USA Cycling released a policy on transgender athlete participation this week to bring clarity to their efforts toward diversity and inclusion. The new policy is relatively progressive in its establishment of two different tiers for elite and non-elite racers.

Non-elite athletes (Categories 3-5) may self-select their gender category, and any questions about each athlete’s eligibility may be determined on the basis of civil or medical documentation, how that athlete identifies in “everyday life," and similar criteria. Elite-level athletes (Categories 1-2 and Pro) will be subject to the stricter regulations of the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which focus on hormone levels and medical monitoring.

RELATED: Trans Gender Riders Find a Family in Oregon's TRU Cycling Group

Chuck Hodge, Technical Director at USA Cycling, says that the new policy doesn’t represent a huge change from how the organization was already operating, but it fulfills a growing need to codify standards and address inconsistencies in how they’re enacted across the country.

The main issue is the question of fairness. While transgender racers have pushed for opportunities to race in categories that reflect their identities and abilities, there have also been more complaints about transgender women racing in women’s categories.

According to Hodge, the new policy – which was crafted with input from scholars, USA Cycling’s legal department, and transgender racers – is an effort to be open to the concerns of all parties involved. It addresses complexities and establishes a grievance policy without subjecting non-elite cyclists to Olympic testing standards. Hence the two-tiered aspect of the policy, which Hodge says addresses cycling’s wide range of involvement.

“We’re a unique organization in that we have not only elite competition but also a huge grassroots community,” Hodge says. “The policies which I researched from other sports were either not doing anything and ignoring the issue, or were just using the strict IOC guidelines, which may not fit everyone in the grassroots community. I think we found a good mix.”

RELATED: We Dare You: Build a Cycling Community

Philosophy professor Rachel McKinnon, who teaches a class on sports ethics and inclusion, says that she has mixed feelings about the new guidelines. She transitioned prior to getting into cycling and buying her first road bike. Now, after three seasons of racing, she competes as a Cat. 1. She’s glad that USA Cycling has adopted an official policy, because not having formal standards in place created two separate issues, the first of which was that many transgender athletes weren’t sure if they were even allowed to compete.

“Trans people aren’t always comfortable outing themselves to organizations because it’s not always safe, especially if they’re not out at work,” says McKinnon. “A lot of people were just voluntarily excluding themselves because they didn’t want to take the risk. So the mere presence of a policy will let the athletes themselves know, ‘Yes, you can compete, and here’s how to do it.’”

RELATED: The New Heroes of Cycling

The other problem with not having formal guidelines, McKinnon says, is that people were more likely to object to trans participation because they weren’t aware that it was allowed.

“They saw the lack of a policy as a justification to complain about trans participation,” she says. “So I’m sure that it’s caused headaches on USA Cycling’s part because they were getting complaints about trans racers, but they didn’t have a policy in place to confirm that, yes, we’re allowed.”

McKinnon has been the subject of such complaints and wrote an article titled “How to think about trans-inclusive sport” to explore some of the more scientific questions that arise around transgender involvement.

She says having the new policy will provide clarity for everyone: athletes, race organizers, spectators, officials, and trans racers. Everyone will know that trans racers are welcome to complete in USA Cycling events, and it may even stop some incidences of harassment.

But McKinnon also thinks the policy’s lack of distinction between domestic and international Cat. 1 and 2 racers is a big missed opportunity.

“There’s no reason to subject domestic racers to the stricter, more invasive UCI and IOC regulations unless they’re racing under conditions in which those regulations are imposed, like when representing Team USA internationally,” she says. “USA Cycling shouldn’t impose a testosterone limit on Cat. 1 and 2 racers who won't be representing the USA abroad. I think that aspect of the policy fails to meet ethical standards of justification."

Hodge says that the policy was crafted not to create a witch hunt, but to create a few firewalls primarily so that non-transgendered riders don’t try to race as another gender “to try to prove a point." He added that USA Cycling wants to work with transgender riders to categorize them so that they can be competitive and figure out where they belong. The policy represents a big step in the right direction, in accordance with point number one of the Olympic charter: The practice of sport is a human right.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io