The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control voted to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls sports on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
The WIAA started reviewing its policy on transgender athletes in early February after Donald Trump signed an executive order giving federal agencies authority to ensure that institutions receiving federal funding are abiding by the Trump administration’s view of “sex.” The administration only acknowledges one’s gender assigned at birth, effectively trying to erase transgender individuals entirely, according to WKOW.
Trump’s executive order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” has roots in transphobia, not concerns for the safety or fairness of sports. Referring to trans women as “men” at the federal level is dehumanizing and sets our country back years.
The WIAA has decided to lean toward compliance over advocacy, following in line with federal initiatives instead of remaining steadfast in their previous policy allowing athletes to compete according to their gender identity. The WIAA’s 2013 Nondiscrimination Guidelines for Athletics have been thrown out the window in under two months of Trump’s presidency, a predictor of what is to come in the next 46 months.
The NCAA also changed their policy on transgender athletes in early February. The new rules state that a student-athlete “assigned male at birth” may not compete on a women’s team, but they are allowed to practice on one, according to WKOW.
If transgender women were truly a safety issue to cisgender female athletes, why would they be allowed to practice together? The only explanation I can see is that practices are private while competitions are in the public eye, proving that transgender individuals are once again being used as political pawns — systematically put down to build institutions up.
Out of 510,000 collegiate athletes, less than 10 currently identify as transgender, according to NCAA president Charlie Baker. In the history of collegiate sports, there have only been 44 trans athletes openly competing. Only two trans women worldwide have ever made it to the Olympics since the first policy addressing trans athletes in 2003. Only one trans woman — Laurel Hubbard — has ever competed in the Olympics.
The debate surrounding trans athletes has never been an issue. Trans women in sports is a nonissue sculpted to look like a safety concern to fuel the fire under the feet of transphobic people, encouraging them to dehumanize and belittle trans women for living a life true to their identity. In reality, the concern has never been trans women in sports — the concern has always been the general existence of trans women, and trans people in general.
Legislators and policymakers that fuel anti-trans rhetoric say trans women have an unfair advantage in sports, despite a lack of consistent research to prove this point. Suggesting all trans women have an advantage in sports is an oversimplification of the factors that lead to athletic success.
People against trans athletes argue that trans women have higher testosterone levels than cis women, but they fail to acknowledge the numerous ways cis women can have elevated testosterone levels as well. 6-12% of people assigned female at birth have elevated testosterone levels due to polycystic ovarian syndrome, and 5-10% because of hyperandrogenism, an endocrine disorder that results in higher testosterone levels.
Trans athletes vary in ability just as much as cis athletes do, and trans women have no biomedical advantage in elite sports. Social and nutritional factors can affect the result of athletic success, but the idea that trans women have a biological advantage in sports is untrue, according to a 2021 Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports report.
Social factors undoubtedly have an effect on athletic performance and success, and the trans community faces barriers in this regard. Trans youth are 9 times more likely than cisgender youth to experience homelessness, 68% of trans youth experience bullying, and 22% of these trans youth were bullied so severely that they dropped out of school. Claiming that trans people have any sort of advantage directly ignores the harsh reality of the trans experience.
The largest disparities in sports don’t come from trans participation, but socioeconomic advantage, according to the National Library of Medicine. Monetary privilege is a direct predictor of success in the athletic world, and a child’s ability to be involved in sports and improve is directly related to their parents income.
A study completed by the Aspen Institute found that 43% of children in homes with over $100,00 income participated in sports, compared to 22% of children with annual household incomes less than $25,000, according to the NLM. Furthermore, less than 14% of D1 NCAA athletes are first generation college students, according to ACLU Ohio.
Instead of advocating for equal pay for athletes, or equal opportunity for underprivileged communities, the federal government has chosen to instead discredit 44 trans women for their athletic prowess. Claiming that trans women in sports is unsafe and unfair is a direct attack on the trans community, and only allows for more discrimination at both the citizen and governmental levels.