Fair Play: Trans high schoolers should be able to play on a sporting team that corresponds with their gender identity

Browsing the news, it’s hard to ignore the countless op-eds claiming that including transgender athletes in the sport matching their gender identity is “the end of girls’ sports” or never-ending news claims that trans women have been “blowing out the competition” in women’s sports.

But the media claims aren’t just claims anymore — they’ve started to influence government policy. In 2021 alone, U.S. lawmakers proposed and passed bills forcing trans athletes to compete with members of their assigned sex at birth, despite gender identity and medical transition, from a whopping 32 states — including Kansas.

No trans youth, especially in middle and high school, should be barred from competing in the gender group of their choice.

Not only are these bills discriminatory, they aren’t supported by logic either. The alleged intent of these bills is to protect the integrity of gender-segregated sports by eliminating any sense of an unfair advantage held by trans athletes — especially trans women.

But according to The New York Times, there are only about 50 trans athletes out of the estimated 200,000 NCAA athletes, and no widespread evidence of them dominating women’s sports either.

The media attention is focused largely on college swimmer Lia Thomas breaking records, track stars Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller winning races and cyclist Rachel McKinnon’s world championship win. Besides these four go-to examples, the majority of trans athletes are just middle and high school kids who want to play with their preferred gender group.

Additionally, the bills zeroing in on trans youth in middle and high school sports don’t make sports any more or less fair, as a large portion of athletes at this age have undergone medical transition, including hormone blockers and hormone replacement therapy — which in the case of trans girls, reduces muscle mass, redistributes body fat and generally decreases strength. And even if they haven’t medically transitioned, the physical differences of puberty are less pronounced at this age.

These proposed bills are concerned about leveling the playing field in sports but neglect how it would disadvantage trans athletes and their mental and physical well-being. Competing in youth sports offers a wide variety of physiological benefits for participants including lower rates of obesity, anxiety, depression, suicide attempts and drug use — benefits that trans youth are being deprived of. 

Sports participation is also linked with increased self-esteem and self-confidence, improved academic performance, stronger feelings of school connection and wider-reaching social and community capital, according to the Center for American Progress.

Everyone should be allowed to reap these benefits.

Trans kids are already some of our most vulnerable population. Trans youth and young adults are more likely to report worse mental health and substantially higher risk of depression, suicidal ideation as well as suicide attempts, also according to the CAP. Additionally, these bills invalidate trans kids’ identity, directly resulting in a deficit to their self-esteem and mental well-being. 

By depriving trans students from the benefits of sporting activities due to issues of alleged fairness, the government is causing the mental and physical health of trans youth to surely plummet.

This is the furthest thing from “fair.”

In addition to the importance of trans inclusion, these bills will also result in a new culture of gender policing in athletics — an unintended consequence. When any girl — not only a trans girl — is viewed as being “too good” at a sport or is viewed as “overly masculine,” they can now be subjected to invasive and degrading tests to prove that they are female enough, such as physical inspections or records of medical transition. A prime example of this is the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in Florida, which allows for administration to “physically inspect” students accused of being trans.

Forcing trans athletes to compete on the team corresponding to their gender assigned at birth can even contradict the rationale of fairness. In Texas, state law requires athletes to play on the team of the sex listed on their birth certificate. Mack Beggs, a trans boy who was on testosterone hormones and thus physically stronger, had to compete in girls’ wrestling — which he has won two state titles in.

A perceived threat of a negligibly-sized population in high school sports not holding any real advantage shouldn’t strip young transgender athletes from their chance to participate in a regular, affirming and potentially life-saving activity that should be available to all.