Rachel McKinnon has claimed gold at the Worlds. She believes she's the first transgender woman to win a world title.
Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon wins Worlds gold
A transgender woman has won what she believes is the first world title by a trans athlete at the UCI Masters World Track Championships.
Rachel McKinnon, who represents Canada, won the gold medal in the sprint in Los Angeles.
She beat Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen of the Netherlands and Jennifer Wagner of the United States.
And the way to the world title she also lowered the world record, though it was beaten minutes later.
McKinnon finished 4th in the qualifying round but went on to prove best in the head to heads and claimed the gold.
McKinnon is a professor and PhD in philosophy focusing on gender studies at College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Advertisement
She celebrated her world title win with the Tweet: “First transgender woman world champion…ever.”
And she has described as “bigots” some Twitter users who questioned if somebody who was born male but identifies as female and competes against women had an unfair advantage.
This is a subject McKinnon made her view clear on in an interview before her historic title win.
And she pointed out after her win that she had not won the qualifying round, but was beaten by three riders in the field.
Related News
She has also pointed to her gruelling training regime, saying she needs to work as hard as any of her rivals to get results.
On the front; transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon is now a Masters world champion on the track.
Rachel McKinnon has previously said she believes forcing transgender riders to take substances that would keep their testosterone levels down represents a violation to her human rights.
It is a measure devised with the intention of not disadvantaging cisgender women – women born female – are not disadvantaged when competing against transgender women.
“We cannot have a woman legally recognized as a trans woman in society, and not be recognized that way in sports,” McKinnon said recently.
“Focusing on performance advantage is largely irrelevant because this is a rights issue. We shouldn’t be worried about trans people taking over the Olympics.
“We should be worried about their fairness and human rights instead. This is bigger than sports and it’s about human rights.
“By catering to cisgender people’s views, that furthers transgender people’s oppression. When it comes to extending rights to a minority population, why would we ask the majority?
“I bet a lot of white people were pissed off when we desegregated sports racially and allowed black people. But they had to deal with it.”
Topics
