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Transgender Disc Golfer Wins Pro Event In Franklin, Massachusetts

By Tom Joyce | July 31, 2024, 10:30 EDT

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2024/07/31/transgender-disc-golfer-wins-pro-event-in-franklin-massachusetts/

Photo by Esther Schwarz / Creative Commons

A male won a women’s professional disc golf event in Massachusetts last month.

Acton resident Kelly Jenkins, a male who identifies as transgender

Jenkins came in first at a Professional Disc Golf Association competition at Dacey Fields in Franklin, Massachusetts on June 2, 2024, winning $290 in prize money.

Taking first place in the women’s open division, Jenkins shot a +8. This score beat out the next-best competitor, Jenna Gosselin, by two strokes (+10), according to the PDGA’s web site. Gosselin received $197 for the second-place finish — $93 less than Jenkins.

Jenkins has been a professional disc golfer since 2014 and has won 22 events, according to the PDGA’s web site.

Jenkins openly identifies as transgender.

OutSports has referred to Jenkins as a “trans trailblazer” in professional women’s disc golf.

The male first identified as transgender in 1995, before re-identifying as a man from 1996 to 2005, Jenkins told The Acton Beacon in 2020. However, Jenkins has identified as transgender since 2005 after starting hormone replacement therapy in 2004, the report said.

“From 1991 to 2005, I was playing disc golf in the wrong body and my game was horrible in the wrong body,” Jenkins told OutSports. 

The Professional Disc Golf Association allows males who identify as transgender to compete on the women’s side if they meet one of two sets of criteria.

Here are those sets of criteria, according to the PDGA’s web site:

1. Transgender Hormone Therapy

   1. The player has been taking continuous hormone therapy under medical supervision for a period of at least 24 months before competing in a gender-based division; and
   2. The player’s total testosterone level in serum has been below 2.0 nmol/L for at least 24 months prior to the PDGA event, demonstrated by at least three blood tests throughout this time interval; and
   3. The player’s total testosterone level in serum must continue to remain below 2.0 nmol/L in the future. If the player ceases hormone treatment, they are no longer eligible to compete in gender-based divisions and must inform the PDGA immediately; and
   4. The player is required to inform the PDGA if hormone treatment is suspended or if their testosterone level in serum is or was above 2.0 nmol/L as demonstrated by a blood test in the relevant period. In both cases, the 24-month period will restart once the player can demonstrate by a blood test that their testosterone level in serum is again below 2.0 nmol/L.

2. Gender Affirming Surgery

   1. Successfully completed male-to-female gender affirming surgery declaration from a physician; and
   2. The total testosterone level in serum has been below 2.0 nmol/L for at least 24 months prior to the PDGA event (combination of blood test verified hormone treatment pre-surgery and time post-surgery).