BOSTON — Boston Marathon organizers say transgender runners can qualify for the race using the gender they identify with.
The issue surfaced in March after a blogger cast a spotlight on three openly transgender women who qualified as women and plan to run the race.
Some have run in the past, but the race’s rules were unclear on how trans athletes would be treated.
Boston Athletic Association CEO Tom Grilk said the LGBT community has “had a lot to deal with over the years” and that he’d rather not “add to that burden.”
Other marathons including New York and Chicago said they’ll also accept whatever gender a runner submits.
Amelia Gapin, a transgender woman from New Jersey, says running Boston this year will be a victory lap for what she has accomplished.