Amid the debates in what will be a contentious election, transgender Americans have been been at a center of unwanted attention.
Since August, Republican candidates and surrogates have spent over $65 million on anti-trans advertisements, including a large salvo that have been seen on sports telecasts for the last two weekends.
One of the biggest buys has been in the hot U.S. Senate race in Texas between incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred. Cruz, through his campaign, has put up a television and print offense screaming that Allred “support boys in girl’s sports!”
One of the print ads features a then-high school senior Mack Beggs, winning his second Texas University Interscholastic League state championship in 2018, underneath a headline screaming, “Colin Allred failed to protect women’s sports, supporting boys competing with girls.”
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“Obviously Ted Cruz is targeting me,” Beggs told Outsports on Tuesday. “I don’t think he even knows who I am. He was using my photo for a personal gain that is absolutely not true.”
His story is one of the most-known in the recent history of transgender inclusion in sports It’s also been the story that many often get wrong. Beggs, competing in high school wrestling at Euless Trinity High School, wanted to compete against other boys. The UIL regulations said that he has to compete in the category corresponding to the sex denoted on his birth certificate. Beggs was forced to compete in the girl’s competition, which is exactly the rules Republicans like Cruz endorse now.
Those facts about his story are too often omitted and are a sore spot for him.
“People ask me to this day if I’m a trans woman,” Beggs noted incredulously. “The one thing that honestly tears me up, that yes I competed with girls, but everybody forgets that I competed against boys in USA Wrestling. It just wasn’t during the UIL season.”
His frustration mirrors that of many transgender Americans caught between a GOP onslaught of legislation and hysteria, and Democratic fears that taking a pro-trans stance is a losing play on Election Day.
In response to Cruz’s recent attack ad on this issue, Allred countered saying, “I’m a dad. I’m also a Christian. I don’t want to see boys in girl’s sports.”
In a locally televised debate with Cruz Tuesday in Dallas, Allred didn’t double down but also avoided taking a strident stand on trans rights when pressed by Cruz on the issue. “I don’t support boys playing girls sports,” Allred stated. “What I think is that folks shouldn’t be discriminated against and what Senator Cruz should try to explain is why he thinks they should.”
Beggs says he hopes Allred and others would step up with greater support, but seeks to stay above the fray politically. At age 25, He is seeking to move beyond the narrative of the past, now toward his future goals competing in mixed martial arts.
After an injury-shortened collegiate wrestling career he hopes to move into the MMA cage professionally. He notes the reality of where trans acceptance is today, and where it may be in the near future.
“I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “It’s going to take multiple truly special people to turn things around. It going to be about a matter of accessibility and people being treated fairly.”
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