Today is the New York City Marathon. Around 50,000 runners are racing in the men’s and women’s divisions. And this year, for only the third time in the race’s history, a number of runners will be competing in the nonbinary category.
The nonbinary division emerged due to advocacy from trans and nonbinary athletes like Cal Calamia—a rising star in this emerging category. Calamia, who uses both he and they pronouns, is trans and nonbinary, and he started his transition back in 2019. In the last two years, Calamia has been advocating for nonbinary runners and sharing his journey with thousands of social media followers.
But this summer, Calamia caught the attention of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, for using a prohibited substance. And that substance? Testosterone—which Calamia has been taking for years as part of his gender affirming hormone therapy.
