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Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson filed a lawsuit against the NXXT women’s golf tour in December after it changed its policies to prevent biological males from competing against women.
NXXT and its America First Policy Institute attorneys filed its motion to dismiss this week and believe the case will be thrown out.
“We’re asking the courts to dismiss the claims and we’re litigating the case,” NXXT Golf CEO Stuart McKinnon told Pakinomist Digital.
“This was about simply protecting women’s sport. So the goal was really clarity and competitive integrity, and as a professional tour we felt it was our responsibility to define those categories.”
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Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson looks for shots at the pre-qualifying stage of the LPGA Q-Series. (Riley Gaines/X)
McKinnon said after the organization updated its policies, he contacted Davidson to offer the golfer a chance to compete on the tour in an open category, free of charge, and would even pay for Davidson’s Q School — an annual multi-stage tournament where golfers compete for playing status on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.
“I had a talk with Davidson. And at that time, prior to the switch, I had offered Davidson the opportunity to play in an open division. And in the open division, I had offered Hayley Davidson to play in the open division and even a leadership position in the open division, and we would give Davidson the opportunity to play for free,” McKinnon said.
“We wanted to pay for Q tuition for Davidson. So we were very generous and respectful of what Davidson wanted to do. And my message to Davidson was simply that your legacy might pave the way for future generations. But it can’t be right now in this women’s tour right now that I’m running it, and we’re going to change the policy.”
McKinnon said the trans athlete declined the offer.
Now his tour is engaged in a legal battle against Davidson. It was a result he expected when he changed policy, but felt it was necessary based on feedback from his golfers.
McKinnon said he came to the decision after distributing an anonymous poll to the female golfers on his tour, when the vast majority of them expressed concern about Davidson’s presence.
“We did an anonymous player poll that we had a high response rate within a very short period of time. Within two or three days we had an 80% plus response rate and it was clear that the players, you know, were speaking that they felt the policy change was okay,” McKinnon said.
“The theme was that it was unfair and they wanted us to address our policies.”
McKinnon said a few female golfers expressed support for maintaining the current policy and allowing Davidson to compete.
“We just respectfully disagreed with each other,” McKinnon said.
McKinnon had to watch Davidson finish first on the Tour in January 2024, marking Davidson’s third first place finish at the event. The victory put Davidson in contention for an Epson Tour exemption, which is the developmental tour on the LPGA Tour. The top 10 players from the Epson Tour graduate to the LPGA Tour.
At the time, LPGA policy allowed biological males to compete without major restrictions.
NXXT was one of the first women’s tours to step up to make a policy change. The LPGA then changed its own policy to create more restrictions to protect the women’s category in December 2024.
Now, as Davidson wages a legal battle against NXXT for pioneering the protection of women’s golf, McKinnon doesn’t expect the lawsuit to hinder his tour’s operations.
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“Nothing has changed from an operational standpoint. We will continue to grow,” McKinnon said.
“We’ve expanded the tour from the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour to the NXXT Battle Tour, which is a professional co-ed tour that we’re launching, as well as our NXXT Gen Tour, which is our junior tour. It’s a competitive course for elite juniors, men and women. And we just announced a partnership with Sir Nick Faldo for the NXXT Faldo Junior trail on the NXT Faldo Junior trail. We’re expanding the tour.”
Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson during the pre-qualifying phase of the LPGA Q-Series. (Riley Gaines/X)
Pakinomist Digital has reached out to Davidson’s lawyers for a response.
Davidson’s lawsuit alleges that NXXT breached its contractual obligations and made false statements to Davidson, leading to wrongful exclusion from professional golf opportunities.
“Defendants breached the contracts by implementing the policy change that resulted in Ms. Davidson being prohibited from participating in the entire NXXT Winter Series; failing to allow Ms. Davidson to compete in any NXXT Winter Series tournaments after the policy change; retaining Ms. Davidson’s annual NXXT tournament fees for NXXTna golf and non-golf tournaments; awarding Ms. Davidson the Epson exemptions she had earned,” the lawsuit states.
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