Female skateboarder Taylor Silverman recently penned a long message after losing Red Bull Cornerstone event to a trans competitor, a biological male, Lilian Gallagher.
Silverman expressed her disdain for the promotion allowing a trans competitor to compete with women and rob women of one of the biggest prizes in the sport.
“I am done being silent. Please share. Second slide is the email I sent Redbull that was completely ignored,” Silverman captioned her post.
Silverman posted a screenshot of her email to Red Bull’s Senior Sports Marketing Manager Erich Dummer. Red Bull has not replied to her email.
“I am a female athlete. I have been skateboarding for eleven years and competing for several years. I have been in three different contests with trans women, two of which I placed second. At the last contest series I did for Redbull, I placed second,” said Silverman in the message.
She added, “the trans competitor who won took $1000 dollars in qualifiers, $3000 in finals, and $1000 in best trick. This totaled to $5000 of the prize money meant for the female athletes.
“I took $1000 in qualifiers and $1750 for second place, so $2750 in total. The girl who took third received $750. The girl who deserved $1000 for best trick took nothing along with whoever would have placed third.
“I deserve to place first, be acknowledged for my win, and get paid. I reached out to Redbull and was ignored. I am sick of being bullied into silence.”