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Message: [QUOTE="VAUConnFan, post: 2754902, member: 501"] Back when Renee Richards started competing as a woman, it was strongly believed that she held an unfair advantage. she did not. When Martina Navratilova was dominating women's tennis, there were many who openly believed that being gay gave her an unfair advantage. Thankfully, we all know better. Thankfully also, Ms Navratilova's coming out opened the door for other female athletes. Presently, there are no studies or any empicical evidence that suggests that transgender athletes hold an unfair advantage in sports. Secondly, women's track and field records are not suddenly tumbling down in waves because of the participation of transgender athletes. The records broken in the recent CT state championships were over 20 years old. If there is any area in which a transgender athlete's unfair advantage would be immediately apparent, it would be in field events such as shot put, hammer throw, long jump, high jump, and pole vault. It has not happened. There is much more to changing gender than a mere declaration. There are hormone treatments, surgeries, psychological evaluations. would there be a discussion about transgender participation if these particular ladies had not won in record setting fashion, or if they had not competed as successfully. While it is understandable that people might get upset about a perceived advantage. Sometimes, the right thing to do is the most painful. Regardless of the pain, the right thing to do is to allow these individuals to be who they are to compete as athletes with those they identify. And kudos to the IOC for getting out in front of this issue. In so doing, the have quite fairly addressed the issue of fairness. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach