The Transgender Debate
by Savannah Cress
At some point in our lives, we are bound to come across a subject of debate about which we are completely torn. A subject that regardless of how much we research, how many times we argue the various sides in our head, regardless of how many “expert opinions” we find, we simply cannot write off either side as “completely wrong.” I think I have found mine in writing this article: the subject of athletes who are transgender.
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Being neither a competitive athlete nor transgender, I have to admit, I had never really thought a whole lot about the combination of the two. Like most privileges, when not affecting one personally, it’s all too easy to float through life completely oblivious to the injustices and struggles faced by others.
The struggles of transgender athletes, and of those with whom they compete, have recently been brought to the world’s attention by the media, stemming from lawsuits brought from one side or the other. Connecticut is one such state that has been in the spotlight with this subject.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), the board that oversees Connecticut’s high school athletic competitions, has set a policy allowing athletes to compete in the division of the gender with which they identify. Many people, including Bianca Stanescu, whose daughter is a senior in high school and a very accomplished track athlete, are appalled at this policy. After Bianca’s daughter, Selina, missed qualifying for the New England regional meet last year when the top two spots in her event were won by athletes who are transgender, Bianca took legal action. [1] [2]
The CIAC defends the policy, stating that it is in compliance with a federal law, Title IX, which bans sex discrimination of any kind in any school that receives federal funding. This seems straight-forward enough at first glance. However, an attorney representing cisgender, or non-transgender, female athletes who have filed federal discrimination complaints with the US Education Department, uses this very same Title IX law to argue the opposing viewpoint. The stance taken is that having transgender girls, who are biologically-born male, compete in the same division as biologically-born female athletes deprives biological girls and women of athletic opportunities, which was a major accomplishment of Title IX to begin with. “Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” says Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. “Women fought long and hard to earn the equal athletic opportunities that Title IX provides. Allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women under this law.” [1] [4] [3]
Having researched and written several articles on the subject of women in sports, and the lag of opportunities becoming available to women in sports over the years, I hear what she’s saying. In sports, there are innate, physical variances between male and female bodies that come into play. Largely due to having testosterone levels that are an average of 7 to 8 times higher than that of females, in general, males have longer limbs (in relation to their height), more oxygen-carrying red blood cells, larger lungs and heart, less fat, denser bones which are able to support more muscle, and narrower hips, which both decrease chance of injury and are structured for more efficient running form. Consequently, there is an average of an 11% gap between the performance of elite male and female competitors in running events. This science clearly points to there being a decent chance that an athlete born male will have advantages over an athlete who was born female. And with this possibility in play, it does not seem right to allow athletes who are transgender to compete agenst female athletes who are cisgender. [5]
While my above conclusion makes sense, I am not completely satisfied with it, as there are always at least two sides to any situation. So let’s look at it from the perspective of a high school athlete who is transgender. For starters, hopefully this high school athlete does not live in Idaho. In March of this year, as COVID19 was ramping up in our country, Idaho passed a bill completely banning trans people from participating in any sports in school, from kindergarten all the way through college. As torn as I am on some aspects of this debate, I am fully confident that blatant exclusion due to the gender with which an individual identifies is not the way to go. [6]
Nineteen-year-old Lindsay Hecox lives in Idaho. Lindsay found running in high school and fell in love with it. She ran on her school’s cross country team throughout high school. “It was the best experience” Lindsay says of being part of the team. “It was my whole friend group. It helped me focus so I could keep my grades up.” [8] After graduating in 2019, Lindsay came out as transgender and transitioned over the summer. Now a Boise State university student, Lindsay will no longer be able to join the women’s cross country team this Fall due to the recently passed legislation. Is this law, which prevents Lindsay from participating in sports, saving dozens of cisgender women from being outrun by a transgender woman this cross country season? Apparently we’ll never know, but is negating the possibility of that happening more important than allowing Lindsay, and other athletes who happen to be transgender, the opportunity to participate in school activities while remaining true to herself? I mean is it okay to force a 19-year-old to choose between living a facade and being allowed to run or living authentically and being excluded from the activity that made her finally feel like she belonged somewhere, helping her survive the harsh world of high school? As disclosed earlier, I am not a competitive athlete by any definition; my perspective is rooted in pure humanity, but it hurts my heart that Idaho’s response to that question is “yes.” [8]
