California stands up for trans surfer excluded from competition

The California Coastal Commission has informed a Los Angeles-based surfing competition’s organiser that excluding trans women from its women's division violates the state's public access policies, according to a letter received this week, according to ‘LGBTQ Nation’.

“Prohibiting or unfairly limiting transgender athletes from competing in this or any surf competition that takes place in the coastal waters of California does not meet the requirements of the public access policies of the Coastal Act and impedes access by discriminating against transgender surfers,” Kate Huckelbridge, the commission’s executive director, stated in her letter to Todd Messick of the American Longboard Association, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

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The correspondence followed an incident involving Australian surfer and surfboard designer Sasha Jane Lowerson, who tried to enter this year's Huntington Beach Longboard Pro competition. Born intersex, Lowerson identifies as a “proud woman with a trans experience,” according to The Inertia. After competing in men’s categories, she became the first openly transgender woman to win a longboard competition in 2022 and has collaborated with Surfing Australia on guidelines for trans surfer inclusion in events and clubs.

Before submitting her application and entry fee to the Huntington Beach event, Lowerson contacted Messick to ensure her participation would be accepted. However, Messick did not reply and instead expressed surprise about a transgender athlete’s participation in the women's division in an April 25 Instagram video.

“It was brought to my attention yesterday that there’s a transgender athlete that’s entered into the women’s division and it threw me completely off guard,” Messick stated in the video. “I didn’t realize I was gonna have to address this this soon, only into our second contest.”

“Right now, we’re going to support biological males and biological females in their divisions respectively,” he added.

Lowerson expressed her disappointment and surprise at being excluded in an interview with the BBC this week, emphasising the need to follow the full rules without selective enforcement.

In his video, Messick inaccurately claimed the American Longboard Association’s policies aligned closely with those of the International Surfing Association (ISA), which had in fact updated its policies in 2023 to include criteria for trans women competing in women’s events.

After failing to get a response from Messick regarding his misrepresentation of ISA policies, Sabrina Brennan, a legislative advocate for Surf Equity, took the matter to the California Coastal Commission, which oversees coastal land and water usage in the state.

In her letter dated May 7, Huckelbridge mentioned a recent discussion with Messick where he agreed to adhere to the ISA Transgender Policy Rule for trans women’s participation if they satisfy the outlined criteria.

“A spokesperson for the California Coastal Commission stated that surf contests in state waters must be conducted in a lawful manner that does not discriminate based on gender,” BBC was told.

Despite this, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, Lowerson was not listed among the competitors in the women’s division of the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro event, which was released on Thursday. She informed The Inertia earlier in the week about her decision not to participate in the event.

Lowerson rebuffed the argument that transgender women have unfair advantages in surfing, describing the sport to the BBC as focused on “style, flow, grace,” likening longboarding to “ballet on a wave.”

She told The Inertia that her goal is not to become a professional surfer or to displace other competitors. “I don’t go in them [contests] to win,” she stated. “I go in them to hang out and meet people.”

Nonetheless, she acknowledged to the BBC that she has unwittingly become a significant figure for transgender women in the sport.

“Sport is about community,” Lowerson remarked. “It’s about sharing and having fun with other like-minded people, and the fact we’re losing sight of that is really sad.”

Read related myGwork articles here:

Surfer Bethany Hamilton speaks out about trans inclusion amid Rip Curl backlash

Trans Pro Surfer: “Trans Athletes Are Here To Stay”

Surfer Bethany Hamilton Speaks Out Against Policy Allowing Trans Athletes In Female Category

Wales Government Set to Overhaul Gender Laws to Embrace Trans Inclusion

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