Trans wrestler Mack Beggs competing at the Texas final
18-year-old Mack Beggs recently won the Texas Class 6A 110-pound (49kg) division wrestling competition for the second time. However, not everyone in the crowd was supportive of the win. In fact, Beggs was met with boos.
End of Mack Beggs title match was chaos. Had huge lead, nearly got pinned, then came the crescendo of cheers/boos. pic.twitter.com/FrLixVsTAj
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 24, 2018
WATCH: in a dramatic finish, transgender wrestler Mack Beggs rolls out of a possible pinfall to avoid defeat and win state. Met with boos from the crowd. @wfaa pic.twitter.com/72xRpzsQGN
— Matt Howerton (@HowertonNews) February 24, 2018
Who is Mack Beggs and why are people booing him?
Beggs has been involved in controversy since he began transitioning from female to male using a low dose of testosterone. Being on this treatment while wrestling girls started a heated debate about competitive fairness and transgender rights last year. His march to a state championship in 2017 was soured by a last-minute lawsuit attempting to bar him from competing.
‘That (the criticism) didn’t stop me from competing. That didn’t stop me from being who I was,’ Beggs told Dallas News.
Beggs was not allowed to wrestle for the boys’ division in high school, as the rules for Texas public high schools require athletes to compete under the gender they were assigned at birth.
‘He has so much respect for all the girls he wrestles,’ said Beggs’ mother, Angela McNew. ‘People think Mack has been beating up on girls … The girls he wrestles with, they are tough. It has more to do with skill and discipline than strength.’
Fan reactions
Many wrestling fans on Twitter expressed the belief that it’s unfair for a person taking testosterone to compete in female wrestling matches. They also frequently misgendered Beggs, who identifies as male, by using the pronouns she/her.
Her “skill” put her on her back… Steroids allowed her to muscle up and reverse it. An embarrassment for @uiltexas #MackBeggs #testosterone #cheating
Congrats to the young ladies that didn’t cheat to make it to state! https://t.co/sZwpqNg1hY
— Crossfit Memes (@Criss_Crossfit) February 25, 2018
Mack Beggs should have been disqualified. She’s been taking Testosterone and is getting praise for cheating her way to the top? This is a huge disgrace to the world of Wrestling. https://t.co/zkPwfNt0ZX
— Matt W. (@Wags261) February 25, 2018
Mack Beggs aka an athlete on steroids won title of state champ AGAIN tonight. @uiltexas something needs to change?
— Kalie Meyer (@kaliemeyer12) February 24, 2018
People taking performance enhancing drugs should not compete at all. https://t.co/unU1sFluk1
— Kaeley Triller (@KaeleyT) February 25, 2018
Two female bodies wrestle to see which female body is stronger. One takes anabolic steroid injections, the other does not. I wonder who will win!https://t.co/ZuM0m5wpXj
— Omzig Online (@Gizmojen) February 25, 2018
No kidding. Let me field a girls team aided by testosterone and I’ll bet they’ll do pretty well, too. I feel for this kid; gender dysphoria is a tough road. But no female wrestler should agree to wrestle her, and she cannot wrestle the boys because she is not a boy. #MackBeggs https://t.co/kQHwQ0ccjq
— Mark Davis (@MarkDavis) February 25, 2018
I don’t see how we can say that Mack Beggs should compete with cis boys because of his testosterone levels while also saying that trans girls with the same testosterone levels should be playing against cis girls.
Can’t have it both ways imo.
— Katelyn Burns (@transscribe) February 25, 2018
Others came to Beggs’ defense after the booing video made its rounds on social media.
LET MACK BEGGS WRESTLE BOYS. STOP MISGENDERING HIM. #transgenderrightsarehumanrights
— GAYmer trans (@my_trans_voice) February 25, 2018
HIGHSCHOOL CHAMPION WRESTLER, MACK BEGGS, IS BOOED AFTER WINING STATE SEMIFINALS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE IGNORANT & NOBODY LETS HIM WRESTLE IN THE BOYS TEAM, SO HE HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO WOOP SOME ASS ON A TEAM IN WHICH HES OBLIGATED 2 PLAY IN
*fixed it 😚 https://t.co/cpWN2g64tG
— thiccboy🗯 (@papisonguisN8) February 25, 2018
I have to give it up to Mack Beggs. This kid has been taking a world of hate for two years now for wrestling with girls, something the state of Texas forces him to do, and he continues to compete. I would have crumbled by now.
— Dr. Not Your T*oken (@tjjourian) February 25, 2018
This is where the intellectual dishonesty of your argument shines brightest. Mack Beggs wants to compete with the boys. Texas refused, so you instead you attack the transgender teenager pretending as if this is “equality” at work.
— Ian Thomas Malone (@ianthomasmalone) February 25, 2018
It was a mistake to force Mack Beggs to compete against girls, instead of boys, as it not only ignored (his) gender identity, but also placed every opponent at a significant disadvantage–in addition to the physical risk.
So how do we solve that?
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 25, 2018
