TOKYO — When Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old weight lifter from New Zealand, makes her first attempt in the women’s heavyweight competition on Monday, she will become the first openly transgender female athlete to compete at the Olympics. Yet she will do so amid a debate over whether she should be at the Games at all. Others believe the Games’ binary categories fail to account for a diverse group of athletes. But in 2017, she told Radio New Zealand that she did not see herself as a flag bearer for transgender athletes. “I would hope they would support me, but it’s not for me to make them do so.”

Source: International New York Times July 31, 2021 15:56 UTC