At least five men who claim to be transgender competed in the US Pro Disc Golf Association (PDGA) Women’s Championships, which took place June 19 to 22, securing nearly $5,000 in prize money intended for female athletes.
Trans-identified male athlete James “Nova” Politte took first place in the Women’s 55+ Pro division, securing a national championship title and was awarded a $2,050 prize. During the registration period just prior to the championships, Politte took to social media and announced that he was monitoring the names of the women who switched divisions or dropped out of the competition after he officially entered – suggesting they were doing so due to a lack of “trans acceptance.”
This is Politte’s third major title, having twice been declared the PDGA Masters World Champion in the Female Pro 50+ division – first in 2021, then again in 2022. Politte has been an active PDGA competitor across various mixed or open divisions since 2015, but won his first PDGA Masters World Championship title after he began competing in a female age-protected category.
Politte’s romantic partner, Salvatore “Kimberly” Giannola took second place at the Women’s Championships, and a $1,100 prize, in the Women’s 50+ division. Since the start of this year, Giannola has competed in six women’s events, and has received $2,076 in total. Last month, Giannola took first place at the Women’s Pro Open, while Politte came in third.
Another male athlete competing in the women’s category last week, Logan “Natalie” Ryan, came in 20th place in the Women’s Pro Open division, and received a $1,440 prize. Ryan has competed in seven Women’s Pro Open tournaments in just this year alone, and has been awarded over $5,300 in prize money within the past three months. Since 2019, he has racked up 30 wins in the women’s division, and has reportedly taken home over $40,000 in prize money.
Ryan’s participation in the women’s events has come under scrutiny in recent years. In December 2022, Ryan took legal action against the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) over a revision that had been made to their gender identity policies.
The updated rule, which appeared to have been adopted due to his presence in the women’s category, stated that “players who were assigned male at birth” must have started their medical “transition” before the onset of puberty to be considered eligible to compete against women. It also stipulated that trans-identified male players must “continuously maintain a total testosterone level below 2.0 nmol/L.” The average normal testosterone level in women is typically between 0.20 and 1.67 nmol/L.
“This policy attacks touring athletes due to my success on the 2022 tour,” Ryan stated in his request for financial support on crowd-funding site GoFundMe.
The PDGA retracted their policy in response to Ryan’s legal threat. In a statement posted to the PDGA website revealing that the policy restrictions had been removed due to a ruling in Ryan’s favor, the disc golf authority pointed out that they had lacked the funds to pursue the matter further.
“The PDGA and Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) have been named defendants in lawsuits over the application of the Policy in California and Minnesota, and judges in each state issued orders overriding the Policy,” read the statement. “The PDGA is not financially or logistically in a position to take the lead in multi-state litigation on this topic.”
On Instagram, Ryan stated that he was “ruthless” in his legal pursuit. “I’m excited to announce that the PDGA, DGPT and I have reached an agreement. All trans women will be equals at the elite level again. I had to be ruthless to get them to listen.”
Male athlete Robert “Amanda” Branch also participated in the Pro Open division but did not place high enough to win prize money. On Reddit, Branch has stated that he self-administers feminizing hormones rectally.
In January 2023, Branch called a PDGA representative and aggressively questioned the staff member over the gender identity policy revisions, which were backtracked later that year as a result of Ryan’s suit. During the call, which he recorded and posted to his YouTube channel, Branch can be heard grilling the representative over an application form which had not yet been updated to reflect the new policy. The representative refers to Branch as “ma’am” and apologizes to him.
Ben “Ember” Simonis also competed in the Women’s Championships, though he did not place high enough to be granted prize money. Simonis previously competed against men in the Mixed Amateur category.
In total, the men were handed $4,590 in winnings that had been set aside for female disc golf players.
As Reduxx previously reported, a female pro disc golfer walked off the tee in protest over Ryan’s participation in the women’s division during the Music City Open held in Nashville. Abbie Wilson was scheduled to play against him, but refused to compete.
Last year, professional disc golf player from Estonia, Kristin Lätt (formerly Tattar), who holds the highest PDGA rating in the FPO (Female Professional) division, spoke out against males playing in her sport. Lätt had lost to Ryan in the 2022 MVP Open in Massachusetts.
Lätt said that in 2023, women were threatened with disqualification if they didn’t accept trans-identified males in their category.
“In sports, it’s obvious to me why there are two divisions. We are designed differently. I think women should be in their own category. I want us all to be happy and to be able to play disc golf in fair conditions.”
In 2023, 33 professional female disc golf players petitioned the courts to save their sport. The petition was referred to as the Stockton Declaration in a nod to Ryan’s disqualification after already competing in day one of the FPO (female pro open) OTB Open in Stockton, California that year.
That summer, professional player Catrina Allen also organized an action which she livestreamed from her Instagram account.
“It is a act of biology that being born with male biology, going through male puberty, and experiencing male levels of testosterone conveys enormous performance advantages. Elite sport for those of us born biological females cannot exist without eligibility standards that consider these basic biological facts,” Allen said.
“What an absolute blow to women’s sports this year. I really, really wish the PDGA could have reached out for financial support from those of us that would have helped along the way. They should not have had to fight alone, while NR received free counsel and gofundme support. Such a sad time for women disc golfers. At this point just focus on putting NR at the bottom of the leaderboard,” Allen stated in her post.
In 2022, a PDGA member survey found that 80% of women involved in professional disc golf believed that trans-identified males should not be allowed to compete against female players. PDGA administration appeared to respond negatively to the results, affixing “implications” to the slideshow that stated: “People lie. People lie on surveys. Some people lied on this survey.”
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