Trans athletes suit prompts response from womens | Golf News

The NXXT Women’s Pro Tour has formally responded after transgender golfer Hailey Davidson filed a lawsuit difficult the group’s coverage barring gamers assigned male at start from competing in its girls’s division.

Davidson, a Scottish-born American golfer who beforehand competed under earlier eligibility guidelines, sued the Florida-based mini tour in December following a coverage change that restricts participation in the ladies’s class to gamers assigned feminine at start. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and wrongful exclusion from skilled alternatives.

NXXT CEO Stuart McKinnon said this week that the tour and its attorneys have filed a movement to dismiss the claims and consider the case will in the end be thrown out. Over a 12 months in the past, Davidson slammed a coverage that denied her from competing in elite tournaments.

“We are asking the courts to dismiss the claims, and we’re addressing the matter,” McKinnon said. “This was about simply protecting women’s sports. So the goal was really clarity and competitive integrity, and, as a professional tour, we believe it was our responsibility to define those categories.”

McKinnon said he personally reached out to Davidson before implementing the change and supplied an various pathway within the group.

“I had a talk with Davidson. And at that time, prior to the change, I had offered Davidson the opportunity to play in an open division,” McKinnon said. “In that open division, I had offered Hailey Davidson to play in that open division and even a management position in that open division, and we would allow Davidson to play for free. We would pay for Q School fees for Davidson. So we were very generous and respectful of what Davidson wanted to do.”

He added: “My message to Davidson was simply that perhaps your legacy is forging the path for future generations. But it can’t be right now in this women’s tour right now, when I’m running it, and we are going to make the policy change.”

According to McKinnon, Davidson rejected the proposal. The CEO said he anticipated legal motion but felt compelled to transfer ahead after surveying gamers.

“We did an anonymous player poll, which we had a high response rate within a very short period of time. Within two or three days, we had 80% plus response rate, and it was clear that the players were speaking, that they felt the policy change was in order,” McKinnon said. “The theme was that it was unfair, and they wanted us to address our policies.”

Davidson’s lawsuit states that “Defendants breached the Contracts by implementing the Policy Change that resulted in Ms. Davidson being prohibited from participating in the entirety of the NXXT Winter Series; failing to allow Ms. Davidson to compete in any NXXT Winter Series tournaments after the Policy Change; retaining Ms. Davidson’s annual NXXT Golf membership fees and entry fees for NXXT Winter Series tournaments; and not awarding Ms. Davidson the Epson Exemptions she had earned.”

Davidson, who started hormone treatment in 2015 and underwent gender-affirming surgical procedure in 2021, has beforehand spoken about her journey in skilled golf.

“I was at a crossroads at this point since I thought I had to choose between playing golf for a living and hiding who I was forever, or finally be happy as my authentic self and potentially never play golf again,” Davidson wrote in a first-person essay in 2021. “I am very happy that I chose the latter of the two and came out, and it was truly the life-saving moment I needed.”

NXXT was among the first girls’s tours to undertake a stricter eligibility rule. In December 2024, the LPGA and USGA also up to date their insurance policies, limiting participation in girls’s occasions to gamers assigned feminine at start who had not skilled male puberty.