Trans Athlete Participation in Sports

     

(Image Credit: Jacob Wackerhausen, PeopleImages, 2022)

    It is fair to say that most people aware of issues affecting the LGBTQ community in recent years have heard of the discourse surrounding the participation of trans athletes in sports, particularly trans women. The participation of trans women and girls in sports has become a hot-button topic and an issue in many pieces of legislation seeking to ban individuals from participating in gendered sports that do not match their gender assigned at birth. 


    An excellent tool that one can view to see the frequency of LGBTQ legislation is the LGBTQ Legislation by State Heatmap, compiled by The Trevor Project. The map shows that my home state of Tennessee is one of the most heavily legislated in terms of legislature affecting LGBTQ folks, which is very disheartening to see. Two examples are TN SB 1237 and TN HB 306, enacted for private schools in my state. These bills require students' membership with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and registration "in accordance with the student's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth" (HB0306, 2023). This law effectively bans trans athletes from participating in private high school and middle school sports, causing devastation and discomfort for many trans kids who might now be facing the choice to go back into the closet to continue participating in the sports they love. 


    This increase in legislation is reflective of the divisiveness that individuals in media and journalism have been trying to incite when they make statements of hypothetical situations in which a cisgender male claims to be trans to enter women's sports and win, to prove trans women's participation in sports to be a farce. One such instance of such divisive comments is conservative journalist Megyn Kelly, who tweeted, "I am begging — begging — any college male tennis player to put an end to this farce by declaring yourself trans & playing/easily winning women's pro tennis tournaments" (Kelly, 2023, @megynkelly). 


    A person unfamiliar with professional sports may not realize that it is not merely the case that a person must sign up to participate by placing their name on a sign-up sheet. Professional sports are highly regulated by regulatory bodies such as the International Association of Athletics Federations. Trans athletes must be considered legally female and must have levels of testosterone circulating within their bodies within specific ranges to meet the IAAF regulations on differences in sexual development (DSD). The time of testosterone suppression is also a factor for permitting participation. It is simply not the case that a cisgender male could waltz into female sports and participate in officially regulated events or games (World Athletics, 2023). Professional athletes who happen to be trans women are just as much of a woman as their counterparts who were assigned female at birth, as levels of testosterone fluctuate even in cisgendered women. "Most females have testosterone levels ranging from 1.12 to 1.79 nmol/L, while the average adult male range is 7.7 – 29.4 nmol/L. About 7 in every 1,000 elite female athletes have high testosterone levels (IAAF, 2023). While this practice of regulating athletes' hormone levels may seem discriminatory to some, the goal, as stated by the IAAF, is to protect athletics from athletes who may have an unfair advantage over their competitors.


    Trans individuals should be able to pursue their dreams of being professional athletes, a dream that, for many, begins with participating in school sports in elementary school. "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play" (IOC, 2021). It is my hope that by working collaboratively, we can find a balance between inclusivity and fair play as a society. 


Further Reading


Advocacy. The Trevor Project. (2023, October 17). https://www.thetrevorproject.org/advocacy/


Cooper, J. (2023). Fair Competition and Inclusion in Sport: Avoiding the Marginalisation of Intersex and Trans Women Athletes. Philosophies, 8(28), 28. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8020028


IAAF publishes briefing notes and Q&A on female eligibility regulations: Press-release: World Athletics. worldathletics.org. (n.d.). https://worldathletics.org/news/press-release/questions-answers-iaaf-female-eligibility-reg


Ioc. (2023, October 18). Respecting human rights. International Olympic Committee. https://olympics.com/ioc/human-rights


Kelly, M. [@megynkelly]. (2023, March 23d). I am begging — begging — any college male tennis player to put an end to this farce by declaring yourself trans [Tweet]. Twitter. https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1638962050864128000?s=20


Tennessee General Assembly. Tennessee General Assembly legislation. (n.d.). https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0306


The International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Charter; The International Olympic Committee: Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021. [https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130000797933172096]

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