Transgender Girls in High School Sports

Transgender people are more numerous and visible in our society now than ever before, but large segments of the US population are uncomfortable with their presence. Trans girls were banned from the girls’ bathrooms in some schools, as if other girls were harmed by a trans girls in a neighboring stall. The Trump Administration banned transgender women and men in the military, in spite of the military finding that their presence created no harm. The Biden Administration has reversed the ban.

More recently, Arkansas outlawed giving to minors the hormonal treatments that are essential to gender transition. Several other states may follow suit. The pediatric medical community, however, maintains that denying these teens the medications needed to treat their gender dysphoria puts them at great risk, including the risk of suicide. As in the case of school bathrooms and military service, it’s hard to see this legislation as reflecting anything but prejudice against transgender people.

Another area of current concern is school athletics. Increasing numbers of states are passing laws banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports during their K-12 school years. The reason given is that such girls retain an unfair competitive advantage over other girls stemming from their early development as boys. Many in the transgender community, and their allies, view this restriction as reflecting not a concern for fair competition in sports, but as animus against members of the trans community.

However, unlike the other cases, the anti-trans position has some basis. There is solid science behind the position that trans girls generally have an advantage over other girls in some sports. Muscle strength generally favors men over women when they compete against one another in most sports. The hormone testosterone is a major factor in men developing that superior strength. Transgender girls and women take medication to suppress the effects of testosterone so as to reduce or avoid male secondary sex characteristics such as facial hair. But research shows that even after three years of testosterone suppression, trans women retain most of the testosterone-induced muscle mass they acquired earlier in life. Transgender girls therefore most likely have an advantage in strength-related sports over their non-trans female competitors.

But sports at the K-12 level is not just about winning. The values of participation typically include improved physical coordination, promotion of physical health, increased self-esteem that comes from overcoming adversity, enhanced skills in cooperation (in team sports), and character development that includes learning from criticism, and graciously accepting both victory and defeat. Many studies show that girls who participate in K-12 sports have better self-esteem and are more likely to complete high school and become self-supporting adults.

So, we have two important values in conflict – fair competition, on the one hand, and on the other, the health, safety, education, and character development of transgender girls. Resolving the conflict in favor of trans girls can benefit other female competitors through their own character development. It can encourage compassion as well as acceptance of the diversity that exists in the human community. (People who don’t like such diversity are benefitted by learning to accept it because it’s there whether they like it or not.)

We often compromise when faced with competing values. Safety and speed on highways are both good. We promote safety by having speed limits, and we promote speed by choosing limits that aren’t too low. (We still have an auto-motive annual death toll of about 40,000 people.)

Is there a reasonable compromise regarding trans girls in athletics between competition being fair and sports being inclusive? I think there is. Transgender women should be barred from the Olympics and other international competitions, and even from supposedly amateur events which provide athletes with large monetary benefits. In these cases, rewards come primarily from winning, not from just participating, so trans women should be barred when they have an unfair competitive advantage. World Rugby is justified in banning trans women from international female competition.

But when it comes to sports in the K-12 years, inclusion and participation are far more important than winning. Given the current prejudice against transgender people, and the heightened sensitivities that people experience in their teen years, inclusion can make the difference between life and death for transgender girls.

Even so, a high school girl may feel cheated if she’s defeated by a trans competitor. But she can console herself knowing that in the short run she’s helping a girl who’s struggling against prejudice, and that in the long run no trans competitor will be allowed to impair her prospects in contexts where winning is more important than participation.

The bigger picture which this compromise illustrates is the benefits and burdens of compromises needed in a diverse society to promote individual wellbeing and social cohesion.