Am I Missing Something?

As is my usual morning routine, I was watching CP24 and eating my bowl of Oatmeal Crisp (it's not oatmeal!) when the news scroll flips over this: "Transgender woman sues LPGA for right to play".

I did what I usually do...I Googled.  Here's the story...

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Transgender Woman Sues LPGA for Right to Play

Published October 14, 2010 | FoxNews.com

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Lana Lawless, a transgender woman who underwent a sex change five years ago, is suing the LPGA over their refusal to allow her into the league. 

The LGPA's "female at birth," requirement violates a California civil rights law, according to Lawless. The 57-year-old retired police officer is also suing three LPGA sponsors and the Long Drivers of America, which holds the annual women's long-drive competition. 

Lawless participated and won the event in 2008 with a 254-yard drive, but the organization has since changed its rules to model the LPGA's. "I am by all respects, legally and physically female," she said in a statement Wednesday. 

"The state of California recognizes me as such, and the LPGA should not be permitted to come into California and blatantly violate my rights. I just want to have the same opportunity to play professional golf as any other woman." 

Organizations such as the International Olympic Committee, the Ladies Golf Union in Britain, the Ladies European Golf Tour and the United States Golf Association do allow transgender athletes to compete. 

On its website, USGA states, "In the event that a player has had gender reassignment surgery at any point after puberty, that player must provide certain documentation to the USGA in accordance with the procedures set forth below." 

Lawless wants the LPGA to change its policies to admit transgender players before play resumes in the state of California. "Transgender is at the forefront of civil rights," said Christopher Dolan, Lawless' attorney. "Transgender people have been pushed into the dark for too long." 

The LPGA's CVS/pharmacy Challenge began in Danville today. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Hmmmm

So it gets me thinking...

She was born a he...and professional athletics are divided by gender.  Now as a female who was relatively athletic a hundred years ago, I have never taken offense to the division.  In my limited experience,  men are, generally speaking,  bigger, stronger and faster than women...it's only fair to the athletes to measure their physical skill and strength by gender.   

Track and Field measures the skills, strength and speed of individuals.  Just for a quick comparison, Canada's Donovan Bailey still holds the record for 50m sprint with a time of 5.56 (held since 1996...yay for Canada and our friend Donovan!)  The woman holding the record since 1995 for the same 50m sprint is Irina Privalova from Russia, and her time was 5.96.  Here's a link if you are curious http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/records/  Go ahead and do the comparison...the men are consistently faster, jump higher and further and throw things further.  If these are indeed the best of the best, then I'd say it's a reasonable source to back me up.  Right?

I know there are exceptions as always...but if we removed the gender division in physical competition, would it be fair to the women?  I don't think so.  

So if a man has surgery to become a woman, should he be able to compete against women?

I'm fairly certain its not the reproductive system that makes the difference in athletics.  In fact, I'm quite confident its the muscular system.

So she's ticked off that she can't play in the women's league.  Maybe that's because she should be competing, in all fairness, against the men.

So am I missing something?