Transgender softball player a conundrum for recreation district

Chicoer.com – By Jenn Klein – Staff Writer

An avid athlete and a transgender person, Tedra Thomsen wants to play coed softball — as a woman.

But the softball league she plays on won’t allow that.

“This snubs me basically,” said Thomsen, who explained while the sex she was born with is anatomically male, the gender she identifies herself with is female.

Next week the league’s recreation district will consider a policy on transsexual athletes — a first for the Chico Area Recreation and Park District — because of Thomsen’s concerns.

But as proposed, the policy won’t allow Thomsen to sign up as a female — although she could dress and act as a woman — until she has gone through sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy.