CW: Analysis of transphobia and links to transphobic posts later in the piece, please be aware. I’ll flag it again once we get to the part where it comes up.
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This may surprise some readers and followers, but I’m generally pretty reserved about posting political opinions in public fora. I’m definitely not shy about discussing my leanings or beliefs, but I have a general rule of thumb - sit back and don’t post unless I feel I can authoritatively add something of substance to a given conversation. Sock puppeting opinions or jumping onto mobs are not my style.
Trans rights, especially in sports, are one issue about which I cannot stand idly by. After what happened in Texas, there should be a compulsion for like-minded people to speak up.
In a world where, among polite company, homophobia, racism, and sexism are generally verboten, transphobia is one category where, still, jokes are made at the expense of vulnerable people with little care given to their feelings. Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special is just one more footnote in a littered history of the dominant class making excuses for the transphobia of their fellows. Any time I personally speak up in support of trans rights, I get a fair amount of comments from sports logo’d/dog’d/anime avi’d edgelords in my mentions about how it’s ‘gross’, or ‘this is unfair to the kids who worked hard to succeed in their sport of choice,’ etc., etc. My guess is that a majority of the people making these claims do not sincerely hold those beliefs and are merely saying these things to be provocative or controversial. Additionally, as a fairly privileged person, I’m sure that the menial amount of comments I receive is nothing compared to those my trans friends have to deal with on a daily basis, both online and in the real world.
I in no way am claiming that I’m an expert on this issue. I still have so much to learn, and I can only use my voice as an ally to support those I perceive to need that support. To be honest, I’m still unpacking a lot of my own preconceived biases, and my personal journey is ongoing. However, to me, this issue is one that is exceedingly clear, because there are no arguments against the trans community that hold water when put under any scrutiny. Whether anti-inclusion arguments are scientific, hypothetical, or moral in nature, the facts and common sense tip the scale far to the side of those who are pro-letting trans youth play youth sports in the gendered division of their choice.
This is a walkthrough of one logical argument as to why, when the evidence is parsed out, the only conclusion is that transpeople should be allowed to play in any sports league of their choice. The prose here won’t be perfect, as it was written in a three-hour period fueled by frustration and anger over Texas’ new discriminatory practices, but the logic in these points has been baking for a while so it should make sense when taken holistically. Hopefully, you can use these points when people try to argue with you about the humanity of your peers in your day-to-day, or perhaps these will make you rethink your own position on trans youth in sports (and trans rights in general.)
(Aside: Biblical arguments will not be considered here, although if you want to discuss Old Testament or Prophets, let’s talk. New Testament…nah.)
Item 1: The Scientific Argument…Is Irrelevant
Many anti-inclusion lobbyists and activists mainly focus on “science” to prove their claims. They say that going through puberty will inevitably give M-to-F trans youth an advantage over their biologically female peers. To be frank, this is their most compelling claim since it at least appeals to some semblance of an intellectual argument, although it is wholly unfounded.
To date, there has yet to be a study that specifically substantiates that M-to-F trans youth have a significant advantage over their biologically female peers. There is some anecdotal evidence of slight biological differences that mostly even out after a period of time on hormones. All that being said, they are no different than the normal variation of ability between cisgender kids participating in the same sport. The variation of athletic ability between high school aged athletes, as anyone who has ever played high school sports before can tell you, is extremely wide. There are kids who can run the 100 in 11 seconds, there are kids who run it in 20 seconds, and both are often on the same track in the same races. In high school, I once sprinted and threw discus in a meet against future NFL defensive end Trevardo Williams. Suffice it to say, he outpaced me by quite a large amount. We don’t care that this difference in ability happens if two cisgender students are involved, so why would we care that it happens if a transgender kid is added to the mix?
(Aside: My best frenemy, The Athletic Minnesota Vikings writer and overall savant Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) and I were discussing this and stumbled upon an NFL corollary, as well.
Is it “fair,” indeed.)
Additionally, one notices that the arguments for M-to-F trans youth to not take part in sports are never extended to F-to-M trans youth, since by that same logic these competitors would always fall behind their peers in the arena. To be frank, the anti-inclusion advocates do not care about these children. They see them as an impediment to their goal of immiserating as many children as possible, so they choose to ignore them in their discourse, setting them aside as collateral damage in their quest to keep M-to-F trans youth out of sports.
Finally on this point, even if there was data to support the argument that there was a significant advantage for M-to-F high school athletes against their cisgender peers…why does it matter? High school sports are unpaid competitions contested simply for bragging rights and self-esteem. The healthiest approach adults can take toward high school sports is that they serve three key purposes: to let teens learn how to work together as a team, push themselves to their limits, and compete for a common cause. Many trans people report that participation in high school sports gives them gender euphoria, a feeling of elation that comes when they are recognized for their true gender vs. what they were assigned at birth. If high school sports are meant to empower students rather than serve as a platform for the highest possible level of competition, why do we need to have all of these arbitrary tests for legal participation? It is simply for the purpose of terrorizing high school students for daring to express themselves.
