Here at The Active Joe, it is important to me to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all athletes, free from unfair discrimination and where you can feel that you are celebrated for being yourself. This policy covers 3 areas, Inclusivity, Registration Process, and Timing Process, for athletes whose gender is not male or female, including but not limited to: genderqueer, agender, bigender.
Inclusivity and a Welcoming Environment
I will use They/Them pronouns as a default for any athletes registered in the Non-Binary gender category. Should your pronouns differ from this, please let me know as I always want to endeavor to use the right ones!
Over the last couple years, I have moved away from the industry standard of “men’s” versus “women’s” sizing of race shirts. During registration, you will have the option of “Relaxed Fit” and “Fitted” in all instances where the manufacturer is creating men’s versus women’s sized garments. Because clothing doesn’t have a gender!
Any comment or statement, written or verbal, that marginalizes or denigrates an athlete based upon race, gender, gender identity, or sexuality and occurs on The Active Joe moderated Facebook pages or groups or at The Active Joe events will not be tolerated and may lead to a one year ban from any The Active Joe events.
Registration Process
I helped advise Ultrasignup over the last couple years as they navigated how to upgrade their registration and results software to add more inclusivity in regards to gender identity. The Ultrasignup system now asks you to choose from Male, Female, and Non-Binary for the gender field when you set up your profile! For our road races, Athlete360’s system will also give the same options for selecting your gender.
Race Timing Process
We will use the gender field as provided during the registration process. Athletes in this category will be included in overall results showing a gender of Non-Binary and will be shown in a separate “Non-Binary” division in division results. We will offer equivalent overall podium awards as offered in Male and Female divisions.
If an athlete would like to be included in a division that is eligible for age group awards, please notify me by email, and the options are (and these options are consistent with our Transgender Athlete Entrant Policy as well):
• An entrant can be included in the award divisions as a female provided the athlete was assigned female at birth and has not begun hormone treatment that includes testosterone or any other banned substance, or if an athlete was assigned male at birth but has been undergoing continuous, medically supervised estrogen hormone treatment for at least one year prior to the race. (This matches our Transgender Entrant Policy already in place.)
• An entrant can be included in the award divisions as a male with no restrictions.
• In these instances, you will not be shown as Non-Binary in the overall results unfortunately as the timing system would require your gender to read as the award division you are participating in to make the results show up.
If anyone has any questions, please contact me at Libby@TheActiveJoe.com