[ad_1]
The father of an Olympic skateboarder is speaking out against transgender women being able to compete in sports, and why he thinks his daughter’s generation have become so tolerant that they may be costing themselves opportunities.
Max Wettstein’s 17-year-old daughter Bryce is part of one of the first ever Olympic women’s skateboarding teams. The sport was accepted into the Games in 2020.
There aren’t any transgender athletes on the team just now but that may soon change with an influx of new skateboarders rising through the competition ranks, including Ricci Tres – a 29-year-old trans woman who defeated a 13-year-old girl in New York City to claim first prize.
Ricci served four years in the Navy and had three children as a man before beginning hormone therapy two years ago.
Shiloh Catori, the 13-year-old girl she beat, insists she is ‘not upset at all’ about the result and believes Ricci and other trans athletes should have a place in competition.
That is the view most commonly held – or at least shared – by her generation.
Max Wettstein’s 17-year-old daughter Bryce is part of one of the first ever Olympic women’s skateboarding teams. The sport was accepted into the Games in 2020. The pair are shown with Max’s wife Donna and their other daughter
Wettstein says his daughters work hard enough as it is to get onto Olympic squads and for equal pay to men without having to compete against biologically-born men in the female category
Max, 52, says it’s a dangerous attitude that may cost young, promising athletes more than they think.
‘So many people are afraid of being canceled or being labeled a bigot and it’s a tough thing to read. Bryce is all about love and she’s in the moment.
‘But I care. I have two daughters and they compete in three different sports and we’re seeing this not just in skateboarding.
As a dad and as a man, I care. I am totally accepting of trans people but there has to be something done when it comes to competition…I personally feel like it’s just another way for a biological man to marginalize women
‘As a dad and as a man, I care. I am totally accepting of trans people but there has to be something done when it comes to competition’ he said.
Wettstein, who previously served in the Navy, said that while he ‘100 percent does not speak’ for his daughter, he fears some kids may be too frightened to speak up on the issue because they may risk losing sponsorship.
‘They are not advocating for themselves. You don’t know which way the sponsor is going to take it.
‘I am speaking up and I do not think it is right or fair.
‘I personally feel like it’s just another way for a biological man to marginalize women.
‘They work so a hard to get equal pay and here a biological man can come and claim the prize money, its unfair.
‘Again, I’m not transphobic, its nothing against them, but I feel like they should have their own division.
‘I’m in favor of having men’s, women’s and co-ed for people to choose from.
‘And I feel like feminists should be talking more about this.’
Bryce Wettstein is among the first Olympic skateboarders for the USA. The sport was included in the Games in 2020. She is shown at the Tokyo Games that were played out in 2021 after the pandemic
Max says his daughter is ‘all about love’ like most of her generation but that he feels the current rules are unfair and ‘marginalize women’
Earlier this week, Ricci Tres exclusively defended her place in the sport in an interview with DailyMail.com.
‘I’m not going to go and be easy on them because they’re kids. It’s funny it’s what I am getting beat up over the most, people saying “you’re beating little kids, little girls”.
‘I didn’t intend to do that. This is the first one I’ve been to that I actually wanted to win….the age thing doesn’t really count.
‘I don’t think I have physical advantage. Look at me. I’m not buff or anything.
Ricci Tres, 29, a Los Angeles-based transgender woman who was formerly known as Richard Batres, told DailyMail.com she sees nothing wrong with competing against 13-year-old girls and insists she does not have a physical advantage, saying the sport is more about ‘determination’ and ‘skill’ rather than physicality
Ricci used to go by Richard Batres. As a man, he spent four years in the Navy and had three kids with his ex-wife. Batres is shown above with his two sons and right, in the military, before hormone therapy
‘I don’t work out really, I just skateboard. And I don’t think skateboarding has anything to do with physicality, especially when you look at kids these days.’
She said that she ‘came to the realization’ that she was female after spending years feeling guilty for cross-dressing.
‘It was the thought of the fact that I’ve lived 27 years with these little guilt over random things that I didn’t give myself time to understand like cross-dressing…finally I just came to the realization that I am female, have a lot of female energy and that is what I prefer to be.’
Among those who does not think she should be allowed to compete is Taylor Silverman.
She says she has complained to Red Bull about trans women being able to compete, but that they did nothing about it.
[ad_2]
Source link
