Mary Gregory, a US powerlifting champ who changed her gender to female before winning the world titles has been stripped of her medals after the sport’s governing body, the RAW Powerlifting Federation, ruled that she was still a man during the competition.
"It was revealed that this female lifter was actually a male in the process of becoming a transgender female", Federation President Paul Bossi confirmed, adding that the organisation’s “rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification".
Bossi proceeded to voice the test results, stating that “the correct physiological classification is male”, pointing out that she technically did not break any world record as the contestant’s gender classification is inconsistent with females. In other words, the compulsory doping control proved that she should have qualified for the men’s competition.
Gregory broke four women’s world records in sporting disciplines such as the squat, bench press, and deadlift categories, as well as earned a “Masters total world record” for her powerlifting scores across the board at the 100% Raw Competition last month.
Almost a year prior to the competition, Gregory had begun Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT,) which includes oestrogen treatment, as well as the use of hormone blockers to regulate her testosterone levels, with the timing suggesting that she could go for the title, under a 2016 ruling by the International Olympic Committee.
The move to revoke Gregory’s winning titles was, however, praised by a number of sportsmen and netizens, with ex-Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies tweet back right after the tournament in April that there is no justice in “male physiology” grabbing the first prizes in a female event.
This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a woman’s event in America in powerlifting. A woman with female biology cannot compete.. it’s a pointless unfair playing field. https://t.co/sI9i3AFANB
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) 28 апреля 2019 г.
Double Olympic champion runner Kelly Holmes’ stance largely echoed Davies’:
"It’s a bloody joke and all getting ready for biological women to boycott certain events. Have a trans category if need be but even better a trans games. Otherwise I’m starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen".
The federation’s decision seems to have also struck a chord with many news readers, with one calling Gregory a “mentally r*tarded tras*domite”, adding that the approach is “dangerous to humanity”.
Mentally retarded transodomite, Mary Gregory is having his weight lifting records in women's powerlifting stripped. I sure do pray that the world stops feeding into the mentally handicap that think they are a different gender than they really are. It is dangerous to humanity.
— Joseph (@joemcginnis51) 14 мая 2019 г.
One openly called “her” out as “a cheat”:
Mary Gregory did not follow the rules for trans inclusion in her sport and was disqualified and had her records removed. She was a cheat.
— Jenny Hoyt (@thedonkeytree) 13 мая 2019 г.
…while another similarly referred to the federation’s move as finally serving justice and adding that feminists should rejoice about this:
About damn time!
— Brent Monday (@Global_Occupant) 12 мая 2019 г.
Listen, I have nothing against Mary Gregory, but "she" should not be weightlifting in the women's weightlifting sport. Every feminist out there should be thankful this is finally getting corrected.https://t.co/rrQKi2Ljzs
