A transgender runner on Sunday defeated thousands of women in the female category of the London Marathon after competing as a man in the New York City race just months prior.
Glenique Frank, a 52-year old male athlete who now identifies as female, finished in 6160th place out of 20,123 entrants, outpacing 14,000 women.
“Girl power!,” Frank said to a reporter after the London event, flexing his biceps and abdomen muscles for the camera. Frank listed all the other races he’s participated in recently. For all of those, he was referred to as “Glen” rather than “Glenique.”
“My beautiful son stood there” on the sidelines to support, Frank said. “He’s having a baby, so I’m going to be a granny.”
“Girl power” says Glen (Glenique since 2021) Frank, an experienced men’s marathon runner who now runs in the women’s category, adding that it’s a great day because he’s going to be a “granny” soon #LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/TT2UAD2zvY
— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) April 23, 2023
Frank then ran off from the camera, wearing a transgender flag as a cape. The spectacle soon received intense backlash from some female professional runners.
“Males in the F category is UNFAIR for females,” Olympic marathoner Mara Yamauchi tweeted in response to the viral video of Frank.
Yamauchi suggested that Frank’s category switch enabled him to transcend his previously mediocre status. Last November, for example, he ran the NYC Marathon in the men’s category and finished 14,096th out of 26,539, according to Yamauchi.
Across multiple professional and amateur sports, such as running, cycling, and boxing, female athletes in the U.S. and internationally are fighting to protect their arenas from male interference. Some countries are starting to take a stand against transgender intrusion. For example, Lexi Rodgers, a transgender-identifying male athlete who wished to compete in Australia’s semi-professional women’s basketball league, was barred entry based on an expert panel’s ruling last week.
Earlier this month, however, the Biden administration took steps to enshrine transgender participation in sports into policy. It unveiled a proposal that would prohibit schools from instituting policies that “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.” The proposed rule, which would impact any school or college that receives federal funding, would expand Title IX protections to include gender identity, making a ban on transgender athletes playing on teams that match their stated gender identity illegal.