A free-running community has been targeted again for allowing trans women to compete in the women’s category.
Parkrun is a global organization with events each Saturday and Sunday in more than 20 countries around the world, according to its website. It offers several different distances for people to participate in.
The organization allows participants to allow people to identify with their gender instead of the sex assigned at birth. It also allows a range of options for people who identify as nonbinary.
parkrun has been very strongly inclusive of trans folk, so they aren’t likely to fold easily to this sort of stuff. They consulted me as part of their 2019 overhaul of the way they handled gender, specifically because they wanted to hear trans voices.
I’ve spoken at one of their regional conferences, and they even stuck my rambling on a video on youtube to highlight what inclusion looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoFMav9G8vs
Under attack by the same disgusting transphobes as usual, saying the same tired transphobic bullshit as usual. They won’t stop until trans women are erased permanently, and then they will go back to hurting eachother.
They’re literally citing bullshit “advantages” that trans women supposedly have over cis women in a non-competetive, welcoming environment. They just don’t want trans women anywhere, ever, and will say whatever they have to and threaten whatever they have to in order to make it happen.
I don’t get why gender/sex is relevant information for sign-up in any way for noncompetitive fun-runs…just let people sign up, you barely even need a name, just give them a registration number on sign up that they can use to pick up their bib (if that’s even used)
You don’t have to provide your gender when signing up.
For some people, measuring their progress against others is a way to motivate themselves to continue working hard to improve. That’s why Parkrun has course records, overall placings and gender placings. It can be a weekly little race if you want it to be, but the important thing is that every participant chooses how they want to take part. It can be as competitive as trying to finish first and set a course record or as uncompetitive as going for a morning walk with the dog or baby.
Sometimes people (usually newcomers or people who don’t attend) feel insecure about this but it’s a way to attract people from the community of all ages and backgrounds. If Parkrun only appealed to casuals, or only appealed to hardcore runners, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful as it is at getting large numbers of people from the local community out exercising and socialising with people outside of their usual social circle.
A silver medal-winning swimmer, Sharron Davies and yachtswoman Tracy Edwards have threatened legal action if Parkrun doesn’t exclude trans women from the women’s category by next Friday.
Parkrun is a free community event. Why are former professional athletes trying to dictate what it should or shouldn’t do? No one who participates actually cares about gender competition, this is a complete non-issue.
Sharron Davies hasn’t been relevant this millennium, she’s 64 years old. She’s a tired old trout and should just fuck off
Ah yes, let’s stick it to all those fake women who upend their entire lives, undergo constant discrimination, and in some cases invasive medical procedures so they can checks notes podium at an amateur local running event that offers no prizes
Proudly representing trans runners that are completely dogshit at it.
I used to be a really good runner until I transitioned! :P
But don’t you know that trans women are naturally faster at running because we wanna be both transphobic and sexist at the same time while hiding behind the culture war like the cry babies we are?
Kinda verbose, but that’s basically the exact vibes I get whenever I hear transphobia in any activity. Just replace it with a different activity and it’ll be the exact same vibes.
