Caitlyn Jenner Supports Trans Golfer Joining LPGA Tour
Caitlyn Jenner supports trans golfer Hailey Davidson joining the LPGA tour, despite past opposition to trans females in women's sports.
Caitlyn Jenner has expressed support for Hailey Davidson, a transgender female golfer who played in a qualifier for the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour, competing against women based on her gender identity.
Davidson participated in the 2022 LPGA and Epson Tour Qualifying School the week of August 15. She didn’t qualify for stage two to compete for an LPGA Tour card, but did earn status on the second-tier Epson Tour.
The LPGA has allowed trans women to compete since 2010, but requires its trans participants to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
On Instagram, Davidson said she’s been working with the LPGA Tour for four years in order to meet their criteria to play professionally.
“This wasn’t an overnight process. It included two years of not touching a club at all due to thinking my life dreams could no longer be a possibility,” she said. “I still had to go through a medical panel to have the fate of my future in golf decided on by strangers.”
Jenner — a conservative media personality, retired athlete, and trans woman — has spoken out against trans women participating in women’s sports in the past.
On Wednesday, however, she told Fox News that Davidson should get the chance to compete in the LPGA Tour if she qualified.
Earlier this year, Jenner vocally argued that former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a trans woman, should not swim in women’s events.
But Jenner claimed that what she sees as “unfair” advantages in swimming, do not apply to golf because of the different skill sets the games use.
“[Davidson is] playing within the rules,” Jenner said. “Golf is totally different game. It is a game of touch and feel.”
Many trans rights activists take a more unequivocal stance than Jenner about including trans women in women’s sports.
“It’s not a women’s sport if it doesn’t include ALL women athletes,” the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted in February. “Lia Thomas belongs on the Penn swimming and diving team, and all trans athletes belong in their sports.”
It's not a women's sport if it doesn't include ALL women athletes.
Lia Thomas belongs on the Penn swimming and diving team, and all trans athletes belong in their sports.https://t.co/DtQh6LjNA1
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 2, 2022
After failing to qualify for stage two of the qualifier last week, Davidson said on Instagram that those who claim she has an unfair advantage don’t recognize the skill and strength of other women playing professional golf. As soon as she has one good round, she said people start claiming she’ll dominate the sport.
In truth, Davidson isn’t beating out her competition: 106 women qualified for stage two to compete for an LPGA Tour card, and Davidson wasn’t among them.
“All the people who commented about me having an advantage over biologically born women have no idea how great these women are at their craft or what it takes to be an elite golfer,” Davidson wrote in her post.
Davidson has made history before, though: In 2021, she became the first trans woman to win a professional tournament at a mini-tour event in Florida.
Afterward, she told Click Orlando that the event gave her “so much hope.”
“I never thought I could play golf competitively as a trans woman so I always thought it was golf or being myself,” Davidson said.
Davidson continued to express excitement about her future in the sport this week.
“Although this hate may be loud, love and equality will always win in the end,” she wrote. “This is only one minor setback in my very young career, and I look forward to what the future holds.”
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