Could we test all athletes to the nth degree to make sure high school sports were as pure from a competitive standpoint as possible? Sure, but it would be a waste of money and detracts from the spirit and alleged purpose of playing on a high school sports team. Societally, it does not make sense to isolate out, specifically, M-to-F trans youth and claim that their presence is making high school sports unfair for cisgender girls when there’s no evidence for that claim and, even if there was, it would be antithetical to the purpose of high school sports anyway.
High school students have a right to participate in sports. They do not have a right to succeed in sports, and cis girls blaming transwomen for not getting a medal in track and field is just sore loser syndrome rather than some sort of systematic problem.
Item 2: The Hypotheticals Don’t Make Sense
Muggsy Bogues. Earl Boykins. Spud Webb. Nate Robinson.
These four men were all folk heroes in their own right when they played in the National Basketball Association, mainly due to the fact that their lack of height cast them as unique characters on the court, forcing them to compensate with other abilities. All four of them contributed to contending teams and thrived for many years, earning millions of dollars.
What if I told you, though, that all of them had legal standing to sue the NBA for not giving them a fair shake to succeed at the same rate of all the other, taller players?
This goes part-in-parcel with one of the points made in Item 1, but high school, college, and professional athletes all have WAY more going on in their genetic makeups then merely if they have XX or XY chromosomes. Athletes can be tall or short, thick or wiry, long-legged or bow’d. There are always going to be certain people that, given our current set of rules throughout athletic competitions, will be better suited to compete. This is a fact of life, irrespective of any other factor at play.
Some conservative activists have said that they’re fine with trans students playing sports - they just want them to play in their own “trans leagues.” Regardless of how this is not viable on a local level and sounds weirdly like some of the segregationist policies surrounding the American South prior to the end of Jim Crow laws, it is also not something we care about in any other context.
Let’s say that a decision was made to make the sport of basketball, holistically, more “fair” for any individual person to take part. From my perspective, the best way to do this would be to split the sport into three different leagues based on height. One league would be for the “giants,” people 6 foot 5 or taller. Players 5 foot 11 to 6 foot 4 could have their own league, where some of our current shooting guards and point guards could probably become post beasts. There could be another league for players 5 foot 3 to 5 foot 10, so they had an opportunity to develop and play professionally as well. It would be the same sport, just with different splits. This would ensure that shorter players could, technically, have a “fair chance” to be professional basketball players, similar to their taller counterparts. This is a true “equity of opportunity.”
Why has no one fought for this? As a vertically challenged American, I wish lawmakers cared as much about my ability to make money as a professional basketball player that they do about a high schooler being able to run track and field.
The reason why no one has fought for this is because no one gives an actual shit about fairness and equitable competition. The activists who are so deeply concerned about trans people in high school sports do not have that same worry when extrapolated to similar circumstances in any other instance. That means they are not motivated by caring of fairness. They are motivated by an animus to hurt these vulnerable people.
Item 3: Why Do People Transition, and Why Do Anti-Trans Folks Think The Way They Do?
(CW: This is the section that may be triggering with some transphobic rhetoric used by legislators and politicians to justify these laws + bathroom laws, feel free not to read it if is troubling.)
Now, we get to the crux of the matter. The real reason that conservatives care so much about transgender and cisgender students playing sports together.
It’s because transgender kids, to these people, are icky, and they’re transitioning explicitly to terrorize innocent girls in their bathrooms and changing rooms. Unfortunately, here, we have to talk about the trans bathroom bills, which are inextricably linked with these trans sports laws.
“Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE," former Presidential candidate and United State Senator Mike Huckabee once said in a public speaking engagement. ‘I'm pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, 'Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.’”
Former Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman, about a proposed transgender bathroom law in 2015, said “My wife and I have four daughters. Proposition 1 [the law in question] would allow troubled men who claim to be women to enter women’s bathrooms, showers and locker rooms. It’s better to prevent this danger by closing women’s restrooms to men rather than waiting for a crime to happen.”
First of all, again, it’s fascinating to me how these fearmongering tactics constantly eschew female-to-male transgender folks because they don’t fit their narrative. However, let’s hit this point in a finer fashion by coining three rules of transitioning that, in my experience conversing with transpeople and hearing their stories, are generally universal truths.
Transpeople transition because they feel they must in order to live wholly fulfilled lives.
Transpeople do not transition for the purpose of becoming good at sports.
Transpeople do not transition for the purpose of entering the restroom of a different gender. This is a fearmongering tactic that is not based in truth.
