Trans Basketballer Banned From Playing in Female Competition Divides Fans
transgender said she was "sad about the potential message the decision" sends.Lexi Rodgers will not be allowed to play in the NBL1—a semi-professional, lower-tier basketball league in Australia—after a Basketball Australia (BA) panel reviewed her application.The BA decision comes at a time when transgender athletes are under intense scrutiny, part of a wider debate about transgender rights globally.
In the U.S. 40 percent of states have banned transgender athletes from participating in women's sport.Rodgers applied to BA to play for regional team Kilsyth Cobras but her application was rejected by a panel consisting of BA chief medical officer Peter Harcourt, Olympian Suzy Batkovic, and sport and exercise physician Diana Robinson.Her application to play made headlines when former NBA and Australian national player Andrew Bogut expressed on Twitter in March his opposition to her request."Word is@NBL1 South Women will have a biological Male playing this upcoming season.
Are you ok with sacrificing the sanctity of Female Sport in the name of 'inclusion'? #GirlDads where are you? The hashtag is trendy until action is needed," he wrote.While BA did not give a specific reason for knocking back Rodgers, it said that it "assesses eligibility of prospective elite level transgender athletes on a 'case-by-case' basis, accounting for and balancing a range of factors.""As the governing body, we acknowledge we're still on a path of education and understanding.
