Transgender Woman Sues After CrossFit Bans Her From Competing As Female

A transgender athlete and personal trainer is suing CrossFit for banning her from competing in the CrossFit Games.

Chloie Jonsson charges the CrossFit company with discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unfair competition in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Santa Cruz, California.

Jonsson says the state of California recognizes her as a woman and the fitness company should as well.

“The fundamental, ineluctable fact is that a male competitor who has a sex reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women,” CrossFit’s attorney wrote in a letter to Jonsson in September.

However, according to the lawsuit, Jonsson — who has identified herself as a female since her teenage years — had sexual reassignment surgery in 2006 and has been on female hormone therapy. “[Jonnson] doesn’t have an advantage over other women. She’s been on estrogen for such a long time,” her attorney, Waukeen McCoy, told CNN.

“She’s female,” McCoy said of Johnson. “She’s legally female. A corporation like CrossFit, they’re doing business in California. The law precludes from discrimination on gender identity.”

The lawsuit also alleges that CrossFit’s policy requiring individuals to compete in a their original birth gender would require transgender athletes to reveal their personal histories. In essence, that they’d have to “out” themselves, even if they sought personal privacy.

Jonsson seeks a reversal in the competition’s policies for both herself and “for the good for all transgendered people and athletes.”