A California surf competition has been told it must allow a transgender woman to compete in the women’s division or it will be in violation of state law.

The California Coastal Commission said surf competitions could “not discriminate based on gender”.

The contest’s organiser had announced that Sasha Jane Lowerson would not be allowed to compete in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro.

The decision divided opinion, and received hundreds of responses.

Lowerson had entered the women’s division of Saturday’s competition in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles. She said she put herself forward because rules set by the International Surfing Association (ISA) allow transgender women to compete if they meet certain criteria around testosterone levels.

“I was really disappointed and surprised [at being excluded],” she told the BBC. “You can’t cherry-pick the rulebook. If you’re going to use the rulebook, you use all of it.”

Todd Messick, whose American Longboard Association organises the competition, had announced on 25 April that the contest would not allow transgender women to compete in the women’s division, saying he wanted to “offer an equal playing field for all athletes”.

He told the BBC he was “surprised by the amount of anger” that the decision generated, but added: “What I found too is that there was a lot of people very appreciative of me speaking up.”

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