Trans golfer barred from competing against women sues LPGA, USGA

A trans-identified male golfer barred from competing in last year's Women's U.S. Open has filed a lawsuit against organizers and other parties over a new policy prohibiting players who underwent male puberty from competing in women’s competition.

Golfer Hailey Davidson, 33, filed the lawsuit March 19 against the United States Golf Association, the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the Hackensack Golf Club in New Jersey, which hosted a qualifier for the Women's U.S. Open last May, according to The Associated Press.

In a statement to The Christian Post, a spokesperson for the LPGA said the organization is aware of the lawsuit and plans to “let that process play out in 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 LPGA spokesperson stated.

The USGA and the LPGA changed their policies for events in 2025 and beyond, stating that players must be female or must have undergone so-called “gender-affirming care” before experiencing male puberty.

Davidson, who competed in a U.S. Open qualifier and LPGA Qualifying School under a different policy in 2024, was in his early 20s when he began taking hormone-altering drugs in 2015.

In 2021, the male golfer underwent sex-change surgery to comply with the LPGA’s previous policies, as the AP reports.

In his lawsuit, Davidson argues that the new policy effectively bans men who identify as female from competing in USGA women’s events or the LPGA.

The athlete also accused the Hackensack Golf Club of violating the law by deferring to the USGA’s decision and claiming that the organization controlled all eligibility decisions, according to AP.

Following President Donald Trump’s signing of the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order last year, various athletic organizations have adopted policies designed to preserve fairness for female athletes.

USA Hockey, the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United States, drew criticism from the first openly trans-identified professional hockey player after it approved a new policy preserving sex-based categories.

Harrison Browne, who participated in the National Women’s Hockey League from 2015 to 2018 before undergoing interventions to present herself as male, claimed in an Instagram post published earlier this year that USA Hockey has “quietly barred trans people from participating in hockey safely. Myself included.”

In November, USA Hockey approved a new Participant Eligibility Policy, replacing its 2019 policy for trans-identified athletes. The new regulations are set to take effect at the conclusion of the USA Hockey National Championships for each age classification, or April 1, 2026.

"The vast majority of USA Hockey’s programs are coed and not restricted by sex, and therefore all hockey players are eligible without regard to their sex, gender identity, transgender, non-binary or other status or forms of gender expression,” the Participant Eligibility Policy states.

Under USA Hockey’s updated guidelines, youth and junior hockey, disabled hockey programs, high school and prep school coed hockey and adult "open" or coed leagues remain available to all players. The policy notes, however, that some high school and prep school hockey programs, as well as some adult leagues, “are restricted by their internal rules to males or females.”

According to the policy, participation in sex-restricted programs is based on an athlete’s sex, not gender identity. The policy also states that “a female (as assigned at birth) may not play in programs restricted to females if they have undergone any male hormone therapy.”

Advocates for women’s sports argue that allowing males to compete as the opposite sex is unfair and dangerous to female athletes due to biological advantages.

Brooke Slusser, who previously played volleyball for San Jose State University, spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year during oral arguments in the cases of Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ. Slusser recounted her experience of having to play volleyball with a male athlete on the women’s team.

“I committed to a school that all I wanted was to find the love for the game again,” she said. “I was guided to living with a certain room of girls on my volleyball team, and come to find out that one of those girls was actually a man.”

“Not only was I being put in harm’s way every single day going into the gym, but I was also having to share a living space with this man. [...] I ended up having to move back home to Texas with my family, not finish my last year, senior season of school. [...] I had to move back home and heal from the trauma that I went through.”

Slusser said that when she asked her coach about the possibility of other teams forfeiting, he cursed at her and called her a “bigot” and a “hateful human being” who was “ruining this program.”

According to a report released in July 2025 by the conservative advocacy group Concerned Women for America, trans-identified male athletes have won more than 1,900 gold medals in female-only competitions.

The report compiled recorded instances dating back to the 1980s of men competing in female-only events. In addition to the 1,941 gold medals won, the report states they also claimed nearly $500,000 in prize money.