A Conversation About Trans Athletics
Athletics play a pivotal role in our lives. It's hard to imagine a world without a space where people of all backgrounds can come together on a level playing field to compete. But controversy resurfaced when Lia Thomas, a swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, became the first openly transgender athlete to win a D1 NCAA championship in any event when she took first place in the 500m freestyle in March. Her collegiate success has fueled the public debate over the participation of transgender athletes in organized sports. As a result of this debate, several Republican-controlled state legislatures passed laws banning transgender youth from taking part in school sports; 25% of LGBTQ youth now live in states where their participation is restricted. In this conversation, we’ll look at the most common arguments from both sides. All views and opinions expressed in this post belong to the authors and not Political Union as an organization.
Parker: In a recent opinion piece for the New York Post, former Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner outlines how charged and difficult Lia Thomas’s case is. Both Thomas and her competitors are trying to live and compete authentically. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they are competing on a level playing field. It is “very important to have careful eligibility criteria for the women’s category, which aren’t necessarily going to line up with legal criteria,” says Joanna Harper, a medical physicist and trans athlete herself. While some physical traits can be leveled and equalized between the athletes (such as hemoglobin levels), others, such as strength and speed, cannot. It is not enough to identify as a woman because trans athletes may still possess unfair physical advantages when compared to their biologically female counterparts. The issue is not one of identity, but rather biology and fairness. At the end of the day, I personally just cannot see how allowing trans women to compete against biological women is fair.
Felix: Well, I think one relevant point is whether trans women athletes really do enjoy a physiological advantage over their cisgender women counterparts. The medical literature is seemingly still inconclusive. This study and this study tested for various measures of athletic ability and hemoglobin levels, respectively. The former found that after two years of hormone therapy, with the exception of running speed, there was no statistically significant difference in athletic performance between trans and cisgender women. The latter study found no significant difference in hemoglobin levels after just one year. On the other hand, this study found that muscle strength and size are typically maintained among trans women even after a year of hormone therapy. The point is that the science on these questions is in its nascent stage. This is one reason why defenders of trans women’s access to organized sports describe it as unfair to impose a blanket ban without conclusive evidence one way or the other. Another is that there’s no shortage of literature affirming that trans youth are particularly psychologically vulnerable to begin with, and athletic and social participation can be crucial in improving their well-being.
Parker: I agree that the medical literature regarding the subject is lacking. However the literature that we have presented does indicate some physiological advantage is enjoyed by trans women athletes. For example, in the studies you cite, 2/3 agree that hormonal therapy does leave trans women some advantage. This conclusion led a group of women’s sports advocates to form a group called Women’s Sports Policy Working Group. Some of the women leading the group include Donna de Varona, Donna Lopiano, and Nancy Hogshead-Makar; all whom have proudly voiced support for women’s athletes and Title IX throughout their lives and careers. While they have faced some backlash, they are framing the issue as a women’s rights issue. “The law protects girls and women, and they shouldn’t have to compete against someone who has an immutable testosterone-based advantage,” says Donna Lopiano. Yes, trans women are women, but many have also gone through puberty as males, which gives them physical advantages that female puberty does not provide.
Felix: Here’s something else that I mention frequently on this subject: the conservative panic over the destruction of athletic fairness could use some statistical context. In Utah, where GOP governor Spencer Cox recently vetoed a measure to ban trans youth from participating in sports, there are around 75,000 high school athletes, four are trans, and only one is a trans girl. Those numbers are going to be higher in absolute and proportional terms in larger, bluer states – but the point holds that this is an issue at the margins of the political ecosystem. It’s not an issue that has an insidious day-to-day effect on as many people as the outrage in the media makes it seem. I think this is an easy political win for conservatives and moderates – the Transgender Law Center itself admits that all of their own message testing yields poor outcomes for the org’s position, and Gallup found in 2021 that a majority of Americans should have to compete on teams that match their birth gender. But this fact doesn’t mean the subject deserves as much public attention as activists on the left or the right would like.
Parker: I would agree that the issue usually does get wildly overblown by both the right and the left. However that isn’t to say the frustration is unjustified. While it is true only a small number of trans women participate in sports, the impact can be large. When Lia touched the wall after her race, she took the championship from 59 of her fellow competitors. After her, there was a 2.37 second gap until the next competitor, Erica Sullivan, touched the wall. For context, the gap between second and third place was .46 seconds. The success of trans athletes affects hundreds of other competitors with each race or game they take part in, simply because they have a physiological advantage. The ensuing panic (mostly by the right) is exactly what it shouldn’t be, panic. This doesn’t mean the issue itself isn’t real, though. Trans women and cis-women should be able to compete, but let them compete against equals. This is a difficult issue that will require a not so simple solution. As Diana Nyad put it, “We’re not at a solution yet, but open minds and empathetic hearts will lead us to the answer.”
Felix: The conversation over solutions is probably a good place to wrap up. Needless to say, advocates on both sides see any possible policies as zero-sum - that is, if they result in gains for trans women it means losses for cis women, and vice versa. In the few years that this policy issue has been around, some bioethicists have attempted compromises. One plan, for instance, would construct an algorithm that divides athletes into separate competition strata based on various biological and social markers, not just according to sex. Another would add more categories under which athletes could compete, while preserving two “traditional” ones. Yet another would add just one additional category that is consistent with the “third legal gender” that many countries already recognize. But the nature of this debate is such that compromises are quite unlikely, no matter how creatively designed they are. That’s all we have time for today - we hope you found this medium interesting, and that you’ll join us again soon for more dialogue-style writing on the blog!
"London Olympic Swimming Pool for the London 2012 Olympics" by Sum_of_Marc is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.