Trans Athletes in Sports
Trans athletes in sports. Let’s talk about it —
Transgender athletes competing in their sport as the gender they identify as has been an on-going topic of conversation. The trans community faces discrimination when it comes to a lot of situations but sports seems to be the most talked about as well as the most difficult, especially when people try and bring their version of “science” into the discussion. As always, I want my photography to draw attention and educate people about important topics advocating for the trans community. I wanted this shoot to bring more awareness to trans athletes, because there’s been a lot of tension recently, especially against trans women competing in the women’s category. Most people have formed their opinions based on judgement and false information.
First of all, if you think the answer is that trans people need their own division, you’re wrong. Trans women belong in the women’s division because they are women and trans men belong in the mens division because they are men. Simple as that.
In 2021, at least 70 anti-trans sports bills were proposed in more than half of the U.S. states.
TRANS KIDS IN SPORTS
Transgender kids are not a threat to sports. More than half the country have bills that ban trans kids, specifically trans girls, from simply playing a sport they love. Many people don’t realize that most of these bills that they’re supporting are affecting CHILDREN. These are young kids who, half of them, have yet to even go through puberty yet. The only biological difference at that point is based on genitalia and we do NOT need to be testing kids on whether they have a penis or not. These bills are proposing “testing” be done in order to verify a child’s gender assignment to play sports. They should not be having their bodies invasively examined to verify their gender assignment in order to play soccer with their friends. Once it gets to an elite level, there are regulations in place for that. But these anti-trans bills are attempting to solve a “problem” that does not even exist. They’re even allowing that “any athlete who feels they were unfairly harmed by the participation of a trans athlete to sue people, schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education.” We do not need to make trans kids feel any less included than they already are.
Everyone’s argument has to do with testosterone but what most people don’t know, is that there is no difference in circulating testosterone between those assigned female at birth and those assigned male at birth until about the age of 12 or 13. Many trans girls take hormone blockers and therefore don’t even experience testosterone. Accusations about their body are unfair when these are just children playing sports for fun.
SIGN PETITIONS FOR INCLUSION OF TRANS YOUTH:
https://atadvocacy.com/trans-youth-sports/?Refid=mantaray
COMPETITIVE LEVEL
Let’s look at the rules that are currently in place at the competitive level for transgender athletes in sports. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a not-for-profit independent international organization that is committed to building a better world through sport. They just released a new framework for regulations, IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations, that removes the explicit hormone regulations on transgender athletes, the wellbeing (both physical and mental), and privacy of athletes who are transgender or have sex variations.
Now, the the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association)’s Policy for the Inclusion of Transgender Athletes was just recently updated in January of 2022. The guidelines prior were inclusive of transgender individuals competing on the correct teams with specific restrictions based on their hormones. These restrictions are listed below:
If assigned female at birth:
The athlete can compete on either the men’s or the women’s team if they have not taken testosterone.
The athlete must compete on the men’s team, if they do take testosterone.
In order to take testosterone and be eligible for competition on the men’s team, the athlete must also receive an exemption to use testosterone for the treatment of gender dysphoria, as well as submit testosterone levels during the season to prove that testosterone levels are at or below an average male level.
If assigned male at birth:
The athlete must compete on the men’s team unless they have been on one documented year of testosterone suppressants.
After this documented calendar year (or more) of testosterone suppressants, the athlete may compete on the women’s team, while submitting labs throughout the season to show that testosterone levels are within or below an average female level.
Now, as of January 19th, 2022 the guidelines have been updated to match the IOC’s framework for fairness which we discussed above. However, the NCAA’s not only do not include any protection against procedures or treatment to athletes such as genital inspections and continues to place a burden on college athletes.
TRANS WOMEN IN SPORTS
No, trans women have not “dominated” women’s sports. There are so many arguments pushing the “trans women have an unfair advantage” and that’s the only reason why so many of them are winning. But please, share some examples, because I doubt you can. Trans women have competed in sports for DECADES and I can tell you right now, they are not “dominating” any sport. Trans people make up 1% of the population and trans athletes significantly less than that. Most people don’t even care about women’s sports until they hear that a trans girl wants to play. When have you ever seen any cis-straight man go out of his way to support equal pay for women athletes? Right. Oh, but now all of a sudden these same people are advocating for more “fairness” in women’s sports. Please, just call yourself transphobic and move on.
In order to exclude trans women from sports you are reducing women to their bodies. Bills are set in place to try and exclude trans girls from sports. But at that point, there has to be a method of telling if someone is trans in the first place. This would be done by genital exams, hormone evaluation, testing, etc. This not only affects trans girls but it affects ALL girls. This would mean any girl, trans or not, are subject to get tested. This is not only extremely invasive but it is also way beyond degrading. Yes, trans women exhibit biological diversity. But so does everyone.
LIA THOMAS
Recently, there’s been a lot of attack on transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, who is eligible to compete on the women’s team per NCAA rules. First of all, she is a woman and anyone purposely misgendering her to “make a point” is transphobic. Terms used against her like “biological boy” or “unqualified man” are so beyond disrespectful and I’m tired of seeing it. Trans women are women. Biological sex is not binary, there’s more to it than that. So let’s stop with the hate, and start educating yourselves.
The people saying she’s only winning because she’s trans forgot to look at her records. She has been through 1 year of hormone treatment as well as 2 years of testosterone suppression prior to competing. According to the NCAA guidelines, she is allowed to compete on the women’s team but boy do people have a lot to say about it…
Lia has won multiple races by small to medium margins against her cis competitors, but she’s also lost multiple. There was even an instance where she competed against fellow trans swimmer, Iszac Henig, who is a trans man playing in women’s sports. Iszac is however, not on testosterone and beat Lia Thomas in the 50yd free proving the point so many right-wing media outlets are suggesting; that trans women must have an advantage over assigned females at birth no matter what. Well, that’s not actually the case. Maybe consider that people can just be good athletes?
If you look at her stats, they stay consistent pre-transition into post-transition. But people like to overlook that and make it seem like she sucked in the men’s division and is killing the women’s division because she has an advantage. It’s not an advantage, it’s just consistency. Her opponent, Katie Ledecky, is a cis woman and has just as much muscle mass as Lia, if not more. Cis women are in no way at a disadvantage when competing with trans women. People doubt women’s abilities but they can be as strong as cis men as well, if not stronger. No two bodies look the same whether they’re both cis, both trans, female, male, or a combination of the two. Biological differences exist everywhere, so why are we only subjecting trans women to their bodies being attacked.
Stop trying to ban Lia Thomas from playing and just let her compete.
TRANS MEN IN SPORTS
Most of the issue with trans athletes in sports highlights trans women and excludes the existence of trans men. Some will argue that trans men have a disadvantage when competing against cis men and are incapable of keeping up with men’s sports. All I have to say to that, is that trans men are completely capable of beating cis men because last I checked, being good at a sport had nothing to do with having a penis or not. There have been many examples of trans men beating cis men in their sport and it has nothing to do with their testosterone level and everything to do with their skill. Another argument is accusing trans men of cheating because of hormone usage. Levels are strictly regulated by the NCAA or ICU rules so any argument for that is invalid.
Trans athletes do not have one clear advantage or disadvantage over their cis competitors. This issue is not about fairness, it’s about transphobia. People are too close-minded to understand that although we were born differently biologically, that does not mean we need to be exiled from basic rights such as playing a competitive sport. Many athletes have advantages and disadvantages over each other no matter their gender so stop using that as an excuse to justify your transphobia.
