Aura Breaks Barriers: The First Trans Basketball Player in Spain to Compete After Legal Battle

Aura, the first trans basketball player in Spain (Facebook)

Aura will be able to play basketball. This is the decision adopted by the Castilla-La Mancha Sports Justice Committee on the federative license of this 18-year-old player, who in 2023 was denied the right to participate in the women’s category of this sport by the Castilla-La Mancha basketball federation. at his age.

According to a resolution of May 8, to which EFE has had access, the Committee considers that the decision taken by the federation “violates” the fundamental right to equal treatment and non-discrimination of the young woman from Albacete, since it excludes her from the competition “due to her mere status as a trans woman without an objective and reasonable justification based on scientific evidence.”

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Aura has been playing basketball since 2013, when at the age of 7 she obtained her first federative license to participate in competitions organized by the Castilla-La Mancha Basketball Federation (FBCLM). From then until 2023, said license was renewed annually with the sex and name that at that time appeared in the young woman’s DNI and in the Civil Registry, that is, corresponding to the male gender.

However, in January 2020, at the age of 15, Aura began her gender transition process through medical treatment with testosterone hormone blockers, which was extended until July 2022, the date on which, upon reaching the age of majority, For health purposes (16 years old), he was able to access hormonal therapy with estrogens.

That is, the player has played in men’s categories while undergoing the same medical treatment she receives today. In parallel with the medical transition, the basketball player from Albacete began the legal procedures to rectify the registry mention of her name and sex, in order to adapt them to her female gender identity. On July 18, 2023, the Albacete Civil Registry approved this change. On October 6 of that same year, Aura received her new ID, in which she appears under that name and as a woman.

However, when the team of which the player is a part, the Albacete Basketball Club, requested its federative license for the 2023-2024 season with its new documentation, the FBCLM system generated an error notice as the document was already in use. of identity entered. Faced with this problem, the club asked the Federation to manually update Aura’s gender and name to match her new legal identity, but these requests were not met.

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Finally, the FBCLM denied the young woman’s request, alleging an alleged recommendation from the International Basketball Federation which indicated “that registration (of transgender players) would not be allowed until there was a relevant regulation in force,” according to records. in the resolution.

In the opinion of the Committee, this indication does not have an “individualized motivation that assesses the unique circumstances of the case” and ignores the norms approved in recent years, which “expressly, and increasingly more forcefully, guarantee equal treatment and non-discrimination against LGTBI people in general, and trans people in particular.”

Likewise, the resolution emphasizes that Aura’s analytical data and the periodic clinical follow-up to which she undergoes allow us to affirm that “her medical-hormonal situation is comparable to that of any cisgender woman of her age, without there being significant differences that could justify differential treatment in the sports field.”

The Castilla-La Mancha sports body also ensures that the basketball player does not have a relevant competitive advantage or physical superiority that could call into question her participation in the women’s leagues. In fact, her testosterone level is “at the lower end of the reference range for women her age, very far from the male range.”

“It is the first resolution of this type in Spain, in response to cases of different federations that chose to flatly deny licenses for women’s competitions to trans players,” said Aura’s lawyer, Saúl Castro, who celebrates this “unprecedented achievement” and He is convinced that this case “can empower other trans girls” and “serve as an example for them to appeal discriminatory decisions based on their gender identity.”

Information prepared by EFE

2024-05-09 18:55:11
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