Lana Lawless (born in 1953) is a
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
.
Lawless is a
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
woman and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2005 before playing golf professionally. She became a professional title-holding golfer and received recognition for filing a lawsuit against the
Ladies Professional Golf Association
The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Infor ...
(LPGA) in 2010 for her right to compete as a woman in the women's long-drive championship.
Career
Before
transitioning to female and changing her name to Lana Lawless, she was a gang unit cop for the City of Rialto in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
. Before transitioning, she played golf for 21 years at a private golf club; in 2006, after her gender reassignment, she decided to compete professionally.
In 2007, Lawless competed in her first world championship, and returned in 2008 where she won the championship in long-drive golf.
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In 2010, Lawless filed a lawsuit against the LPGA for her right to compete as a woman in the world championship. The LPGA had a requirement that athletes must be "female at birth" in order to compete. As a transgender athlete, this meant she would have been ineligible to compete. Lawless argued that this requirement violated California's civil rights law and that transsexual competitors should be allowed to compete as the gender that they identify with.
Personal life
Although Lawless is open about being male-to-female transgender, she chooses not to discuss her former name. She explains that she has always been Lana Lawless deep inside. Before her gender reassignment
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
, Lawless had been married but did not have biological children.
See also
*Bobbi Lancaster
Bobbi Lancaster (born June 23, 1950) is a family physician, champion golfer, author, human rights advocate and motivational speaker. She is also a transgender woman, and underwent undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2010. She attempted to qu ...
, a trans woman
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...
who competed in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament
In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...
in 2013
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, Lana
American female golfers
Transgender sportspeople
Transgender women
American LGBT sportspeople
LGBT golfers
Living people
1953 births