‘I’m not a woman’: Transgender golfer changes course, decides not to compete against biological women 

Transgender pro golfer Nicole Powers recently made the decision to stop competing against biological females, sparking backlash from LGBTQ+ advocates. 

“I had to take a step back and realize that biological realities are real, and competitive advantages will always exist despite the number of years or whatever surgeries and hormones you’ve done, and then understood that my place is not in women’s sports,” Powers said in a recent interview with OutKick’s Hayley Caronia. 

Powers, who’d also tried tennis and skiing, said many competitors and coaches tried to convince him that he belonged in competitions with the women. 

“And even with me saying, ‘No, I don’t,’ they still are continuing to try to force the agenda that, ‘You’re a trans woman; we’re going to keep championing you in women’s sports.” 

“I’m not a woman; I’m a trans woman. And it’s like this bizarro world where I’m trying to defend my reality against people who are trying to defend something I’m telling them I’m not.” 

Powers even admitted to holding back and not giving 100% during competitions against biological females because he recognized the inherent unfair advantage. Powers said he didn’t want to raise any flags by hitting long drives during competition, and knew in the back of his mind it “wouldn’t feel right” to take awards away from women. 

“So, if I’m standing on the tee box with three other women, I’m not going to just bomb a drive out on the fairway 310, 315 yards, even though I knew I could. Despite my lifelong transition or transition for 10-plus years, I knew that I could do that, but instead, I would maybe club down; lay off a little bit on my game.” 

Powers’ turnabout comes at a time when transgender golfer Hailey Davidson is attempting to qualify for an LPGA Tour card amid protests from 275 female golfers. The Independent Women’s Forum recently sent a letter to the LPGA, U.S. Golf Association and International Golf Federation signed by current and former players asking them to repeal policies that allow for biological males to compete in women’s sports. 

“It is essential for the integrity and fairness of women’s golf to have a clear and consistent participation policy in place based on a player’s immutable sex,” the letter reads. “There are differences between the sexes – female and male – that specifically affect our sport of golf.” 

The LPGA currently allows participants who have undergone sex-change surgeries after puberty and meet certain hormone therapy requirements. 

Powers has actually launched a GoFundMe page titled “Support Nicole’s Mission to Save Women’s Sports” hoping to “change the narrative about women competing with males in the sporting world.” The site notes that many social media platforms, especially TikTok, regularly censor their content due to not aligning with the politically correct narratives surrounding transgender athletes. 

Powers admits he knew from the beginning it wasn’t right to compete against biological females, but that force-fed narratives empowered him to do so. 

“When I was transitioning and starting my athletic career, you didn’t see trans women competing in women’s sports because we all knew that that wasn’t the right thing to do,” Powers said in the Outkick interview, adding, “I didn’t necessarily see that I was part of the problem because you’re force-fed this information that your existence is not the problem, and you should enter women’s spaces without restraint.” 

Powers made it clear in the Outkick interview that forcing biological males on women’s sports is a “political agenda” that he has no intention of getting behind, noting the governing bodies of many sports leagues are only listening to that political agenda and ignoring the viewpoints of women athletes, a reality that must change for the future of women’s sports. 

“I don’t know what the governing bodies need to do, but they need to listen to women athletes — you know, women; adult human females. They need to listen to those athletes, listen to their pain points and understand that there has to be a change. There has to be a clear line in the sand.”