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The Illinois State Cyclocross Championships occurred the primary weekend of December. Tessa Johnson and Evelyn Williamson took first and second place respectively, within the girls’s single pace class. Kristen Chalmers took third place. It was a comparatively small race within the scheme of issues. However as information unfold that trans girls had earned gold and silver, outrage took over.
Nationwide and worldwide publications started protecting the occasion—however with an emphasis on the truth that the highest two finishers had been trans girls. The Daily Mail wrote that, “Megyn Kelly merely known as the incident ‘infuriating,’ whereas tennis legend Martina Navratilova wrote on X: ‘Extra mediocre male our bodies taking podium locations from feminine athletes. And it stinks!!!!’”
So Chalmers spoke up, calling out the headlines and defending her opponents and pals. Chalmers was upset not solely with how individuals judged and sized up others, but in addition with how they made assumptions about her.
“The preliminary discourse about this race was by no means a good-faith, evidence-based effort to debate coverage to advertise girls’s biking,” she instructed Bicycling. “I’d love to listen to how individuals who declare to prioritize science and equity deemed me a ‘true organic feminine’ based mostly on a single podium picture. I by no means offered a beginning certificates, chromosome take a look at, testosterone stage, or any of the measures used to police femininity. That’s not science, it’s sexism and transphobia.”
Chalmers went on to say, “Having photographs of and presumptions about my physique and speculations about my response to the race being so publicly mentioned was uncomfortable however what made it unacceptable was being painted as a sufferer in a story manufactured to gas transphobia. Whereas strangers’ on-line presents to personally pay me my ‘rightful’ $100 prize cash in trade for my boycott of future inclusive biking occasions had been nearly comical, they demonstrated how out-of-context moments like our single-speed podium will be leveraged to maintain individuals emotionally invested in transphobia.”
Alongside along with her teammates, opponents, and pals, Chalmers wrote an open letter to clarify how her neighborhood works. She voiced that extra individuals concerned in sport is all the time higher than fewer. And that she stands in full help of a bigger, extra aggressive subject—one which doesn’t exclude individuals.
Chalmers instructed Bicycling, “Inside 48 hours [of writing the letter], all the cis-women racers within the Illinois Single Velocity Championships signed it, together with 56 others who race within the girls’s classes of the CCC. For context, 54 girls competed within the Chicago Cross Cup’s Illinois State Championship races.”
They’ve since opened the letter to signatures from racers of all gender identities, and have acquired help from 67 further Chicago Cross Cup racers and 47 different cyclists.
A part of the open letter reads, “We refuse to be falsely offered as victims in a manufactured controversy pushed to additional alienate and marginalize these most weak inside our neighborhood, in service of rampant and dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ laws. We converse for ourselves: inclusion makes our sport and neighborhood stronger. Everyone seems to be welcome right here. Trans girls are girls.”
Tessa Johnson, winner of the only pace race, instructed Bicycling, “Inclusion isn’t simply good for the game, it’s the one approach I see the game staying alive.” She stated, “At each race within the Chicago Cross Cup I’ve not solely felt welcome, however liked. I was so scared about reentering the game post-transition, fearing how individuals would possibly react, however by no means earlier than in my life have I felt extra part of one thing than the place I’m now.
“That’s what retains me coming again, what retains me pushing my pals to strive it out, what makes me excited to volunteer and assist my group placed on extra races subsequent yr, as a result of it feels good to be part of one thing, to be round those that share pursuits and who care about you. Compassion and neighborhood maintain individuals concerned and engaged. A various, inclusive neighborhood presents the perfect alternative for anybody to fall in love with the game and breathe new life into it.”
Maria Larkin, 2023 Illinois State Elite CX Champion and 2023 Irish Nationwide Champion, stated, “I really like racing with Tessa, now we have utterly reverse types on the subject of racing and we spotlight weaknesses in one another. She confirmed me I wanted to enhance my cornering and gave me confidence in my energy and health.
“Racing in opposition to an individual who’s aggressive and pushes me every week makes me a greater bike racer. Having extra individuals in our sport makes us higher and provides to our neighborhood. I can’t think about our native scene with out Tessa and Casey (Evelyn) and our different trans pals. They contribute a lot and I’m proud to name them my pals and my competitors.”
On reflection, for Chalmers, this concern has change into a lot greater than the place she stood on a podium a pair weeks in the past. “The chance to consider this over the previous week with the help of different cyclists who’ve been advocating for inclusion for longer than I’ve even been concerned within the sport has clarified that within the context of the Illinois Single Velocity Championships, it’s fairly easy: The stakes of the championships had been extremely low, nonetheless, the response to our podium exhibits that the stakes of inclusion are extremely excessive.
“With out actively resisting, the Chicago cyclocross neighborhood would have been used as a software selling rampant anti-LGBTQ+ laws that threatens the rights of trans-folks, together with entry to life-saving gender-affirming healthcare,” she stated. “Having the ability to say I’m a state champion is definitely not price that value.”
Micah Ling is a contract author who lives within the mountains of Colorado. She splits her free time between mountain biking and path operating.
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