Bethany Hamilton Boycotting the World Surf League Due to New Transgender-Inclusive Policy
On Sunday, professional surfer Bethany Hamilton shared that she is boycotting World Surf League events due to a new policy that allows transgender women to compete in women’s surfing events.
The new policy requires that transgender women who wish to compete maintain certain testosterone and have a female gender marker on their passport or national card of identification.
After this information was made public, Hamilton took to Instagram, posting a video in which she expressed her concerns about the fairness of this new policy. In the video, Hamilton raised several questions for her viewers’ consideration. She asked her followers if the policy does anything to better the sport of surfing and brought into question the validity of the hormone testing process.
Hamilton, known for her memoir and biopic film, Soul Surfer, ended her video by mentioning the “glimpses of male-bodied dominance in women’s sports” that she has seen in the past and proposed the creation of a new division for transgender surfers as a solution. She also added that she was speaking up for the other women in the league who feared being ostracized for voicing their opinions.
This all comes after Australian surfer, Sarah Jane Lowerson, became the first transgender woman to win a surfing competition back in May 2022. One might think that inclusive rules, such as the one created by the World Surf League, would receive praise for their forward-thinking nature, however, for Hamilton that was not the case. She concluded her video by stating she will no longer participate in any WSL events so long as this ruling remains in place.
People quickly took to social media to comment on Hamilton’s opinions on this matter after the video was posted. While some of the comments on her video were positive, many criticized her beliefs labeling them as transphobic.
Welp, didn’t have “Bethany Hamilton being transphobic” on my 2023 Bingo card https://t.co/laKontwBHj
— 🌘Ace🌘 (@TheMoonsAceCard) February 8, 2023
This is not the first time that policies regarding transgender athletes have faced backlash in the professional sports world, and likely not the last. While the discourse regarding this complex matter continues, it is important to acknowledge the passion within all of these athletes and the power that gender-inclusive policies have to reaffirm trans athletes’ identities.
