Today in transgender history a judge in New York ruled in 1977 that transgender woman Renée Richards had the right to compete in the U.S. Open without having to pass a sex chromosome test. In the opening round of the Open, Richards lost to Virginia Wade in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
The first Open Singles Tennis tournaments were men-only events until the advent of the Women’s Singles Open six years later.
The U.S. Open is the final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three, in chronological order, are the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon.
Renée Richards, 86, born in Queens New York on August 19, 1934, underwent SRS in the early ’70s but was outed by local TV anchor Richard Carlson, the father of Tucker Carlson. Subsequently, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and the United States Open Committee (USOC) required all female competitors to verify their sex with a Barr body test of their chromosomes. Richards applied to play in the US Open in 1976 as a woman but refused to take the test, and thus was not allowed to compete in the Open, Wimbledon, or the Italian Open in the summer of 1976.
She challenged that policy, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, a landmark case in transgender rights. As one of the first professional athletes to identify as transgender, she became a spokesperson for transgender people in sports.
After retiring as a player, she coached Martina Navratilova to her first Wimbledon singles titles. The first in 1978, and a successful defense as reigning champion in 1979.
Martina Navratilova is infamously known for calling transgender athletes ‘cheats’. While she later said she was sorry for “suggesting that transgender athletes in general are cheats” she also added that there was no “perfect solution” to this issue and that if “everyone were included, women’s sports as we know them would cease to exist.”
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