Alana McGlaughlin claims that trans people are “underrepresented in sports” and that seems unlikely to change after the American State of Texas introduced a bill that banned trans girls from competing in female sports in schools.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott made headlines last month when he signed bill TX HB 25. The bill will take effect from 18th January 2022 and will see Texas join the likes of Idaho West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Montana, Alabama, Arkansas and South Dakota in banning trans girls from competing in female sports.
Trans MMA fighter Alana McGlaughlin believes history will not remember kindly those who are currently introducing laws that further marginalize trans people.
“The intentions of right-wing politicians like Abbott and DeSantis are clear,” McGlaughlin wrote in The Guardian. “They are using transgender children as scapegoat and compromising their health and safety to score political points with their party and their constituents.
“Trans kids deserve equal access to sports,” McGlaughlin added. “Trans people deserve equal access to public life. We deserve love and safety and inclusion, and make no mistake: we will win this fight, and history will not remember dinosaurs like Abbott and DeSantis kindly.”
McGlaughlin claims that trans people are underrepresented in sports.
“This exclusionary and inflammatory rhetoric should be unacceptable in the halls of government and the pages of public media, but the political right perceives transgender people as an easy target,” McGlaughlin wrote.
“The fact is that we are statistically underrepresented in sports. There is no widespread transgender dominance in any sport anywhere in the world.”
Who is Alana McGlaughlin?
The 38-year-old came to prominence when she picked up a win in her MMA debut at Combate in September. McLaughlin survived being badly rocked in the first round before coming on strong in the second to secure a submission win over Celine Provost. McLaughlin’s debut was highlighted in the media because she is the first transgender person to compete in MMA since Fallon Fox last fought in 2014.
McLaughlin came out as transgender in 2003, aged 20, but she was denied gender reassignment surgery by her mother and subsequently joined the army, serving in Afghanistan. She was later diagnosed with PTSD, before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2016.
McGlaughlin hasn’t exactly been welcomed with open arms by the MMA community. The 1-0 fighter has been called a cheat by people she believes are “transphobes.” Sean Strickland, Michael Bisping, Sean O’Malley and Jake Shields are just some of the prominent figures to speak out against trans women competing against cisgender women since McGlaughlin’s MMA debut.
Do you agree with Alana McGlaughlin? Are trans people underrepresented in sports?