Professional disc golf athlete Abigail Wilson walked off the tee in protest over the inclusion of a trans-identified male in the women’s competition this week. Wilson found herself being expected to compete against male participant Logan ‘Natalie’ Ryan in the Music City Open held in Nashville, and refused in an act of defiance being celebrated by women’s rights advocates the world over.
Wilson posted a video of her protest to her Instagram account, saying: “Females deserve to have their gender protected division be protected. This is unfair. I have worked so hard to get to this point to play on the DGPT, but the sacrifice of my career and my hard work is worth it if it means I can make a difference for other women, daughters, nieces, and the future of our sport. If you feel how wrong it is to have biological males be competing in female protected divisions in sports, now is the time to speak up and stand your ground.”
She added that she had been having “anxiety” about playing against the trans-identified male because of “threats of violence” at last year’s competition, referencing a terrorist threat that had suspended the Music City Open last year.
“After speaking with a member of the DGPT staff yesterday they made it clear they would be unwilling to change me to an earlier tee time when regarding my fears of safety on the course. They assured me that there would be bag checks, police, and security at the event. Upon arriving this morning there was no security or police presence… There were zero security precautions,” Wilson said.
“Today I most likely ended my career and that is okay because this is bigger than me.”
According to his player profile, since 2019 Ryan has racked up 19 tournament wins in the Women’s Pro level, and has reportedly taken home over $40,000 in prize money.
In December 2022, Ryan announced he would be taking legal action against the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) over a recent revision that had been made to their gender identity policies. The updated rule, which appeared to have been adopted due to his presence in the women’s category, stated that “players who were assigned male at birth” must have started their medical “transition” before the onset of puberty to be considered eligible to compete against women.
It also stipulated that trans-identified male players must “continuously maintain a total testosterone level below 2.0 nmol/L. The average normal testosterone level in women is typically between 0.20 and 1.67 nmol/L.
“This policy attacks touring athletes due to my success on the 2022 tour,” Ryan stated in his request for financial support.
He then criticized women who had complained about his participation by insinuating that they were poor sports and medicore athletes. “The reality is that I’m not all that great, but I’m good enough to win and that alone scared people into believing I was some monster. Some of my fellow competitors decided they wouldn’t work on their games and improve themselves but instead tear me down because my game was complete.”
Ryan has repeatedly mocked female competitors who express discomfort with him playing in the women’s division.
“My most active detractors have been complacent and haven’t improved their games in years,” Ryan posted to his Facebook in 2023. “Trans people’s anger for situations like this has been used against them for generations as justification for our collective removal from public spaces. I refuse to fall in line and accept that this is okay. My frustration is valid.”
He continued: “‘But the advantages!’ I hear you screech for the millionth time! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, sports aren’t fair. Every single player has their own set of advantages, like being tall or young or having a good head on their shoulders. I don’t know if I have anything from my past but if I did, why is mine illegal and everyone else’s is okay? People think that mine is unnatural or a choice I made to get here.”
In total Ryan raised over $14,000 to assist in his lawsuit. on January 5, 2024, he announced that the case had been settled in his favor. US District Judge Troy Nunley granted Ryan a temporary restraining order to allow him to play.
“It appears there was an intentional act, the creation of a policy, that excludes individuals based on their protected status as transgender women,” Nunley wrote in his decision. “The Court makes no determinations as to whether this is sufficient to actually establish intentional discrimination, but it raises serious questions,” he added.
“Thank you all for donating, it was instrumental in my victories in court,” Ryan said on GoFundMe. “The money you all donated me helped secure my first lawyer and covered the initial filing and expert fees. Thank you all for helping trans athletes regain a future in Disc Golf!”
Over on Instagram, Ryan stated that he was “ruthless” in his legal pursuit. “I’m excited to announce that the PDGA, DGPT and I have reached an agreement. All trans women will be equals at the elite level again. I had to be ruthless to get them to listen.”
In a statement posted to the PDGA website revealing that the policy restrictions had been removed due to the ruling, the disc golf authority pointed out that they had lacked the funds to pursue the matter further.
“The PDGA is not financially or logistically in a position to take the lead in multi-state litigation on this topic. For the first time in recent memory, the PDGA will end the year with a net operating loss, and it is not in the best interest of our members to continue to allocate resources to further litigation. Accordingly, and as part of a settlement ending the litigation against the PDGA and DGPT in both California and Minnesota, the Board of Directors is altering section C of the Policy.”
Last year, professional disc golf player from Estonia, Kristin Lätt (formerly Tattar), who holds the highest PDGA rating in the FPO (Female Professional) division, spoke out against males playing in her sport. Lätt had lost to Ryan in the 2022 MVP Open in Massachusetts.
Lätt said that in 2023, women were threatened with disqualification if they didn’t accept trans-identified males in their category.
“In sports, it’s obvious to me why there are two divisions. We are designed differently. I think women should be in their own category. I want us all to be happy and to be able to play disc golf in fair conditions.”
Additionally, the mother of two female professional disc golf players slamming Ryan as a “man” after her daughters lost to him at a PDGA tournament.
“Morgan [Lynds] tied [with] a biological MAN for first place in regulation then lost to him in a playoff,” Tonya Lynds said. “Congraulations Morgan for a FPO (Female Pro Open) first place and congratulations Jordan for a FPO second place finish! It’s very difficult to watch this happen. It isn’t about the losing, it’s about losing to a MAN!!”
In 2023, 33 professional female disc golf players petitioned the courts to save their sport. The petition was referred to as the Stockton Declaration in a nod to Ryan’s disqualification after already competing in day one of the FPO (female pro open) OTB Open in Stockton, California that year.
That summer, professional player Catrina Allen also organized an action which she livestreamed from her Instagram account.
“It is a act of biology that being born with male biology, going through male puberty, and experiencing male levels of testosterone conveys enormous performance advantages. Elite sport for those of us born biological females cannot exist without eligibility standards that consider these basic biological facts,” Allen said.
“What an absolute blow to women’s sports this year. I really, really wish the PDGA could have reached out for financial support from those of us that would have helped along the way. They should not have had to fight alone, while NR received free counsel and gofundme support. Such a sad time for women disc golfers. At this point just focus on putting NR at the bottom of the leaderboard,” Allen stated in her post.
In response, Ryan shot back on Instagram: “Catrina said what I already knew she believed, she doesn’t see me as the human being I am. If the PDGA actually found that transwomen had any substantial advantage in FPO we wouldn’t be playing with women at all.”
“All her statement says to me is that she needs to work on her mental game. If the presence of someone she doesn’t agree with can ruin her day, then her skin is pretty thin.”
Ryan has claimed to be one of the only trans-identified males currently competing at the professional level against women. But while Ryan is attracting controversy for his continued participation in female athletics, Reduxx has learned that one of Ryan’s trans-identified male colleagues is also competing at the professional level in women’s disc golf.
Reduxx can reveal that Ryan’s online acquaintance, a 48-year-old trans-identified male who uses the name Amanda Branch, has recently begun participating in women’s disc gold tournaments. On March 29, Branch placed fourth in the Women’s Pro Open.
On March 15, Branch posted that he had signed up to compete in the 2025 PDGA Women’s Disc Golf Championship, set to be held in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in June.