Patricio Manuel, the first transgender boxer to compete and win a professional bout in the U.S., spoke out against the World Boxing Council’s recent proposal to create a separate division for transgender fighters.
The pioneer took to his Instagram Monday and criticized the initiative.
“The WBC’s statement contradicts policies that have been crafted over years at the highest levels of sports governing agencies, such as the International Olympic Committee and USA Boxing, that sanction transgender men to fight with non-transgender men and transgender women to fight with non-transgender women,’ “ Manuel writes.
“I hope the WBC will use its power to become an advocate for true transgender inclusion in the sport. I also hope they will reconsider their policy around transgender boxers after properly consulting with experts who are truly knowledgeable about transgender athletes.”
The WBC’s proposal stems from the organization’s decision last August to ban all transgender boxers from competing against cisgender boxers. The WBC’s tentative plans call for an as-yet undefined framework built around separate categories for trans men and trans women.
‘We are doing this because of safety and inclusion,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán told the Telegraph, a publication based out of the U.K. “We are creating a set of rules and structures so that transgender boxing can take place. We’re opening a universal registration in 2023, so that we can understand the boxers that are out there and we’ll start from there.”
In the same interview, Suleiman also made some pointed, misgendering statements in regard to trans inclusion.
“In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change,” he said.
Manuel took exception to Suleiman’s words.
“The WBC is inherently dehumanizing transgender people by implying that trans men aren’t men and trans women aren’t women,” he said. “This rhetoric flies in the face of both existing policies at the highest level of governing bodies in the world of sports and my own lived experience.”
Manuel’s lived experience includes a 2018 bout against Hugo Aguilar, in which he won by unanimous decision. It was the first time a transgender man had stepped into the professional prize ring.
Manuel says the way in which he was received before and after the event is the reason he’s speaking out.
“When I walk into the gym, I am treated no differently than any other man in all aspects of training,” he said. “At a time of rising discrimination against transgender people in the United States, I am grateful to have received nothing but support and camaraderie from these boxers and their coaches, who have seen and respected me as the man I am.”
