The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) has been forced to drop their new regulations on men who want to participate in women’s competitions after being sued by a trans-identified male player. The lawsuit was launched earlier this year by Natalie Ryan, who had been dominating women’s competitions prior to the PDGA attempting to rein in male competitors.
Yesterday, a settlement between Ryan and PDGA was announced. While the full terms are not available for public consumption, part of the agreement included PDGA dropping the policy which banned males from competing with women unless they had begun transitioning prior to puberty. This change means that all males who had undergone at least two years of hormone therapy are able to compete with women once again.
In a statement, PDGA revealed that a lack of funds was part of the reason why they were unable to fight against Ryan’s litigation onslaught, with Ryan having filed suits against them in two separate states.
“The PDGA is not financially or logistically in a position to take the lead in multi-state litigation on this topic,” wrote the organization in their statement. “For the first time in recent memory, the PDGA will end the year with a net operating loss, and it is not in the best interest of our members to continue to allocate resources to further litigation.”
Despite having only participated in women’s Disc Golf for a short few years, Ryan is currently ranked amongst the best “female” players in the world. Last year, after topping the Disc Golf Pro Tour, Ryan ranked into the top 5.