NRLW to get its first Transgender player next season -Updated

Well the issue the nrl may have to deal with is a case like Lia Thomas who is beating all the biological women in swimming. It opens up a can of worms. No right or wrong I suppose but it has the potential to be very controversial as it causes an imbalance of competitiveness when someone was born a man.
 
upthetigers said:
Transgenders have an unfair advantage. Why do you think it's not allowed in the Olympics?
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This just adds to the stigma. The fact a couple of transgenders are competing doesn’t outweigh acceptance of transgenders as a whole. I don’t see all these people outraged over a few trans athletes getting a supposed advantage being affected by the suicide rate of trans people which would be considerably higher than a few a few competing in women‘s sport.
 
GNR4LIFE said:
This just adds to the stigma. The fact a couple of transgenders are competing doesn’t outweigh acceptance of transgenders as a whole. I don’t see all these people outraged over a few trans athletes getting a supposed advantage being affected by the suicide rate of trans people which would be considerably higher than a few a few competing in women‘s sport.
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How is it fair that women have to compete against men? If it was the UFC/MMA would you have a different opinion?
 
I'm all for supporting trans people. They can make their own life choices and I'm happy to use whatever pronoun.

But that shouldn't come to the detriment of others. I don't know what the solution is, but it's not fair on women athletes to have biological men complete in their sports. Maybe if they get the hormone measurements correct to the point where they can definitively say it's a level playing field, but damn that has to be hard. You just need to look at Lia Thomas as @trentrunciman mentions above.

I think it needs a lot more testing and refinement before the flood gates are opened.
 
hammertime said:
I'm all for supporting trans people. They can make their own life choices and I'm happy to use whatever pronoun.

But that shouldn't come to the detriment of others. I don't know what the solution is, but it's not fair on women athletes to have biological men complete in their sports. Maybe if they get the hormone measurements correct to the point where they can definitively say it's a level playing field, but damn that has to be hard. You just need to look at Lia Thomas as @trentrunciman mentions above.

I think it needs a lot more testing and refinement before the flood gates are opened.
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Very sensible comment. It’s not as simple as being inclusive because it comes at the cost of women who have trained their entire lives and dedicated themselves to a sport to be taken away by someone who was biologically born a man. Sort of like letting big kids play with normal sized kids in junior footy.

It’s a philosophical conundrum. deontological? utilitarianism? I don’t know the answer at all
 
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Controversial subject.

It's been happening in a few different sports of late and it's got the communities divided.

There has been some transgender athletes in combat sports. No one is forced to compete, they can opt out and not agree to such fights.

Rugby league is a collision sport and there is contact involved so there could be some extra harm involved but either way.... It's not up to us and if the NRL agrees to it, then it is what it is.

I'd implore all to try and approach their discussions with some understanding and convey their points without offensive languages as the forum is read by many people across the community, not just the members of the forum.

🫂
 
GNR4LIFE said:
How is it fair that trans people get bullied and alienated to the point of suicide? That’s a much a bigger issue if you want to talk about transgendered people.
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So you want it to be all inclusive even in sport. Let's say your daughter was fighting in the UFC for arguments sake. Are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't be outraged if she was fighting a male?
 
I think what is going to happen instead of more acceptance for trans people, there will be anger and frustration. Women are going to miss out on opportunities or they may be at greater risk of injury against a biological man for collision sports. I think it's going to do the opposite of acceptance of trans people. They really need to take a slowly, slowly approach here and make sure they refine the bar for competing along the way.
 
upthetigers said:
So you want it to be all inclusive even in sport. Let's say your daughter was fighting in the UFC for arguments sake. Are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't be outraged if she was fighting a male?
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As I said, I couldn’t care less about the inclusiveness of sport. The bigger issue is these people being stigmatised to the point of suicide. Where are all the complainers then? To them this is a more important issue and that’s just sad that that’s where we are as a society.
 
Demps said:
Controversial subject.

It's been happening in a few different sports of late and it's got the communities divided.

There has been some transgender athletes in combat sports. No one is forced to compete, they can opt out and not agree to such fights.

Rugby league is a collision sport and there is contact involved so there could be some extra harm involved but either way.... It's not up to us and if the NRL agrees to it, then it is what it is.

I'd implore all to try and approach their discussions with some understanding and convey their points without offensive languages as the forum is read by many people across the community, not just the members of the forum.

🫂
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I agree mate. Any hatred towards the trans community should be immediately kicked.

The question for me is that the bridge we are crossing here is that inclusivity is going beyond treating everyone as equals. It's now about including one demographic potentially at the expense of another demographic. It's a real tough one. Maybe one that doesn't have a solution
 
GNR4LIFE said:
As I said, I couldn’t care less about the inclusiveness of sport. The bigger issue is these people being stigmatised to the point of suicide. Where are all the complainers then? To them this is a more important issue and that’s just sad that that’s where we are as a society.
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Yeah, that's a massive problem GNR. I think the world is striving towards being better. To be honest, there is not much we really know about the brain. Chromosomes may not be the only determining factor. Potentially there is something else there that science is yet to understand.

But I would certainly separate that from the sport issue, which I think you are.
 
hammertime said:
Yeah, that's a massive problem GNR. I think the world is striving towards being better. To be honest, there is not much we really know about the brain. Chromosomes may not be the only determining factor. Potentially there is something else there that science is yet to understand.

But I would certainly separate that from the sport issue, which I think you are.
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They are separate issues. One is pretty minute compared to the other, yet that’s where all the focus goes.
 
I get the performance issue, especially in top level international sport.

Less of an issue in team sport imo. Honestly for the cost (quality/fairness of NRLW) vs benefit for inclusivity I'm OK with it.

Would actually be happy for the players to decide this tbh, but we have a history of being a very inclusive sport, irrespective of if we are left or right wing, and I think it is a good feature of the game.
 
GNR4LIFE said:
They are separate issues. One is pretty minute compared to the other, yet that’s where all the focus goes.
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I just think there isn't too much to talk about on that. We have to be inclusive and get those rates down. I know my workplace does a hell of a lot on that side. It's just going to take time.
 
I don't think it's fair at all.

These are the things I know, and I am happy for someone to call me sexist or homophobe etc, as long as the facts are argued. I haven't done any research into it so if I'm wrong about something, I do apologise.

Until 12 years of age, the male and female body is almost identical (other than obvious differences), and as far as I know no one is allowed to officially start changing gender until they are 18. That means they have had 6 years of growing as a man. Their toes, feet, torso, chest, fingers, lungs etc develops like a man.

Yes you can alter their hormone levels, and I have seen many trans people in my job- I have to do the hard job of asking them if they are male or female because the normative values don't apply to trans when we do our physical assessments. I truly understand that the process of transforming is extremely hard and can give you lifelong difficulties with the surgeries. But it still doesn't change the years and years of development.

We don't know if the 2 year grace period they get is enough. It's not fair on the women.

The men's competitions (not just RL) need to be termed "open".. which allows women, trans etc to all participate in it if they wish.
 
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