After uproar ensued after a man was allowed to compete against female tennis players in the women’s division of the state’s Governor’s Cup, the president of a Wyoming tennis association has resigned from her position in protest of the ludicrous situation.
Photo by Matthias David, free to use under the Unsplash license.
A biological male going by the name “Brooklyn” Ross, who tells people he is a woman, will be competing in the women’s open singles division. Because Ross was allowed, former tennis association president Jackie Fulkrod felt she could no longer participate in this insanity that others had embraced.
“I think a man playing against a woman is a very unfair matchup when it’s specifically meant for women in that specific draw,” Fulkrod said in an interview with Cowboy State Daily. “I feel like having a transgender athlete compete in the women’s draw is against my personal integrity and what I believe and value.”
Fulkrod’s mother, who was also on the board, resigned as well in solidarity with her daughter, also finding it apprehensible that a man would be allowed to violate the integrity of women’s sports.
Screenshot: Roadrunnersathletics.com
Ross isn’t just coming in with the athletic advantage of a in-shape, male body, he is also a successful tennis player, which makes him already an incredibly unfair opponent for any real woman he faces on the court.
Ross managed to play tennis throughout college, finishing as a college athlete in 2019 at The University of Texas at Tyler. Before that, Ross played for the Metropolitan State University Denver, and in 2021 was named that year’s Women’s Freshman of the Year in the PacWest.
In Wyoming, the state legislature has only examined and made policies regarding males competing against females in terms of student sports K-12. Since the Governor’s Cup is outside of those policies, there is nothing legally that can be done in this case.
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Peg Connor, who is the Tournament Director and current executive director of the Wyoming Tennis Association, did no respond to questions from Cowboy State Daily regarding whether it was the Cheyenne Tennis Association’s board or herself directly that approved Ross’ participation, but did comment that “these decisions are not made in a vacuum.”
Fulkrod did state that at the last board meeting, this issue was not voted on.
“The people (board members) that were in the room, they were upset,” she added.