More than a week after cancelling top-level women’s play at five tournaments over issues of inclusion of transgender players, the Pro Disc Golf Tour announced a newly formed series within the current season that will allow trans women to compete in the female category.
The new grouping will be known as the “DGPT United Series” and will reinstate the Female Professional Open division at the Ledgestone Open, Great Lakes Open, MVP Open, American Flying Disc Open, and Discmania Open. The PDGA World Championship event will also be a part of the United Series. The Ledgestone Open will be the opening event to take place August 3-6 in Peoria, Ill.
At those designated tournaments any trans woman who meets any of the criteria of the current Pro Disc Golf Association gender eligibility policy can play in the FPO grouping. Each of those tournaments will count toward both the tour point standings and as part of a separate United Series points and payoff structure.
“Last week’s announcement has affirmed my belief that the sport of disc golf must find a middle road,” Jeff Spring, DGPT CEO and Tour Director, said via written statement Tuesday. “Over the past three seasons, the DGPT has shown that we embrace and celebrate inclusion while acknowledging and working to address the serious issues regarding competitive fairness. We’re happy to deliver a solution that’s supported by the DGPT Tour Card Players on both ends of this issue.”
Current tour points leader and defending PDGA world champion Kristin Tattar supports the move.
“I support them in finding solutions in these tough times and trying to find common ground in a very sensitive area, to make sure we still have a place to excel as disc golf professionals,” Tattar said.
Critics of the compromise note that tournaments that are part of the United Series are also in areas that have robust anti-discrimination laws protecting transgender people, and that this move is mostly to try to head off potential legal liability.
Anti-discrimination laws have provided the legal opening for transgender tour pro Natalie Ryan to challenge the PDGA gender eligibility policy in court. She filed and won lawsuits in California and Minnesota this season to affirm her right to play in the FPO grouping at tournaments in those states.
The DGPT reversal would give Ryan the opportunity to defend her two event titles from last season at the Great Lakes and MVP Opens. However at three other tournaments, all in areas where such protections do not exist, she will not be allowed to play in the FPO.
Her reaction to the DGPT plan, via instagram, was mixed.
“While I’m beyond happy that women will have to compete in the cancelled events, I’m struggling to see how the DGPT decision is a good one,” she noted. “It’s certainly not a bad decision but choosing to discriminate sometimes instead of all the time is still a losing strategy.”
