Sport Saves Lives

Trans Inclusion in Sports Part 8

For the eighth and final part of this series, I want to start with the slogan on an Athlete Ally shirt: “Sport Saves Lives.”

Is that hyperbole? You might think so - but just as the research does not show cis girls are harmed by trans participation in sport, the research DOES show that trans youth benefit from sport participation and inclusionary policies - and that they are harmed by exclusionary policies.

Here’s some of what we know, as summarized in a report from the Center for American Progress:

• Inclusive school policies (not just sport) result in lower risk of suicide attempts, lower rates of harassment, and higher rates of belonging and feeling safe for LGBTQ+ youth

• Trans youth who play sports have higher grades, higher self-esteem, high rates of belonging, and lower rates of feeling depressed or “worthless”

• Even trans youth who DON’T play sports fare better when they live in states with inclusive sport policies, as they are less likely to report considering suicide than those in states without inclusive policies.

• Trans youth (and adults) are already subject to bullying and harassment, and report feeling fearful and unsafe in school, bathrooms, and sport settings.

• More than a third of LGBTQ youth cite gender-discriminatory policies and practices (including sport bans) as a reason they do not expect or plan to graduate from high school

But we need to “protect (cis) girls’ sports,” right? Other girls/women aren’t under direct risk of harm from trans athletes; the only real “threat” seems to be that on occasion, a trans athlete will win a race, or a medal, or make a competitive team. But as I covered back in Part 2 - why is there outrage when a trans girl wins but not when a wealthy girl, or a tall girl, or a girl whose parents were both elite athletes wins? Why, as I discussed in Part 3, is there a focus on studies demonstrating ways that cisgender boys/men have narrow advantages, which is applied as blanket evidence to trans girls/women’s purported advantages, ignoring evidence to the contrary?

I started Part 1 by saying that “everyone deserves sports” and sharing that the International Olympic Committee says that sport is a human right. But does that mean that everyone has the right to WIN at sports? Or to have access to sports? Are we saying that we are okay if trans people play sport - as long as they aren’t too good at it?

This quote from Katie Barnes, a journalist with ESPN who has covered the trans sports bans, has resonated me since I first heard it on the ESPN Daily podcast on 9/27/21: “If we say as a society, that it is important for kids to play sports, then wouldn’t that also mean that it’s important for all kids to play sports?”

So when we say we want to protect girls and women with these bans, I ask: Which girls, which women? Protect them from what? Protect them from losing a race? Or protect them from losing access to an activity that research shows improves educational and health outcomes for cis and trans youth alike?

Check out the other posts in the series, and head to Athlete Ally's Resource page for more ways to support trans inclusion in sports.