“This moment we’re in is truly a crisis for transgender young people - and we’re calling on elected leaders at every level of government to fight harder for our kids,” Robinson added. But she also added that the rule “should be clarified to ensure that all transgender students should be presumed eligible to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity.” Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson noted in a statement that the proposed rule made it “abundantly clear” that discriminating against trans athletes violates federal law. “We look forward to submitting comments and working with the administration to further remove those remaining bigotry-based barriers to full and equal participation by transgender youth.” “These students must have full and equal chances to participate because participation in athletics provides many long-term benefits for young people, including important health benefits, and chances to develop leadership skills, discipline, and self-confidence,” Buchert said. However, Buchert also expressed concerns about whether the proposed rule could properly protect trans athletes from discrimination. Lambda Legal senior attorney and director of the organization’sNonbinary and Transgender Rights Project Sasha Buchert said in a statement that the proposed rule “includes critical recognition of the importance of participating in sports for transgender youth and shows why 100% of the state bans are invalid.” In a Thursday evening tweet, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem tweeted a screenshot of a headline regarding the rule change, writing, “President Biden, we’ll see you in court.”įor their part, LGBTQ+ legal advocacy groups have tried to strike a careful tone, commending the Biden administration for disallowing blanket bans on trans athletes, while still maintaining that trans student athletes need more robust protections. Many have also pointed out that other athletes’ clear-cut biological advantages, such as swimmer Michael Phelps’ wingspan and double-jointed ankles, have been celebrated as marvels rather than used as a justification to ban them from competition.īut because the proposed rule change also prohibits blanket bans on trans student athletes, Republican lawmakers are also pushing back. Such regulations can also harm cisgender women who have naturally high levels of testosterone, such as Olympic gold-winning runner Caster Semenya, who was told in 2020 that she must take testosterone-suppressing drugs or undergo surgery in order to compete in the 2021 Olympics. Although the rule change claims to protect “fairness” in competition, there is no conclusive evidence that trans women and girls, who are most often explicitly targeted in trans sports bans, have any kind of athletic advantage over cis women.
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