Transgender athletes will be allowed to
compete in CrossFit Games starting in 2019.
According to Them.us,
CrossFit founder and CEO Greg Glassman announced the news during an
event organized by OUTWOD, an LGBT CrossFit group.
“In the 2019 CrossFit competitive
season, starting with the Open, transgender athletes are welcome to
participate in the division with which they identify,” Glassman
said. “This is the right thing to do. CrossFit believes in the
potential, capacity, and dignity of every athlete. We are proud of
our LGBT community, including our transgender athletes, and we want
you here with us.”
CrossFit has previously resisted
allowing transgender athletes to compete.
In 2014, transgender personal trainer
Chloie Jonsson sued the company for $2.5 million after it
disqualified her from competing as a woman. The company defended its
decision, saying in a letter that its decision has “nothing to do
with 'ignorance' or being bigots – it has to do with very real
understanding of the human genome, of fundamental biology, that you
are either intentionally ignoring or missed in high school.”
(Related: Transgender
athlete Chloie Jonsson sues CrossFit for $2.5 million.)
Speaking with Outsports,
Jonsson called the policy change “a bit of closure.”
In June, CrossFit
fired a spokesman for calling LGBT Pride a “sin.”