Bans Against Trans Athletes Will Not “Save Women’s Sports”

If you asked most women athletes what should be included in a bill called “Save Women’s Sports,” you’d likely hear about the disparities that follow them from school gyms to professional athletics. They’d talk about pay inequality, and how coaches, staffers, and professional women athletes are compensated less for the same work.They’d talk about being treated like an afterthought — funded less, covered less, and often relegated to “second-class” by schools, agencies, and the media. And they’d certainly talk about harm: the continued harassment and abuse many women athletes endure, from sexual abuse by doctors and coaches to demeaning treatment in the public eye today.

But none of the state laws claiming to “save women’s sports” help accomplish any of these reasonable demands for equality. Instead, they prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in school sports as girls – and threaten all women in the process.

In West Virginia, the ACLU and our legal partners blocked one of these laws on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old transgender girl and the state’s only transgender athlete. State officials appealed, and now the Supreme Court must decide if targeting transgender athletes violates Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in public schools, and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The outcome has the potential to reach far beyond athletics to shape the civil rights protections of transgender people nationwide.

As one state attorney general defending Idaho’s ban said, this case is not just about pushing girls like Becky off women’s teams, but about “determining whether transgender individuals are protected by the federal constitution and state and federal laws." If officials can legalize or require discrimination against transgender women and girls on the field, they set a precedent for doing the same in our schools, workplaces, and communities.

Transgender athletes like Becky only want the freedom to be themselves and play school sports with their friends. Instead, they are in the middle of a political maelstrom fueled by partisan rhetoric and hundreds of millions of dollars in ad spending — all supposedly done to protect women and girls in sports.

Politicians pushing these bans call it simple science that “biological males” will always be faster and stronger than “biological females.” For most people, this makes some sense: male athletes on average generally do run faster and exhibit more muscular strength than female athletes. But importantly, transgender girls like Becky are not “biological males” in any way that matters on the playing field. Transgender girls like Becky rely on medical interventions like puberty blockers and estrogenic hormone therapy to help make their bodies more feminine. That includes losing muscle and bone mass, lung capacity, and other physical attributes that contribute to athletic ability.

Yet the bans targeting girls like Becky rely on the same gendered assumptions that have long put a ceiling on the achievements of women athletes. To justify why the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team should be paid less than the men’s, for example, U.S. Soccer cited the same argument about biological differences. It also wasn’t long ago that women were banned from most marathons for fear the training and physical exertion required would make them infertile. They were likewise barred from full-court basketball until 1971.

More recently, women athletes in tennis, volleyball, and badminton have challenged gendered dress codes that force them to meet tired standards of how women should look. And due to discriminatory rules and regulations, the fight for equal pay and media coverage for coaches, faculty, and players continues to this day.

The ACLU’s opposition to these bans is part of a much longer legacy towards equality and inclusion in athletics for all women and girls. Under the veil of “biology,” these bans artificially undercut what women athletes are capable of. It positions transgender girls like Becky — who make up a tiny fraction of athletes in K-12, collegiate, and professional sports overall — as a threat.

It’s also one reason why, as a recent public opinion study found, support for bans targeting transgender girls was strongest among those who already believed women’s sports was of less value than men’s. That includes President Donald Trump.

In his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, he threatens to investigate schools and pull funds from athletic programs that allow transgender women and girls to compete in women’s sports. Now Title IX is reduced to little more than a cudgel against transgender students and an open door to question and harass all young women and girls trying to participate in school activities.

The ACLU’s opposition to these bans is part of a longer legacy towards equality and inclusion in athletics for all women and girls. Beyond school sports, we’re also fighting for a world where all children get the safety, love, and respect they deserve. Just like the rest of their peers, transgender children must have the freedom to be able to live their authentic lives.