The recent lawsuits indicate that the fear of transgender women athletes negatively affecting cisgender women in sports is becoming more and more apparent. Some say that the participation of trans athletes in the women’s division is depriving cisgender women of opportunities. It is argued that, because of biologically-related reasons we discussed in the previous paragraphs, athletes who are transgender hold an unfair advantage when competing in the womens division. Joanna Harper, a medical physicist in Portland, Oregon, has been studying this subject in depth, and challenging the assumption that transgender women, who have received treatment to lower their testosterone levels, have any sort of leg-up when it comes to sports. Joanna’s research in this department has earned the attention of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has sought guidance on gender-related matters from Harpers publications regarding how transgender athletes’ physiology and performance are affected as transitions are made. In one study analyzing 5k race times before and after an athlete transitioned from male to female, she found that while race times did slow after transitioning, age grades comparing athletes to the best runners of the same sex and age, hardly changed at all. Later studies on sprinters, cyclists, and rowers had similar results. This suggests that a large percentage of athletes who are transgender women perform very similarly compared to cisgender women in their age range as they did when compared to male athletes in their age range prior to transitioning. [7]
So having given thought to two sides of this multifaceted predicament, what is the answer? Do we force people to compete in gender divisions as designated at birth? Should athletes participate in sports in the division of the gender with which they identify in every other aspect of life? Should there be a separate division specifically for athletes who are transgender?
The latter would solve some of the debated issues, but it seems that creating a separate transgender division may in turn create a divisive atmosphere which opens the door to gender policing for all women. Did you know that up until 1968, mandatory sex-verification examinations were accepted practice? Female Olympic athletes were paraded before a panel of doctors, in the nude, to ensure no male athletes were posing as female, thereby holding unfair advantages for their country in competition. This physical test was then replaced by chromosome testing, which was standard for the Olympics until 1999, when it was discovered to be scientifically flawed and voted discontinued unless “reasonable suspicion” is present. Reasonable suspicion…? Like if a woman appears “too good” at a sport, or comes across as “too masculine” to be a “real” woman? Who exactly is defining what it means to be a woman here? This couldn’t possibly end badly….[9] [6]
Maybe an option should be explored for creating divisions not based on two specific defined genders, but rather on testosterone level ranges? Or even some combination of testosterone levels and height ranges? There seems to be a major correlation between testosterone levels and individual performance ability. As testosterone levels are adjusted when an athlete transitions to another gender, his or her race speed appears to adjust accordingly. Testosterone is the underlying scientific reason given to explain the other general physical differences between men and women, like more muscle mass and denser bones in men. Furthermore, these biological advantages possessed by male athletes over female athletes are a general possibility, not an absolute. Within these differences, there will always be a wide range with overlap of the genders inside of these ranges. I mean, isn’t there always a possibility that a cisgender female athlete will have some sort of biological advantage over another cisgender female athlete? No two athletes are exactly the same, the field is never completely level. I mean, look at hurdlers Megan Tapper (5’ 1”) and Cindy Roleder (5’ 10”). Perhaps gravitating divisions away from a simple male/female split would help level the field across a more broad range of athletes? [7] [10] [11]
I don’t know what the answer is. I think this is one of those situations where no matter what, somebody is going to resent any decision made. Okay, maybe most big decisions involving multiple people are like that. Humans are just complex creatures with varying levels of perception, beliefs and morals – impossible to collectively please in large groups. I’m going to put this topic in the pile with the height of women’s hurdles and Tokyo Olympic re-planning – the pile containing decisions I am happy to not be in charge of making. That being said, I do hope that as the subject of athletes who are transgender continues to be brought up in various areas of sport, and in life, I hope that if and when decisions are made, that they can be made through educated, opened minds and hearts and not fueled by a fear of something unfamiliar.
Resources:
[1] https://www.espn.com/high-school/story/_/id/28953072/treat-trans-athletes-girls
[2] https://www.yahoo.com/news/transgender-athletes-dont-belong-girls-090013594.html
[6] https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/four-myths-about-trans-athletes-debunked/
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_verification_in_sports
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Tapper
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Roleder
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