November 6 Nick Dill will run the New York marathon, but will not be in the men’s or women’s category.
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Nick, who claims to be non-binary, will run in a third category that responds to a growing demand for representation and inclusion. It is not the first marathon in which he has participated in long-distance races, who has already finished the premier category in less than three hours.
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“I used to run in the men’s category,” explains Nick, a professional dancer before becoming an acupuncturist. “I was born a boy and identified as such for years.” “But after (in January) I declared myself non-binary, I felt discomfort, confusion when there were only men or women” among the options proposed by the organizers of the races.
“What to choose? I am both at the same time, but also neither of them.”
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After the dance and gymnastics, as an adult, Nick began to run. “He was stressed because of this toxic masculine energy” that is in this environment. “I was afraid of not being in my place.”
What to choose? I am both at the same time, but also neither of them
According to a study by the Williams Institute research center at the University of UCLA published in June 2021, about 1.2 million people identify as non-binary in the United States.
The singers Sam Smith and Demi Lovato, or Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the series “The Crown”, are the best known cases that have adopted this terminology.
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According to a list established by activist Jake Fedorowski, more than 200 sporting events now offer three different categories in the United States.
“For someone who doesn’t identify as male or female, not having an alternative creates a mental barrier, one more obstacle to being able to fully participate” in the race, explains Kerin Hempel, director of the New York Road Runners Association, which organizes the marathon. New York, the first to have taken this step.
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a release
From 16 runners the first year, in 2021, the category has grown to more than 60 this year in New York. Other major events on the calendar, from Boston to London, have followed suit.
“This has been a liberation”says Jake Caswell, a 25-year-old non-binary clinical analyst who was a top athlete in the American collegiate championship under the colors of Columbia University. “A space is being created that has never existed before.”
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Jake, who uses the pronoun “they“, translated as “she” in Spanish, remember the “super feeling” of crossing the finish line of his first race as a non-binary earlier in the year. “No one knew,” she says.
Eager to stay ahead, the New York Marathon innovated by awarding the new category this year with $5,000 for the winner.
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, from the ChampionWomen association, sees in the creation of new categories the possibility that other “competitors who have a male sports advantage”, as in the case of transgender athletes, do not end up competing with women, as has happened Recently.
Hogshead-Makar is part of a movement calling for limiting transgender athletes without hormonal or pubertal advantages from ending up in women’s competitions, which some members of the LGBTQ community criticize.
After transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won a university degree in the United States in March, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) has banned any swimmer who would have transitioned from the age of 12 in women’s competitions.
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The subject is very controversial and several states have adopted laws to ban transgender athletes from participating in youth competitions.
So far, the reactions to the creation of a non-binary category have been mostly very positive, despite the fact that a few weeks ago Jake was booed by a spectator during a test in Staten Island, in New York.
“Not everyone agrees and some want to say it loud and clear.” “I’ve read comments on the internet” criticizing the initiative, says Nick Dill. “It’s all related to a lack of education and knowledge. As it becomes more visible, I imagine it will be more accepted.”
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According to Nick, the resistance comes from older people, even within the LGBTQ community, “who are a bit constrained in this world where everything is black and white, even though non-binarity is a gray space.”
For Nick, more than a competition, the New York marathon will be a “celebration”. “We’re all there to support each other.”
AFP
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