Why the argument against transgender athletes doesn't matter at all. And why it matters a lot.
by Michelle Harris
Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s in a relatively small town in the Southeast United States I had a limited understanding of LGBTQ issues, or really even the existence of the BTQ portion.
The word “transgender” did not enter my vocabulary until I was well into my 20’s. I had heard other terms (that were meant solely as insults) but never thought much about it either way. And in all fairness, I am not sure I ever heard anything positive about anyone who didn’t fall into traditional gender roles and expectations.
It seemed to me that society was advancing beyond these narrow-minded opinions as the 21st century chugged along. More understanding, accepting, and affirming. I guess that was naïve, but I really believed it.
One of the most baffling “issues” I struggle to wrap my head around is the argument against transgender athletes. It seemed to start with concern over contact sports (particularly boxing or MMA), and I didn’t worry about it too much because I was admittedly ignorant on the subject and assumed there was cause for concern. But as this argument continued it spread to other sports that made less sense to me, even before I looked into it.
Golf, Disc Golf, Pool, and... Chess?!
Of course, all of this coupled with the bathroom bans that have made headlines for years make it very clear to me that the issue has nothing at all to do with fairness (and certainly not the ludicrous claims of protecting women) but instead is entirely based around the very existence of transgender individuals. Not all lawmakers hate trans people… but a lot of them are at least willing to throw them under the bus to guarantee themselves a political victory. Republicans are not alone in this, by the way, even some Democrats have suggested that the best course of action is to make concessions on the “issue” of trans athletes in order to get Republicans to work with them on “more important” policies to “protect” trans individuals I believe that Jeremy Comeau, the president of the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats put it best by saying:
“Protecting civil rights isn’t about making concessions to those who want to strip them away — it’s about standing up for what’s right, unapologetically,” Comeau added. “Our party’s job is to lead with compassion and courage, not to adopt Republican talking points that marginalize vulnerable communities.” (1)
The argument in favor of allowing transgender Americans to be discriminated against in order to give the Democrats more leverage for whatever they consider to be more important has tremendous moral flaws that I won’t even get into here, but please know that I am furious about it.
What I wanted to spend time looking into was more specific, though. My question was “why?”
Why is this such a huge talking point for legislators, news anchors, opinion pieces (hello!), and citizens? Why has this “issue” suddenly taken over the airwaves and state houses across the nation? I know that the bogus claim that men are transitioning to women in order to be better at whatever sport they love is completely unfounded… so what is it??
Personally, I believe it serves as a distraction. Americans are completely ignorant of the facts around transgender athletes. Until recently, I was one of those ignorant Americans. This ignorance is being used to stir up dissent and put more power into the hands of politicians and interest groups who do not have any of our best interests in mind. This was a powerful tool used during the election cycle, with one example being Trump stating that Harris wanted to “do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison” (2) and many other claims that were either taken out of context, twisted, or completely fabricated.
Even after the election it is being used as a strategic tool for advancing harmful legislation at the state and federal level. If your neighbors are foaming at the mouth over the thought of their daughters competing against a “boy” in their 8u soccer match, they are unlikely to listen when you try to talk to them about the enormous cuts to their healthcare options. If you’re spending your days worried that your transgender son is going to get beat up in the bathroom at the park, you simply don’t have time to call your legislators to express concern over their failure to hold the executive branch accountable for violating the checks and balances meant to protect the very foundation of our democracy.
In July of 2021, the Census Bureau began collecting data relating to gender identity through their Household Pulse Survey. The most recent information shows that around 1% of the nation’s adult population identify as transgender.
In college sports, the NCAA president stated in 2024 that he is aware of fewer than 10 transgender student athletes, which is 0.0019607843137255% of the reported 510,000 college athletes competing at the time of that senate hearing.
Data is more scarce regarding middle and high school sports, but recent evidence suggests that the number of transgender athletes competing at that level is also astronomically small. (3)
More so, the limited information available on so called “biological advantages” does not suggest that trans men and trans women have much, if any, athletic advantage post-transition. “Indeed, in most cases they perform more similarly to those matching their gender identity, or somewhere between cis men and women.”
Any advantage that a trans person may have over a cisgendered athlete would be eclipsed by the sheer number of cisgendered athletes with their own biological advantages. (4)
Despite the evidence that genetic advantages exist for athletes regardless of gender identity (5), we have never forced cisgender competitors to have the same testing that even moderates insist are necessary for transgender athletes.
Do not be mistaken; there is no transgender athlete issue. It’s made up. It is meant to occupy the space that should be held by real problems that Americans are facing every day.
The argument against trans athletes is a thinly veiled and desperate attempt to maintain the traditional gender roles that have always supported the corrupt and vile systems that continue to hold a foot on the necks of every person who is not a cis, straight, white, wealthy man.
The patriarchy is upheld by a society that refuses to relinquish the ideas of what a woman or a man should do, be, or look like. Our refusal to entertain these conversations is in contrast to the very real need to protect the vulnerable populations that are being targeted.
There is no political victory that would ever make it acceptable to compromise the safety of any group of individuals, no matter how small.
Thank you Cara House for helping with research for this article
Additional reading:
https://www.ask.com/lifestyle/athletes-physical-advantages
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