LPGA to change transgender rules?

From Examiner.com:

November 18 -- LPGA members will reportedly vote later this month to let transgender women become members.

LPGA commissioner Michael Whan will reportedly ask association members to overturn the association’s “female at birth” requirement, according to the Golf Channel’s Randall Mell. Two-thirds of the LPGA membership must vote to approve the change to the group’s bylaws.

Response to lawsuit. The likely change would be In response to a federal lawsuit filed last month by Lana Lawless, who underwent gender-reassignment surgery in 2005 and sued the LPGA for the right to play on the women’s U.S. golf tour.

Whan said the issue will be a topic of discussion at the year-end players’ meeting, an LPGA spokesperson confirmed to Golf Examiner. The meeting is slated to occur during the LPGA Tour Championship later this month.

“We’ll explain the lawsuit, our options, and we’ll discuss my perspective and the LPGA staff’s perspective,” Whan told Mell.

Not good enough, according to Christopher Dolan, Lawless’ attorney.

“Despite the rumor that I have heard that the executive board is suggesting that there be a rule change [it] is but a rumor to try and distract from the focus of the debate,” Dolan said in an e-mail. “They have made no such statement to me or my client.”

Dolan was also unhappy with the reported LPGA vote. “It is ridiculous to think that an organization will vote on whether or not to discriminate and violate the law,” Dolan told Golf Examiner.

Mell reported that LPGA players learned during a briefing at the South Korean Hana Bank Championship last month that the anti-transgender language was outdated and legally indefensible. They also heard that the International Olympic Committee, USGA, Ladies European Tour, and the British Ladies Golf Union already allow transgender members.

Lawless, a formerly male police officer, filed her lawsuit against the LPGA and the Long Drivers of America (LDA) October 12 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. After Lawless won the 2008 Long Drive championship, the LDA banned her from participating.

Dinah Shore tourney in jeopardy? If the LPGA does not change its bylaws, Dolan has threatened to seek an injunction to prohibit the association from running tournaments in California. That would include next spring’s first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Lawless, who told Golf Examiner she owned a +1 handicap “in another life,” is also seeking damages from the LPGA and LDA, claiming each organization impeded her ability to work as a pro golfer. Without LPGA membership, the 57-year-old is also ineligible to teach golf professionally.

“She can’t earn prize money, she can’t earn sponsorship money, and she can’t be a professional golf instructor,” said Dolan. “She’s not a golf professional because she’s no longer a professional golfer.”