Natalie Ryan, a transgender disc golfer who was knocked out of a women’s tournament in California on Friday, has vowed to fight the ruling amid an ongoing legal dispute.
Ryan was initially declared eligible for the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) event after she was granted a temporary restraining order amid her discrimination lawsuit against the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA). However, the tour appealed the decision and won and knocked Ryan out of the OTB Open. Ryan was in fifth place when she was eliminated.
On Sunday, Ryan vowed to keep fighting.
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A photo of a disc golf basket. (Liz Dufour/The Enquirer via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
«The DGPT and PDGA are afraid of the metaphor, so I removed my old post. Instead, I’m going to make the post’s message incredibly clear. My OTB removal was targeted just as the new policy was,» Ryan’s message said. . «The DGPT is now imposing rules for which it has no place. They have only done this to hurt me. I will continue to litigate until justice is done. I will use this pain to make sure no one else has to experience it.»
Ryan filed a discrimination lawsuit in February, saying the tour’s decision was based on «bias,» according to OutSports. On Thursday, US District Judge Troy L. Nunley granted Ryan a temporary restraining order to allow him to play.
«It appears that there was an intentional act, the creation of a policy, that excludes people based on their protected status as transgender women,» Nunley wrote in her decision, according to OutSports. «The Court does not determine whether this is sufficient to actually establish intentional discrimination, but it does raise serious questions.»
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Disc golf discs stored in a backpack at the new disc golf course at Jake Simpson Park in Clyde Township, Michigan on Friday, March 25, 2022. (Sergio Montañez/Times Herald/USA TODAY NETWORK)
PDGA rules state that a transgender woman can play in the women’s division if she meets one of the established criteria: being less than 2 nmol/L for two years or having had a «medical transition during or before Tanner Stage 2.» age 12, whichever is later. and «the player must also continuously maintain a total serum testosterone level below 2.0 nmol/L.»
Nunley opposed the transition part of the criteria.
«This section appears to directly target an individual’s sex and gender by creating a timeline when one should transition,» Nunley wrote. «Those who do not meet this schedule will be forever barred from the FPO. This policy seems inextricably linked to sex and gender and, at this stage of the litigation, the Court cannot see how to separate them. Accordingly, the Court finds serious doubts going to the merits of the lawsuit for intentional discrimination».
On Friday, the tour appealed the ruling and won after Ryan had already completed the first round. Ryan was eliminated from the tournament after finishing the day in fifth place, according to Ultiworld.
«It appears that the district court lacks diversity jurisdiction over the [Disc Golf Pro] Tour because Plaintiff and at least one member of the Tour are citizens of Virginia,» the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit wrote in its decision, via Ultiworld.
A player throws his disc during the 6th Annual Denver Classic Disc Golf Tournament on Saturday at the Badlands course in Federal Heights, Colorado. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
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The Disc Golf Pro Tour added: «This order restores the DGPT’s ability to enforce its current policy on gender eligibility. The DGPT will follow the court’s ruling and will enforce its Gender Eligibility Policy which will prevent Ms. Ryan from continue to compete at the OTB Open.» «