Ethan Ijumba
Staff Writer
The rise and mixed reception of transgender athletes in professional and collegiate sports have caused contentious arguments for better and for worse. The divide between those who support and oppose the eligibility for transgender athletes to participate has not only changed the rules for certain leagues, but it as also given athletes who are affected by these rules a platform to advocate their rights to qualify and play their respective sports. The LGBTQ community has been discriminated against for a plethora of years. When it comes to sports, we’ve seen many athletes who have transitioned and courageously faced backlash while continuing their athletic careers, as well as accomplishing and setting new records in their profession. In this past decade, we’ve seen openly-trans athletes such as Layshia Clarendon, who received WNBA Allstar honors, and Olympic gold-medalist Quinn, who received their first gold medal as an open-trans athlete with the Canadian National Soccer Team. The praise that comes toward these athletes for their achievements also comes with harsh criticisms. In the collegiate and high school divisions, we’ve seen many rules changed or adjusted to prevent transgender athletes from participating due to the biologically physical factors that may cause what some consider to be an unfair advantage. With the courageous efforts to come out publicly on their gender identity, the backlash faced is inevitable for these individuals that comes with scrutinization from not only media outlets, but the state governments as well.
We’ve seen this recently with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who faced scrutiny from a variety of media outlets, both transphobic and misogynistic, for being the first openly trans-woman to win an NCAA swimming championship during her collegiate athlete career from 2019-2022. Deemed as “the face of the debate on transgender women in sports” by CNN, Thomas’ record-setting achievements caused a polarizing divide between the athletes, leagues, and spectators. This has caused political officials to intervene and as of June 2022, the states such as Florida, Georgia, and Texas among 16 others have enforced laws prohibiting public schools from allowing the participation of transgender girls in school sports for girls. As well as, FINA (The International Swimming Federation) voted to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women’s competitions. In supportive response to the ruling, media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete, Caitlyn Jenner voiced her support for this judgment stating:
“I think it’s very good. I have been on this issue from the beginning, and I’ve been very consistent. I have said from day one I don’t want biological boys to be competing against women, especially in school…I think that’s the right decision. We need to protect women’s sports and this will have a big impact.”
With this ongoing argument that athletes should be recognized not by their sex assigned at birth, but by their gender identity, the overall right to participate is violated by those who choose to join sporting leagues by having their rights taken away due to their gender. With that being said, the attention brought to this debate has given more LGBTQ athletes a voice to be heard, as well as a perspective to be seen when defending or fighting for their rights to be treated equally and equitably.
