Fear, Not Fairness

Protecting Trans Girls in Female Sports

I will be brief, because there is an urgent issue on the Senate’s plate today: S9 is a bill that would legislate a national ban on trans females participating in female sports. This is only one instance of a sustained Republican effort to wipe trans people out of existence.

It is urgently important for those of you that care about protecting trans people to call your Senator today to urge them to vote against cloture on S9 when the vote comes to the floor later this afternoon.

The trans girls in sports issue is loaded with emotion, but the emotion is manipulated. I was approached by a Democratic state-level representative in Oregon, who supports trans people in general, but was quite concerned about sports.

In one word, he conjured up the fear that has been manipulated on this issue: “It’s not fair,” he said, for people born male to be participating in girl’s sports – they just have bodily advantages over people born female.

The image conjured up by this emotional appeal is of a tall, muscular, broad-shouldered guy standing next to a shorter, less muscular girl as they dive off the edge of the pool.

I offered to do some research for him, feeling I did not know enough. I have been doing that research. And here’s the deal, as I know it now.

First and most important, it is, in fact, fair, as fair as any sport will ever be. Strapping, muscular boys are not rushing into girls’ sports so they can win more easily because of their bigger, more muscular bodies.

Trans girls who want to be in sports are “trans,” not males pretending to be females. How do they become trans girls? By going through hormone treatments for years, treatments designed to change their bodies to a more female body: breasts, hips, and a reduction in muscle mass. Their bodies become more “girl.” It is a stressful, grueling process no transitioning young person (or older) does for fun or to pretend. Certainly not a boy who just wants some mythical advantage.

There is actual science-based research, on the impact of trans bodily changes on sports outcomes. My reading of that research, so far, is that any competitive advantage a cis-gendered boy might have had is pretty much eliminated through the hormonal treatment necessary to transition. The primary reason is that hormones change body shape and muscle mass.

The result is that trans girls do not have any significant competitive advantage when one looks at performance or the results of competition. Yes, a trans female swimmer might win a match or two, hence the anecdotes fear-mongers use to say it is not “fair.” But, like their cis-gendered girl competitors, they didn’t win every match; very few girls ever do, whatever their gender identity.

In other words, the playing field is already pretty level. And somebody wins. It is so level where gender identity is concerned that a lot of other things determine who will win: other body advantages like height, better training, more practice, lung capacity, even socio-economic class, because money buys a girl early advantages in schooling, facilities, trainers, all the things that enhance performance.

The research is pretty clear: other things than trans status are going to determine the winner. It made me wonder if we shouldn’t have a national statute that prohibits a 6’3” female from competing in women’s basketball because her height gives her an advantage other girls don’t have. Or rules out a 250 lb. female weight lifter because she has more muscles.

Fairness is not the issue. Fear is the issue. And hatred, hatred of difference, a search for an “Other” for people to hate.

In truth, this issue is not a serious problem. It is a manipulation sustained by anecdote.

The reality is this. There are so few trans female kids in America that nobody even needs to worry about it. Trans people (and I am one of the older, non-medical variety too old to compete in any sport) are a tiny minority who just want to live, compete, grow, fulfill our dreams like everyone else. The number of trans girls in sports disappears off the radar screen.

The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates there may be 1.6 million trans people in the entire country. Just under 40% of them are trans females. Of those, maybe 20%, or 100,000 are trans girls, younger than 18. There are around 117,00 K-12 schools in America. If I assume that trans girls are evenly distributed across the country (they are not), and every one of them wanted to participate in girls’ sports, there might be as many as 1-2 trans girls in any given school who want to play on the girls’ teams.

This is a major national issue??? I don’t think so; it is an invented issue, based on ignorance, fear, and hatred of the other.

Worse, the issue is being used as a wedge into the broader effort to wipe trans people from the map.

More on that and the science in subsequent columns.

I urge you to contact your Senators today, especially Democrats. The purveyors of hatred and fear need seven Democrats to join them this afternoon. Help prevent that outcome; it is urgent.

Here is one link to help focus your action, FiveCalls.org

https://5calls.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIx5SpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSrKQ_TQvKbS_XxuHJGQ9bBm2Xri3c7LGO0Ixuk8x-QS3o4TqS8r0gvplA_aem_ORAfHegcf6_Ta2cUaQt_uA