female”??!!
Which word does not belong?
This is one sport where it is viable to have transgender divisions. Unlike other sports that are affected by the weather, track conditions, skill of opponents, etc., so you can’t always fairly compare scores or performances across events, in powerlifting weight is weight. It probably wouldn’t be practical to have awards at each event because the field would be too small, but transgender athletes could get official lift scores and compete for regional, national, and international awards and records in transgender categories. And then we can clearly see how things would fall out (spoiler: trans men will do worse than natal men and trans women will do better than natal women).
And in all likelihood, transmen will do worse than transwomen. Though there hasn’t been enough records of transmen athletes that I’ve seen to know that for sure. It just makes sense, since transmen are natal women.
Mary Gregory was a Victorian-era glass decorator, arguably the most talented enamel artist of her day. She worked at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. in Cape Cod, and her highly distinctive work is much sought-after by collectors today. Some of the subject matter is rather mawkish in that Victorian sentimental style but there’s no denying the skill of the artist. Ironically, much glassware decorated in the style of, but inferior to Gregory’s work is now generically termed ‘Gregory glass’ (usually by unscrupulous dealers trying to pass off poor copies as the real thing), but there is no mistaking the quality of a genuine Gregory piece.
Anyhow, I did an image search for the Mary Gregory from the article and….yep, unmistakeably a man. A couple of things did catch my attention. In the images taken after the competition, Gregory is wearing a tee shirt bearing the motto ‘Share the Platform’. Really? I see that as yet another demand on women to move aside for men, and a blatant demand at that. There are also pictures of him in a sweatshirt bearing the motto ‘All I Need is Coffee and a Barbell’. Yeah, right! He’s conveniently forgetting the male body and muscle-mass, the sense of entitlement, and a bullying nature. But that’s too much for one shirt-front, I suppose. A tad too honest, too.