The Boston Marathon will now allow runners to register as “non-binary” athletes for its 2023 marathon.
The announcement was made on Monday by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) after registration for the race was opened.
the BAA wrote on its registration page:
The Boston Athletic Association is currently working on expanding opportunities for non-binary athletes at our events, including the upcoming 2023 Boston Marathon. While we do not currently have qualifying standards for nonbinary athletes, we are working on ways nonbinary participants are accepted into the event.
Non-binary athletes who have completed a marathon as a non-binary participant during the current qualifying window (September 1, 2021 through September 16, 2022) may submit an entry application into the 2023 Boston Marathon between September 12-16, 2022.
Entry into the event will be determined by an athlete’s submitted time and based on the Boston Marathon’s overall field size limit. The Boston Marathon registration application will feature the option to select non-binary in regards to gender.
Ages 18 to 34 years old, who make up the youngest age bracket, are required to have achieved a marathon time of three hours and 30 minutes or faster from September 2021 until now. The time requirement increases slightly with each proceeding age bracket. In each case, the requirements for non-binary runners matches the qualifying times women in the marathon are subject to.
Essentially, biological males who identify as non-binary will be subject to lower requirements than those who enlist as male runners.
In contrast to non-binary and female runners, men's qualifying times are lower, and runners are required to run for three hours or faster – 30 minutes faster than their non-binary and female counterparts.
The 19th reported that Jake Federowski, a board member for the LGBTQ+ group, the Seattle Frontrunners, is behind the push for the Boston Marathon to create qualifying times for non-binary runners.
“I’m constantly advocating for races to treat the nonbinary division as no more and no less than the other divisions,” Fedorowski said.
The effort to include non-binary athletes is the latest attempt to redefine gender in sports to the detriment of female athletes who identify as non-binary, who will now be forced to compete against biologically male athletes who also identify as non-binary.