3a. These bathroom laws are also unenforceable, and a law is only effective if it is enforceable. Imagine how heavily a state could be sued if a random bathroom-goer incorrectly accuses another random bathroom-goer of being trans. Spoiler: it’s a lot of money.
3b. If anything, transpeople are the ones who need to be protected in public bathrooms - 60% of them have reported being harassed.
The rhetoric used by anti-trans advocates trivializes the concept of transitioning to such an absurd degree that it makes it sound like any man who wears a wig and puts on bad lipstick is able to commit any crime and claim “I’m trans” as a get out of jail free card. This is not how any state’s law addressing the protection of trans people functions - there needs to be evidentiary support and psychological/psychiatrical substantiation that the person in question, in actuality, is transgender.
The simple fact is that transgender people transition over time not because of a whim or a desire to be good at sports or to…illicitly enter women’s restrooms. They transition because there is no other way for them to live their lives. They are dysphoric, and this is something necessary for them to feel fulfilled, enriched, and whole.
Five (5!) years ago, I had an opportunity to interview transwoman Jamie Neal for my podcast (portion in question starts at 26:45, content warning for some spicy language), and her words still stick with me when I asked her about her journey. She compared coming out to playing volleyball, and telling her first person was like “getting the best set I’ve ever gotten, going up against no blockers, and crushing the ball.” It was euphoric, to her, to finally be able to admit this truth to herself and live openly.
Coming out publicly, for her, was equally important. “Even though I couldn’t take it back because it was already out there, I was like….I don’t have to hide my fingernails when I’m taking a picture of a soda can…or [worry about] someone noticing me out and about when I’m wearing makeup.”
Additionally, Neal thrived as a competitive softball player in co-ed leagues for years post-coming out. Sports were crucial to her finding comfort in her gender. They were not the reason she transitioned, but like so many high school athletes, they were extremely helpful tools as she searched for her place in the world.
Her story, and the stories of so many other transpeople I’m lucky enough to know, are the ones I reflect on when I see careless rhetoric thrown around or hear about bathroom bills getting drafted up. These are not people who are malicious - they are simply trying to live their lives true to themselves. They just want to be safe and secure, and the laws drafted at their expense serve to dehumanize them. They are not transitioning to attack people, they are transitioning to defend themselves.
For me, the rhetoric deployed at their expense not only is pernicious and incorrect, but also showcases the mindsets of those who are levying such rhetoric. Why does Mike Huckabee believe that this high school sports banning and trans bathroom bills are necessary?
Well, he tells you himself, as noted above: “I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE. I'm pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, 'Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.’”
Mike Huckabee is committing the cardinal sin of snitching on himself here as a creep and a lecher. In trying to malign transpeople with a baseless attack, he admits that, were he in their perceived position, he’d try to attack innocent girls and assault them in their bathrooms.
The moral of the story is that anytime anyone uses this type of argument and projection that “trans people are just saying they’re the opposite gender to get into the women’s changing room,” they’re snitching on themselves as creeps - and, in no way, are correct in their assumption that these laws protect students at all.
Mike Huckabee is a creep. So is Lance Berkman. So is anyone else who uses this argument or supports those unenforcable laws. These men are hereby branded with the scarlet letter C. And if you believe in the arguments that they espouse, hopefully this made you rethink that stance.
Conclusion: If We’re Moral, We’ll Let Them Play
There isn’t a material reason why trans kids should be restricted from playing high school sports, period. The scientific evidence is minimal at best and not nearly strong enough to override the fact that even cisgendered competitions simply have material physical differences between them that create gulfs in ability. This standard is not applied to any other category of people, as shown by the basketball example. The real reason why so many people push these laws is because of fearmongering and their own internalized pathologies about transpeople, which honestly speaks more to their own mental health issues.
In my experience, transpeople just want to be able to live their lives without feeling like they must look over their shoulders every time they go to the bathroom. Trans high school students just want to survive day-to-day. High school is rough enough - if sports helps them cope with all of the general stressors of being a teenager, I say let them play. Adults trying to prevent them from doing so are merely being vindictive and/or letting their own perversions cloud their judgment.
These laws are a stain on our society and are used as weapons to terrorize teenagers into not being able to live their fullest lives. 42% of LGBTQ youth, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth, had suicidal ideation over the past year according to The Trevor Project. If we’re trying to live as good people in a truly just world, isn’t it important that we help those who are most marginalized? Letting these students live their lives and play sports unencumbered by invasive, unenforcable legislation meant to win an invisible culture war battle feels like the bare minimum we could do as ethical people.
This is cut and dry. One side is looking at this situation with empathy, the other with glee as they terrorize innocent people.
I know which side I’m on. Do you?