Walker Cosby

When gender lines start to blur, issues arise. The debate of transgender people, specifically transgender women in sports, has always been a dicey subject.

A transgender woman is one who was born male at birth, but identifies with the female gender and uses she/her pronouns.  

As of 2021, 12 states have bans in place that prevent transgender women from playing in competitive sports, the most recent being Iowa. 33 states have more than 100 different bills that curb the playing of trans women in sports. 

 According to Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, this is  “A victory for all girls sports… no amount of training can make up for the natural physical advantages males have over females.” 

Reynolds believes that trans women have an unfair advantage over cis (people who align with their biological gender) women in all sports, due to their testosterone levels, increased lean and muscle mass, and higher endurance. 

These statements are absurd and shallow. Telling trans children that they are not allowed to play on the sports team their gender aligns with does nothing but hurt everyone, including cis women.

Scientists at Missouri-Kansas City (MKC) did research on the difference between trans women and cis women. The study showed the the biological difference in cis women with no suppressants, and trans women on 12 months of testosterone suppressants. The one-year gap still showed trans women to have higher performance in activities involving running and endurance, but after two years, the gap is closed significantly. The only advantage was a difference in speed.

The project scientists said, “pretty much any way you slice it, trans women are going to have strength advantages even after hormone therapy. I just don’t see that as anything else but factual.” 

However, the scientists also encourage others to look at it from another view. 

“If you are looking for information on cis gender athletes, you’d never use studies on non-athletic trans people. You just wouldn’t do that. It’s just that we don’t have any data on trans athletes. So I think you have to take the results with a certain grain of salt,” said Dr.Timothy Roberts, the leader of the research team.

The laws being passed only specify trans women, not men. So, not only is this law transphobic, but it’s also misogynistic because they only ban trans women. These 11 states are telling their female athletes that in order for them to have any chance of success, they have to prevent biological men from competing on the same level as them, which is extremely damaging and is more evidence of misogynistic governments. 

Some states, such as Idaho, are forcing coaches and players to consent to sex testing in order to compete, where if they are belived to be trans, they have to test and prove they aren’t. The fact that this even exists is grotesque; it’s saying that if a girl is too good or “too masculine,”, they could be pulled for testing to see if they are biologically male. 

Treating cis children and trans kids differently  is unfair and can cause harm to their mental health.. The laws are condemning the unfair treatment of trans children. This will cause other youth to believe bullying and harassment is acceptable. r Supervisional adults discriminating against kids becuase of their gender identity is only going to lead to chaos.

Not only that, but the states that banned trans women from competing are banning them from all sports, while not all sports are about muscle mass or speed. Sports like golf are much more about skill, hand eye coordination, and other factors outside of physical stature.  However, the ban is still in place for all of these sports, which is uncalled for and shows the baseless transphobia of the state government. If they had genuine concerns about trans women having an extreme advantage in sports, they would put in different methods of “leveling the playing field,” instead of this outright ban from competition.

Trans men and women are should be considered equal to cis men and woman, regardless of anything different about their body.