Amid controversy, athletes seek inclusion

As she held up the NCAA Division I national championship trophy with one hand, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas made a peace sign with the other. On March 17, she swam the 500-yard freestyle in 33.24 seconds, winning by almost two seconds. However, the crowd was unusually silent as Thomas took the podium, because, for the first time, a transgender woman stood in first place. As reporters interviewed Thomas about her win, members of the crowd yelled “cheater” and “shame” at the champion. Outside the aquatic center, a small group of people held signs, protesting Thomas’ participation, chanting “Save women’s sports.”

Thomas’s story is part of the larger national debate about transgender athletes’ participation in sports, specifically transgender women. There aren’t any openly transgender athletes currently playing on U-High teams, but many students feel impacted by the national discourse, and the school is beginning to consider how to build a policy to accomodate transgender athletes. 

Why is including transgender athletes in womens’ sports controversial?

As more transgender women have moved to join women’s sports teams, critics argue that their inclusion disadvantages cisgender women athletes. Some student athletes worry about their ability to succeed in their sports if they were to play against transgender competitors. 

“Competition is a big part of why I run. There is this kind of thrill you get from even the idea of winning,” Sophia Park, a senior on the track and field team, said. “Without talking about really thoughtful rules, a lot of people like me could lose the ability to have a chance.”

Another cross country runner, Maya Mubayi, echoed Sophia’s concerns about competitive fairness. Both runners emphasized that they believe transgender athletes deserve to be included in a way that prioritizes transgender athletes’ comfort, but at the same time, Maya and Sophia feel that a good solution will be difficult to reach.

“It’s really important to feel like you can be successful in sports, so this kind of situation just really needs to be handled carefully,” Maya said.

People with higher testosterone levels can have athletic advantages. Athletes with higher levels of testosterone generally have less body fat, more muscle mass, higher bone density and an increased capacity to carry oxygen in their blood. 

While sex assigned at birth impacts testosterone levels, hormone levels aren’t binary. Some people have hormone levels that are naturally outside of what is considered typical for their assigned sex at birth, and this variance is especially prevalent among professional athletes.

The impact of testosterone can also be effectively reversed through hormone therapy. While experts disagree on the exact amount of time on hormone therapy needed to fully resemble the typical hormonal makeup of a particular sex, most studies agree that prolonged hormone therapy can almost fully emulate how the hormones would manifest in a cisgender person.

Some differences caused by an athlete’s sex assigned at birth aren’t impacted by hormone therapy. People assigned male at birth are more likely to grow taller, have broader shoulders, have larger hands and feet, as well as larger hearts and lungs after puberty. These changes are not consistently reversible. 

Martin Oliver, a transgender junior, doesn’t view these factors as meaningful dividers.

“Cis women all have vastly different bodies in the first place, especially athletes. There are cis women over 6 feet, so why can’t trans women be tall?” Martin said. “This whole talking point just perpetuates the idea that all women need to fit into one mold.”

What response has the debate surrounding transgender athletes prompted nationally?

The conversation has quickly become highly politicized. Since 2020, 12 states have passed laws in quick secession that restrict transgender athletes’ ability to participate in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

Restricting transgender youths’ involvement with sports could have grave consequences. Transgender and nonbinary youth already report more than four times greater rates of suicide attempts than their cisgender peers, according to 2021 research.

“It’s hard to know that there are people in the world who are working really hard to hurt people like me,” Martin said. “Excluding trans kids from normal activities, treating them like they don’t belong, that’s really a death sentence. I’m lucky enough not to live in a state where these laws are passing, but even still, it really does hurt to think about.”

Many cisgender athletes have criticized the hateful response and stood up in support of their transgender competitors. Earlier this year, over 300 NCAA swimmers signed an open letter to the NCAA in support of including Lia Thomas and other transgender swimmers. Some athletes at U-High also criticize the negative public response.

“People have said a lot of horrible horrible things to transgender athletes,” Maya said. “I definitely think politics and hate should not be a part of this conversation. We need to have peaceful communication.”

Martin also feels what could have been a productive dialogue has become a vessel for hate. 

“A lot of the rhetoric about ‘protecting women’s sports’ is rooted in transphobia and misogyny. I mean, if you really want to make sports fair for women, not allowing trans women to join is not how you do that. You do that by paying women’s teams the same amount as men’s teams; you do that by creating equitable opportunities for athletes from all different kinds of backgrounds; you do that by encouraging young girls to play sports, but no one is passing laws to make those things happen.”

How would U-High accommodate trangender athletes?

Currently, there aren’t any publicly transgender athletes on U-High sports teams, but the school wants to be prepared to accommodate transgender athletes in the future.

“We should be proactive, ” U-High swimming coach Kate Chronic said. “There could be students that want to say something, but are scared because they don’t know how they would be received. Having an outlined policy could make it easier for those students.”

Athletics Director David Ribbens said some administrators are starting to think about how the school would create a policy. He said that any decision would be deliberated by a large group of people and would aim to support and include all athletes. Assistant Athletics Director Laura Gill said U-High’s community standards would have to be reflected in any decision reached.

“Any policy would be written with the school’s mission in mind,” Ms. Gill said. “Athletics adhere to the same mission of being supportive and inclusive.”

A policy would have to account for many variables. Ms. Chronic and Mr. Ribbens both said that details like uniforms, locker rooms, student and coach education, and student anonymity would all have to be considered in creating rules. Any policy would also have to consider other organizations’ policies, including the IHSA policy.

Ms. Chronic feels student mental health should be the priority of any policy about transgender athletes. 

“It’s so upsetting to see transgender people, who are really going through so much pain already, berated and excluded,” Ms. Chronic said. 

Acknowledging previous upheaval surrounding athletes’ sex or sexual orientation, Ms. Chronic hopes transgender athletes will become more widely accepted, but she belives it might be a long process.

“I can’t imagine feeling like you’re in the wrong body and like everyone sees you the wrong way. Our first reaction should be to look at how we can give support, but instead, a lot of people have responded by causing even more pain.”