--- description: Chloie Johnson is suing CrossFit for prohibiting her from a contest, arguing she should be allowed to participate because California legally recognizes her as a woman. CrossFit claims she has an unfair advantage over the competition because she was born a male title: Transgender Athlete Chloie Johnson Sues CrossFit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [legal](/tag/legal/) ## legal Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Transgender Athlete Sues CrossFit After Being Blocked From Competition by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 7, 2014 3:12 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 7, 2014 3:12 PM CUT A transgender athlete who was barred from prohibiting in a major CrossFit competition is [suing](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/us/transgender-lawsuit-crossfit/index.html?hpt=hp%5Ft2 "undefined") the fitness company. Chloie Johnson is seeking $2.5 million in damages, CNN reports. The CrossFit Games are billed as deciding who is “The Fittest on Earth.” Johnson argues that she is legally recognized by California as a woman. She had sexual reassignment surgery in 2006 and continues to be on female hormone therapy, according to her lawsuit. CrossFit argues that since Johnson was born as a male, she would have an unfair advantage over her competition. “The fundamental, ineluctable fact is that a male competitor who has a sex reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women,” a CrossFit lawyer said in a letter obtained by CNN. Johnson’s lawyer disagrees: “\[Jonnson\] doesn’t have an advantage over other women. She’s been on estrogen for such a long time.” \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/us/transgender-lawsuit-crossfit/index.html?hpt=hp%5Ft2 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/15650/crossfit-transgender-athlete-chloie-johnson-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/15650/crossfit-transgender-athlete-chloie-johnson-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Transgender Athlete Sues CrossFit After Being Blocked From Competition","datePublished":"2014-03-07T15:12:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:58.335Z","description":"Chloie Johnson is suing CrossFit for prohibiting her from a contest, arguing she should be allowed to participate because California legally recognizes her as a woman. CrossFit claims she has an unfair advantage over the competition because she was born a male","url":"https://time.com/15650/crossfit-transgender-athlete-chloie-johnson-lawsuit/","keywords":["legal","Living","fitness","Law"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/legal/","name":"legal"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/15650/crossfit-transgender-athlete-chloie-johnson-lawsuit/","name":"Transgender Athlete Sues CrossFit After Being Blocked From Competition"}}]}] ```