There needs to be a candid discussion about what is fair for all parties in this matter. I don’t have the answer but some female athletes and their parents feel that school administrators are indifferent to their credible grievances about equity.
Article says that they are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious oriented group that opposes LGBT rights: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/alliance-defending-freedom (quotes from ADF given)
Regarding transgender athletes, some sports organizations have considered them and made policies (not necessarily all the same): https://www.transathlete.com/k-12 (also has lists for college, recreational leagues, and professional leagues)
Anyone know the policy of the USOC (U.S. Olympic Committee) or the IOC (International Olympic Committee) on transgender athletes?
The simplest solution would be to eliminate single sex/gender sports. Make all teams open to any sex/gender.
I ran into a paywall for @LakeWashington 's post but it sounds similar to a lawsuit recently filed in Connecticut: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/connecticut-high-schoolers-sue-transgender-athletes-competing-girls-sports/
I know there was at least one female Olympic level athlete who was disqualified for her naturally high testosterone level.
IOC and others’ policies are listed in https://www.transathlete.com/policies-by-organization
Looks like the same lawsuit. This article mentions that the ACLU is defending the transgender athletes and the existing state policy.
It looks IOC is considering a change to its policies before the 2020 Olympics.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/24/ioc-delays-new-transgender-guidelines-2020-olympics
So there would once again only be men’s teams? Women wouldn’t win any track events, swimming events, tennis, golf, etc. Even co-ed teams in rec leagues require a certain number of female players on the field all the time because testosterone really does make a difference.
The two athletes in CT hold something like 15 state records now in the girls’ division.
There are very few sports where male and female athletes compete head to head with no handicapping type of system and all the ones that I can think of involve a second party - the second party being either a race car (if you call auto racing a sport) or a horse (for equestrian competitions such as horse racing, show jumping and dressage). Are there any others that come to mind?
I occasionally spend some mental energy thinking through this challenge of how to fairly accommodate trans-gendered or inter-sex athletes and it truly seems like a challenge with no good solution.
What caught my attention was that the transgendered contestants have won the vast majority of track events that the female plaintiffs have recently competed in. The girls contend that this fact bolsters their claims of unfairness and that the School Districts’ policy undermine Title IX.
My son and I had this discussion a few months ago. Essentially I think that non-gendered teams are the only solution that will stay within the Title IX requirements. Title IX has been a wonderful thing for female athletics but may now be the death of female athletics.
Title IX grants equal access to all genders, not just female. This has worked fine until now, now that there are dozens of genders/gender identities. There is no way to assure equal opportunities are given to each or schools will have to have male, female, non-binary, TM, TF, etc. divisions and many of those would not have enough athletes to compete. The only way I see equal access is for there to be one team/division that is open to all genders. The problem, as stated above, is these teams will be most assuredly male dominated and will be the end of female opportunities.
This is a consequence of Title IX no one envisioned at the time it was passed. Without changes to Title IX I see no other way this will play out, unless it results in the elimination of all school sports.
This is a very hot topic on some of the strength training podcasts I subscribe to — with just about everyone saying a person born male will have muscular skeletal advantages that won’t simply “go away” upon transition.
I have a friend who is a Canadian Coach and is very vocal about this. She’s written several articles. This is just one paragraph from one that stood out to Me. She has been an athlete all her life.
”For someone like me with an advanced degree in human biological sciences, the situation is perplexing, indeed. It has long been established that biological sex is permanent and that male athletes enjoy all the benefits their genetic category provides: bigger heart, larger lungs, stronger bones, larger body, greater muscle mass, more blood volume, greater size of tubes bringing air into the lungs, and an exaggerated level of aggressiveness, to list just a fraction of the vast array of physical advantages.”
Seems to me it is very unfair to those people born female. So it sounds like it’s going to be unfair to someone. I’m on the side of the Biologically born female to not have to compete with a biologically born male.
If I understand things correctly, the NCAA requires that a male to female athlete has received hormonal therapy in order to compete as a female. Connecticut high school athletics has no such requirement. So some of the people competing as females haven’t begun the medical transition process. https://ctmirror.org/2020/02/12/high-school-athletes-file-suit-against-cts-trans-inclusive-sports-policy/
The article I read said the 2 athletes from CT have no more testosterone in their systems than the average female athlete, so that suggests they have begun a medical process of some type to at least suppress male growth. There wasn’t information on whether this process took place a year ago or 5 years ago.
There are about 6,000 genetic differences between men and women. It’s not just testosterone levels. It’s written in the genetic code. We need to stop fooling ourselves and look at the biological facts. We’re the only primate on earth that can’t seem to tell the difference between our own genders…and we’re considered the most intelligent. I guess that’s debatable.
JMO, but the effort to make athletics fair to M —> F transgender athletes is not fair to those athletes born female at birth.
Hormone therapy will not offset the advantage to those born male.
@Midwest67 and @conmama I agree. Time to divide by DNA? If you have a Y chromosome, or don’t?
The question comes down to this: Do sports discriminate against the vast majority of XX people or discriminate against trans females? The only other option would be to have four groups for sporting events, male, female, trans female and trans male, which seems impractical.
In some cases allowing athletes born male to compete against females could be dangerous, that is, contact sports in which biological males could injure females.
Fundamentally, it is simply unfair to have biological males competing against biological females. Sex for the purposes of athletics, is biological. It seems to me that schools that permit trans males to compete against biological females are the ones discriminating based on sex. They are giving a biological male an advantage that biological females do not have.