End of Mack Beggs title match was chaos. Had huge lead, nearly got pinned, then came the crescendo of cheers/boos. pic.twitter.com/FrLixVsTAj
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 24, 2018
For the second year in a row, 18-year-old Texas high school senior Mack Beggs won a girls’ state wrestling title even though he is a transgender man. His victory in the Class 6A 110-pound division on Saturday elicited mixed reactions. The booing got rather loud, though as seen on video, a few people made it a point to stand and cheer for him.
State law puts Beggs in an awkward position. The University Interscholastic League requires student-athletes to participate under the sex noted on their birth certificate. In his case, it describes him as a girl, even though he started making the transition from female to male in freshman year. This process involves taking testosterone, which actually isn’t prohibited by authorities because in his case, it is doctor-proscribed for a medical purpose.
Beggs, who competes on behalf of Euless Trinity High School, said this year and last that he only wanted to wrestle the boys, but the law wouldn’t let him.
“It definitely felt different,” he told The Dallas Morning News about winning on Saturday. “I felt a lot more humble. This year I wanted to prove a point that anyone can do anything. Even though I was put in this position, even though I didn’t want to be put in this position, even though I wanted to wrestle the guys, I still had to wrestle the girls.”
Beggs said he got an academic scholarship from a college that would give him the opportunity to wrestle on the men’s team. He declined to name the school.
His victory last year garnered some legal opposition, but that went nowhere. Texas attorney Jim Baudhuin, the parent of a female high school wrestler, sued the UIL to stop Beggs from competing. That was dismissed in court.
[Screengrab via Dallas Morning News]
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