The Associated Press
EULESS, Texas–A 17-year-old transgender wrestler who qualified for the girls state tournament while transitioning from female to male has become a high-profile test of a year-old Texas policy now being criticized by the attorney who tried to keep the athlete from competing.
Mack Beggs, a junior at Euless Trinity High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, won a regional championship after two opposing wrestlers forfeited, apparently over concerns that Beggs has an unfair advantage because of testosterone treatments that are part of the transition.
Beggs, who has a 52-0 record, has a first-round match in the state tournament tomorrow in suburban Houston.
Attorney Jim Baudhuin unsuccessfully sought an injunction before the district and regional meets, seeking to prevent Beggs from wrestling during the transition.
Baudhuin now blames the state’s governing body for public school athletics and a vote a year ago by school superintendents and athletic directors that required athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificates.
Baudhuin said his outlook changed because he said he read reports that Beggs had asked the governing body, the University Interscholastic League, to compete as a boy and was turned down.
Baudhuin couldn’t confirm that account, and the UIL declined to discuss the specifics of Beggs’ case.
