Transgender boy moves within 1 win of girls Texas title
By KRISTIE RIEKEN, Associated Press
Feb 25, 2017 12:21 PM CST
Mack Beggs, right, a transgender wrestler from Euless Trinity competes in a quarterfinal against Mya Engert of Amarillo Tascosa during the state wrestling tournament Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in Cypress, Texas. Beggs was born a female and is transitioning to male but wrestles in the girls division. (Melissa...   (Associated Press)

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) — A 17-year-old transgender boy has moved within one match of winning a Texas state girls wrestling title.

Mack Beggs pinned Kailyn Clay to improve to 56-0, putting him in Saturday afternoon's championship match.

Beggs is a junior from Euless Trinity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His family has said he would rather be wrestling boys. Some girls and their advocates agree.

They say the testosterone Beggs has been taking while transitioning from female to male has made him too strong to wrestle fairly against girls. But state policy calls for students to wrestle against the gender listed on their birth certificates.

So Beggs beat Taylor Latham and Mya Engert handily on Friday before his victory over Clay that put him in the finals.

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