New mom kicked out of running club over trans controversy: Antithesis of why I signed up

A decade ago, if a woman ran a sub-three-hour Boston Marathon only six months after giving birth, she was pretty much guaranteed a fawning spread in a fitness magazine.But last week, only days after running the vaunted race in 2:50:04, new mom Natalie Daniels was booted from her running club in the DC metro area.The reason? She spoke up about fairness in women’s sports.Daniels doesn’t believe that trans runners should take up women’s spots in races — especially in Boston, which caps the number of marathon participants.“I don’t want anyone to think that there’s not a place for trans athletes in sports writ large,” the 33-year-old told me in an emotional interview.“All I am saying is that women — biological women — in women’s sports are valid and they deserve integrity in the results.”Daniels, who has won five of the 18 marathons she’s run, initially signed up for Boston when she was eight months pregnant with her first child, son Cooper.While in training, she read a social media post from Jennifer Sey, the founder of XX-XY Athletics, about how the Boston Marathon was going to let a trans woman compete in the women’s open category on April 21.

Sey also noted that the race had a nonbinary category that has only been won by men since its inception two years ago.The takeaway: It was possible for biological men to sweep all categories.“This was the antithesis of why I signed up — which is to celebrate my female body and to compete in a meaningful way with other women,” Daniels said.“During pregnancy, this became more important to me.”She was inspired to reach out to XX-XY, an apparel company that was founded on keeping women’s sports female.“I said, ‘Hey, if you guys came up with a Boston special singlet, I would wear it proudly,'” Daniels recalled.

She also agreed to do an interview with the brand, published on YouTube, in which she discussed her common sense views about biology and fair competition.She thought maybe 10...