Transgender Issues facing Co-ed Slowpitch
 

So I'm not taking any side on this, but I was thinking about this on the weekend at a Coed SP Tourney, mostly fuelled by the recent insanity in the southern states.

The rules (at least in ISF) are very clear about the makeup of a team-- 5 men and 5 women (or 6/6) batting alternatively. Outfield two men/two women. Infield two men/two women. Pitcher/Catcher man and woman.

So...I'm sure this will eventually be a larger issue. What happens if and when there's a transgender player? The ruleset doesn't say anything about "man" or "woman" refers to sex at birth or identified sex? For that matter, how do we deal with gender binary/fluid gender individuals?

Say a manager protests what they perceive to be two men batting consecutively, but the second is a transgender woman. Do we ask preop/postop? Do we defer to the governing federation and simply say play on under protest?

How should a federation handle an umpire that refuses to call a game with transgender players?

This is an issue for the tournament director, not the umpires. If I was the TD, I would refer to the gender shown on the individual's driver's license or other official ID. Let some other agency make the determination. It's not in the TD's job description to offer an opinion or ruling about someone's fiddly bits. If the boy named Sue has an F on the ID, Sue bats after a man. If the ID says male, Sue bats after a lady. Once the rosters are set and accepted by the TD, there is no rules interpretation to protest during the game.

Replace him/her with someone that will work the game, and get it played. We're independent contractors (in most places) and have the right to refuse to work for any reason. At the same time, assignors are free to refuse to assign us future games for any reason (excluding protected discriminatory actions such as skin color, and yes, gender).

I'd say let'm bat and advise the manager griping to protest it to the rec board or TD. You can't get them to disrobe and check for cry'n out loud. We had a young lady dressed as a guy the other night.............you'd be hard pressed to "really" know.

To use a term I've heard repeatedly in USA Swimming.

"That's above my pay grade"

This simply means we let someone way above us in importance make decisions about things like this.

I think it is an issue that all organizations will need to deal with sooner rather than later. I know swimming is already dealing with it. I think HS sports will really become an issue spot. Most, if not all states have rules prohibiting boys from participating on girls teams, but don't prohibit girls from being on a boys team. From a sports officiating standpoint, the girl on a boys team is not an issue. Where it will become an issue is the person who is born and is genetically male, but identifies as a female. May not be a problem if the individual is the size and strength of an average female, but wait until the 6-2, 250 pound guy identifies as female and is hitting home runs all over the place on a softball diamond.