HACKENSACK, N.J. — A transgender woman searching for to compete in ladies’s USGA occasions filed a lawsuit claiming {that a} coverage change adopted in 2024 unlawfully barred her from taking part in a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier final 12 months.
Hailey Davidson named the golf membership internet hosting the qualifier, together with the USGA, the LPGA and three LPGA officers in a lawsuit filed Thursday in New Jersey. She’s searching for unspecified damages.
The USGA and LPGA modified gender insurance policies for occasions in 2025 and past, declaring that gamers should be assigned feminine at beginning or have transitioned to feminine earlier than going via male puberty to be eligible to compete.
Davidson, 33, did not transition till after puberty. She competed in a U.S. Open qualifier and LPGA Qualifying School below a special coverage in 2024, falling brief in each efforts.
The LPGA stated in a press release it was conscious of the lawsuit and would “let that process play out on the proper forum.”
“The LPGA’s gender policy was developed through a thoughtful, expert-informed process and is grounded in protecting the competitive integrity of elite women’s golf,” the assertion stated.
Davidson claimed within the lawsuit that the brand new coverage successfully bans transgender ladies from competing in USGA ladies’s occasions or the LPGA as a result of many states stop youngsters from taking hormones or blocking puberty.
When the USGA denied her entry into the qualifier, Davidson claimed the Hackensack Golf Club violated the legislation by saying that the USGA managed all selections relating to eligibility.
Davidson started hormone remedies in her early 20s in 2015, and in 2021, she underwent gender-affirming surgical procedure, which was required below the LPGA’s earlier gender coverage. She gained two years in the past on a Florida mini-tour till that circuit later introduced that gamers needed to be assigned feminine at beginning.
