The American Longboard Association’s decision to backtrack on not allowing a transgender surfer to compete in a competition has gained multiple critics, among them being surfer Bethany Hamilton and journalist Megyn Kelly.
Todd Messick, the founder of the ALA, reversed course on a decision not to allow transgender surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson to compete against women in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro competition. The California Coastal Commission had told the association that surfing competitions cannot “discriminate based on gender.”
“California state law allows for males in female surfing events,” Hamilton wrote on X. “This is not fair game. I do not support this.”
Hamilton, who lost one of her arms in a 2003 shark attack and later returned to surfing, has spoken out against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports in the past, writing in January that “male-bodied athletes” do not belong in women’s sports. Riley Gaines, a women’s sports activist and OutKick host, reposted Hamilton’s most recent post on X.
Kelly, meanwhile, joked that women athletes should give their trophies to transgender athletes, sarcastically stating that it would be “kinder and more inclusive for us to let them have them.”
“Why won’t the bigots just stop complaining?” Kelly wrote. “Trans rights trump women’s rights and that’s just a fact of the woke hierarchy. Welcome to ladies’ longboarding fellas!”
Kelly has spoken out against transgender topics in the past, greatly criticizing former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for claiming that those who are 18 and older should “live any way they want to live” when asked if men could transition into women. Kelly described Haley’s answer as “utter bulls***” and “the WRONG ANSWER.”
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The ALA allowing Lowerson to compete in the women’s surfing competition comes after the Biden administration finalized its Title IX rules last month, which expanded the definition of sex to include transgender identities. While the new rules only pertain to the sexual harassment and discrimination portions of Title IX, an open rulemaking process is set to address matters of transgender participation in sports.
Since Title IX’s overhaul, Louisiana, Mississippi, Idaho, and Montana have banded together in a lawsuit, with the education advocacy group Defense of Freedom Institute opposing the new version of Title IX. Texas, meanwhile, has partnered with conservative law firm America First Legal for its own lawsuit. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has directed Texas public university systems and community colleges not to comply with this rule change.
