Should Trans Kids Be Allowed in Sports?

I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about trans kids in sports.

So do I think trans kids should be allowed to play sports? Yes. Yes, I do. For several reasons.

First is that we must allow trans people the same rights we give any other child or person, otherwise we are relegating them to second class citizens, with less rights to live their lives as they choose than their cisgendered peers. Yes, even in sports. And yes, even if occasionally they’re taller or stronger. Because sometimes in sports, we have to face stronger athletes than ourselves, but that doesn’t automatically  give them the win. There are so many other factors at play, and again each sport is different. 

Plus, school sports aren’t just about winning. It’s about the socialization skills that kids learn through working together. It’s about team work and good sportsmanship. Or at least learning these things as they go along. Sports are also a healthy outlet for all the energy and angst that anyone can go through, not just trans kids. Like, basically every teenager, ever. 

Sports are also about societies acceptance of you. When a kid is on a sports team in school, they ‘belong’ to something, to part of a community. Sometimes that’s the only place a kid feels accepted or a sense of belonging. It fosters  self-confidence and self-discipline. There’s really so many positive things to sports, that to ban children or people from participating because they are trans, seems to be cruel. Especially when this is being directed towards an already too marginalized group of people. 

But what about the unfair genetic advantage that trans women will have over cis-females? 

Yea … about that … here’s the thing, or things. 

I think that is a complication to the argument, I’ll admit that. But I don’t think it can be used as the sole determination across the board. 

Those opposed to allowing trans people in sports, argue that there is an unfair advantage. They think that those assigned male at birth, will automatically be faster and stronger than cis-female athletes. I’ve heard the arguments that men are just stronger than women, more upper body strength, blah blah blah. You have to wonder if people using that argument are trying to hide their transphobia bias behind a sexist general statement they call fact? Because that is too broad and too general of a statement to make, to have sweeping consequences across all sports. Not to mention, am I the only one who’s feminist side is wanting to call BS on that chauvinist argument all together?

Not to mention that we need to look at other factors to see if that statement is accurate on every individual basis. Factors such as: at what age did the person start hormone therapy? Because if if they were able to start fairly young, it will have the same impact on their growth as any other girl, possibly affecting their height and size as well. So if two girls are the same age, the same height and the same weight, what does it matter if one is a trans girl? I don’t see how she has any advantage at that point over a cis-gendered girl. 

Maybe we should be looking more at weight and size to determine fairness in sports over gender? Personally, I trained in mixed martial arts for about 15 years, and during that time most of my training and sparring partners were with men. What I learned was, yes size sometimes equals strength. But it’s not the only thing you need to win. Most of the time I was faster than my larger male sparring partners, and could think through combos better as well, meaning I more than leveled the playing field. Not to mention that if we’re talking about gender generalizations, my legs were always stronger than the guys. So I had the advantage with kicks and stamina. All of those factors would go into evening out the playing field for me, as a woman in a male dominated sport. It wasn’t always the case, I mean sometimes I went up against a guy that was bigger and stronger and better than I was. And while it was frustrating, I always came out of it a better fighter, with more knowledge of what does and doesn’t work in real life situations. Because in real life you don’t ever get to choose your opponents. Life happens and you have to learn how to adapt.

I don’t think the genetic advantage argument outweighs the other arguments for trans inclusion. Because I heard someone say, and forgive me I’m not sure where, (if you know say below) that if trans kids aren’t allowed to play sports, kids will die. That right there made my opinion clear for me, that they must be allowed to play. Because it’s just a game, all of sports is just a game. Even at a professional level. But these are lives we are talking about. Children’s lives. How can that not mean more than an occasional sports score, or even a scholarship? Yes, I can see where maybe runners for instance, where it’s more individual than team work, might find this unfair. And I’m not really sure how to make this equation totally equal between all sides of the argument. But it comes down to the value of a human life, like the whole weight of life, as in they might not make it through this life, if society continues to discriminate against them and make their existence impossible. I can’t say that there’s any amount of money, such as a scholarship or even a professional sports salary that is equivalent to saving a human life.

We’re not just talking one for one here, we’re talking about it as a whole. From the standpoint as to what is best for society in the long run? And it is not ever going to be better for society to discriminate and direct hate against a minority group. It is never good for society to put money above the life of our children. It is never better for the group with the most power and most privilege to be allowed to determine the fate of minority groups they don’t like. 

But it is good for society to progress as an inclusive whole. Where everyone get’s to be their highest potential in life, or at least the chance to reach for that potential in all areas. Not just what one powerful group tells a less powerful group what they say they’re allowed to do. No, that is never okay. 

I know that this is just my personal opinion and that many people will disagree with me. But I wanted to put it out there so that if any trans people read this, they will at least know what I’m on their side. A lot of people are on their side. It’s important to let people know you support them because life is so fragile. We as humans can be so cruel to other, especially online, we don’t realize how close someone might be to taking their own life, and why would you ever risk being the person that pushed them over that line? 

I am interested in anyone’s opinion on this and why you take whatever side you do? 

Do you know any trans athletes? Are you one yourself? I would love to hear from a trans person how they feel on this topic. 

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