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Champion trans powerlifter is stripped of titles – Governing body says Mary Gregory was ‘still a man’ when she won the female records

Posted on May 13, 2019 by konniemoments in Human Interest, Sports // 0 Comments

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Mary Gregory, from Virginia, set world records in the women’s squat, bench press, and deadlift, and had earned a ‘Masters total world record’ for her powerlifting scores across the board last month. 
Four days later world lifting body stripped the 44-year-old champion powerlifter  from Virginia of all titles won at the April 27 event
RAW Powerlifting Federation has said Gregory was ‘actually male’ at the time she set the female records
Body president said they use ‘physiological classification’ not ‘identification’ – because Gregory could not be officially classified as ‘female,’ she didn’t technically break any world records
Construction worker, who started lifting before transition Gregory insists that having a penis or not plays no part in lifting
While lifting has helped her transition, it’s actually hurt her athletic performance, she said
Woman in a male body: Mary Gregory [photo] who set world records in the women’s squat, bench press, and deadlift, and had earned a ‘Masters total world record’ for her powerlifting scores across the board, should not have been competing during her transition, the powerlifting body has ruled
A power lifter who transitioned from a male to a female has been stripped of their world titles after the sport’s governing body in the US said the competitor was a man.
Female power lifter Mary Gregory was ruled ineligible to have competed in that event after the the USA Powerlifting passed a policy banning transitioning athletes from competing against athletes that match their ‘gender identity’ by a vote of 46-5 last week.
Transgender powerlifter Mary Gregory, 44, from Virginia, set world records in the women’s squat, bench press, and deadlift, and had earned a ‘Masters total world record’ for her powerlifting scores across the board last month.

But now, RAW Powerlifting Federation – the same body she thanked after winning –  stripped Gregory of her titles, saying that the lifter ‘was actually a male’ when competing at the meet on April 27.
On Friday Federation president Paul Bossi said in a statement to media: ‘It was revealed that this female lifter was actually a male in the process of becoming a Transgender female.
‘Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification.’
‘On the basis of all information presented to the Board of Directors for this particular case,’ Bossi continued, ‘the conclusion made, is that the correct physiological classification is male.’
Ex-British Olympic swimmer, Sharron Davies – who has been vocal on the issue – tweeted her satisfaction at the decision.
She said: ‘This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a woman’s event in America in powerlifting.
‘A woman with female biology cannot compete.. it’s a pointless unfair playing field.’
Bossi added that because Gregory could not be officially classified as ‘female,’ she didn’t technically break any world records. 
Before – After: Three Virginia driving licenses track Gregory’s transition from a man [left] to a woman [right]
Mary Gregory thanked the same federation on Instagram after winning several titles in April, 2019. However, days later organizers of the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation meet in Virginia stripped her of several records she broke, as well as her trophies 
Following her success at the event last month, Gregory took to Instagram to thank the federation for making her feel welcome as a transgender athlete and treating her as ‘just another female lifter.’
Gregory told Outsports that the federation discovered she was assigned male at birth by insisting that an official sit in while she took a urine test.
She said: ‘I did my business while somebody watched me sitting on the toilet. And so that’s where that statement comes from, because I’m sure she told them, ‘Hey! This girl’s got a penis!’

More infuriating for the contestant is the manner the body determined she had been assigned male at birth.
During the meet, following her bench press, Gregory said an official told her they needed to drug test her again, claiming her sample leaked, she said. But this time, the official told her she needed to observe her providing a urine sample.
Gregory is a construction worker, and said she lacks the insurance coverage for bottom surgery. Although she is a lesbian, she said she isn’t in any hurry to get it.
“Perfect world, under perfect situations, probably, yes, I would have the surgery,” she said, “because I’m not that attached to that part of my anatomy. It doesn’t define who I am, but I don’t hate it. I don’t need it to be gone to be able to live my life and be whole. It’s more of a case that it’s inconvenient that it’s there.”
Besides, she said, having a penis or not plays no part in lifting.
‘Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification’ the federation said in a statement after the ruling. But construction worker, Gregory insists that having a penis or not plays no part in lifting.
In a video Gregory posted, people are heard cheering her on: “Come on, Mary!”. Four days later, she learned that powerlifting officials had stripped her of her titles.
The decision by the federation comes even as Gregory used hormone blockers to regulate her testosterone levels for 11 months before her world title shot.
The International Olympic Committee ruled in 2016 that this created a level playing field but because she isn’t biologically the same as the other competitors, RAW ruled that Gregory was not eligible to compete.
USA Powerlifting passed a policy banning transitioning athletes from competing against athletes that match their ‘gender identity’ by a vote of 46-5 last week.
The board explained the decision, saying: ‘Men naturally have a larger bone structure, higher bone density, stronger connective tissue and higher muscle density than women.
‘These traits, even with reduced levels of testosterone do not go away. While MTF (male to female) may be weaker and less muscle than they once were, the biological benefits given them at birth still remain over than of a female.’
Mary Gregory who was born male, revealed that that the federation discovered she was assigned male at birth by insisting that an official sit in while she took a urine test. She has changed her name, her ID, has been on estrogen and spironolactone for 11 months and already seen significant results, including breast development

Gregory posted her achievement on Instagram, and that did not go unnoticed. Multiple conservative websites blew her achievement out of proportion, she said.
“There were plenty of other lifters that day that broke multiple world records,” said Gregory. “Male and female.”
But most surprising, she said, was the in-person reaction she received from the meet director, compared to what happened after.
On May 1, following days of negative press, the federation president Paul Bossi issued a statement calling Gregory “male,” announcing plans to revise its policies to create a “transgender category,” and erasing her record lifts.

Bossi and the federation declined to comment beyond the statement.
One line in that statement was particularly grating to Gregory: “It was revealed that this female lifter was actually a male in the process of becoming a transgender female.”
“It infuriated me,” she told Outsports. Gregory has changed her name, her ID, has been on estrogen and spironolactone for 11 months and already seen significant results, including breast development.
Since beginning powerlifting, she’s significantly lost weight, from 270 pounds almost four years ago to 179 now. But Gregory notes that while lifting has helped her transition, it’s actually hurt her athletic performance.
She posted on her Instagram profile that prior to starting on hormones, she could lift 408 pounds in the squat, 298 in the bench press and 507 in the deadlift. Now, since starting HRT, those numbers are drastically lower: 314, 233, and 424 pounds.

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