USA Wrestling has announced a policy change that will finally allow a 17-year-old transgender teen Mack Beggs to wrestle against boys, according to LGBTQ Nation.
The change is in line with the International Olympic Committee and states that anyone transitioning from female to male "shall only be eligible to compete in the male category without restriction” and that the athlete need only "declared that his gender identity is male”.
According to a USA Wrestling spokesperson, this is the first transgender policy the organisation has had.
However, Beggs’ school competition continues to prohibit him from competing against boys with the University Interscholastic League (UIL) requiring contestants to compete based on their sex assigned at birth.
Beggs caused controversy last month after winning the UIL state championship in the girls division—despite requesting to wrestle against males.
Parents of female competitors complained that Beggs had an unfair advantage due to prescribed testosterone treatments and filed a lawsuit to prohibit him from taking part in the 2017/2018 season.
Triathlete Chris Mosier— the first openly transgender athlete to make a US men’s national team—told Associated Press that Beggs could help effect change in the sporting world.
“Mack is challenging what people thought was a good policy,” Mosier said. “This very well may spark change from people just by seeing how the policy was not well thought out and this is the outcome of following the rules exactly as they are.”
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