I still see two sides to this whole story.
One is the personal level. You are feeling better now, and that is great. More true to yourself, i am all for that. It's amazing that we have the possibililty nowadays from a tecnical view but also that some societies (not all, yet) are accepting you as you wanna be. If you are happier that way, that's great.
But the other question is that of integrity of womans sports. You are not in a position where you transition and blow the entire womans field out of the water. Others are.
Rachel McKinnon became world champion after transitioning. Hannah Mouncey is just ridiculous, look at photos, she is like a head taller than all her opponents. Laurel Hubbard won gold medals left and right and the other women competing complained how unfair it is. There are more and more of these cases coming up.
You focus very much on the personal side and how great it is for you. You keep claiming how ridiculous the idea is for somebody to undergo such a transformation just for some gold medals. I am not saying the athletes i mentioned above just transformed for winning, but they ARE winning lots and lots after their transition.
As you said before, you went from a top 50% male to a top 5% woman while actually getting worse physical abilities like distance and stamina. Imagine you started this whole process as a top 5% or even top 1% male. In a sport that probably pays more money than disc golf. With professionals actually depending on that income from tournament wins.
I just think you dont really wanna see this side of the story. I see you very strongly emphasising the personal aspect. But you have to see the reality that many of us who dont know all the medical details and the personal stories of the individuals involved, all we see is the gender bender meme...
I absolutely DO know and accept and see THAT side of the story exiats, and could potentially happen for real.
I am not saying anything against the likelihood of that happening.
There IS, one day, going to be an elite level disc golfer who transitions.
I am just categorically refusing to accept the worst case scenario that this would happen SOLELY because of that player wanting to have a chance at winning in a gender-protected division. That's just not how transitioning works.
Rachel, Hannah, Laurel, me, and the other (openly or not) transgender people; try asking them (at gun point, if you think they'd not be honest enough if you simply asked them) why they transitioned.
Do you really think that any of them transitioned BECAUSE of improved athletic opportunity?!?!?!!?
All I - and several others in this thread and others - have stated time after time, is that the likelyhood of a (sup)top male athlete in ANY sport would transition JUST to win medals in a gender-protected division, is beyond unimaginable.
But I can't and won't blame you for thinking that.
For those "not in the know", it indeed seems as simple as "John says he wants to wear a dress, and is then allowed to play with Mary and Lisa".
Please take the word from a first-hand experienced person that it simply does not work like that.
First off, there are way too many negative side effects against transition in general, that will outweigh against the "yay, I now won this medal"...
Even just looking at the amount of vitriol and hatred I won for what is ultimately a world title at an event that is ultimately only "opportunity" based, not "merits" based (bring on the hate for that comment, I stand by that statement) heavily outweighs the joy of having actually won that title.
I don't know numbers, but I think it's in the range of 50-100 negative comments for every positive comment I got for having won.
And even then, I only went to AmWorlds to celebrate my transition having come to an end. I didn't care one single bit if I'd finish first or last.
And even, if that person would take all these negative side effects for granted.
* guaranteed physical health risks
* possible mental health issue due to social and relational ostracision, possibly ending in that person taking their lives.
* financial implications (wage gap, if employment even continues post transition)
ridicule
* physical abuse (check how many transgender women get murdered for being transgender women; I'd really be surprised if it's not already being used in court cases as a defense "sorry, your honour I killed that her because I was temporarily insane, when I found out she is transgender")
etc...
... the system is still considered a 'gate-keeping' system, where you actually need to "prove" through extensive psychological evaluation that you are indeed suffering from gender dysphoria, before you get the green light to actually start transition.
After that green light, you'd need to continuosly (12+ months), and uninterrupted maintain your low T levels either through chemical suppression, or through surgery (for which you only get green light if you: A. took hormone replacement therapy for 12+ months, AND B. have permanently lived as your desired gender for 12+ months), before your gender reclassification would even be considered for review by the PDGA.
My transition, from the moment I had the courage to look at myself in the mirror, and accept I am transgender, to the moment I got the green light from the PDGA, was 31 months, and that is considered a FAST transition path.
It's preposterous to even entertain the thought that for instance a 980-rated (only ever so slightly higher than Paige & Catrina, but light years away from Paul & Ricky) male player who'd never have a chance to win ProWorlds in MPO, would be able to just fake their way through physch eval AND take for granted all the negative aspects of transition, to be able to beat Paige, Eveliina, Catrina, etc. at ProWorlds.