Transgender athletes have been under attack from recent bills like the Save Women’s Sports Act in Texas or the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act in Florida. These bills have been clear anti-trans bills that have introduced a lot more fear not only in right-wing political circles, as many believe transgender athletes will take over sports, but also within trans communities as their basic rights are continued to be stripped away at alarming rates. So why do we keep seeing legislation focus on this issue as other problems like the war in Israel and climate crises continue to arise? All of these bills are passed to serve one purpose, to put down trans communities, no matter what the ones in charge claim. It is simply just to discriminate against already marginalized communities to back their personal beliefs.

Many on the right believe that trans athletes should only play in the leagues that match the gender they were assigned to at birth with some even arguing that they should not play at all; with many claiming league rulings on weight and gender requirements are to protect cisgender athletes from being outmatched by people they say are “genetically advantaged.” 

This argument was backed up by New Hampshire Senate President, Jeb Bradley while discussing the recent passage of another anti-trans law forcing trans women in schools to compete in the gender league they were assigned at birth. Bradley claimed that “bio boys” have a clear genetic advantage over “bio girls” and it would be unfair to allow these people who have a birth advantage over their opponents to compete. This is a very common argument that the right has picked up in the debate over trans athletes competing in sports.

In contrast, many on the left believe that trans athletes going through gender-affirming care procedures should be able to play in the league of their preferred gender. The main argument on the left is that the biological difference is unimportant and has little difference in the athlete’s performance. This is doubly so if the person has undergone gender-affirming care like Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and gender-affirming surgeries, that drastically affect the areas that produce the hormones that the right is so afraid of. 

The right’s argument has not just stayed on paper. There have been many different instances in which the legislature has negatively affected the lives of the athletes. More specifically, trans athlete Mack Beggs, an 18-year-old wrestler from Dallas, has been repeatedly denied the right to wrestle in the boys league despite winning his second state championship in the girls’ division. Begg’s win sparked a lot of hateful opinions from the right, arguing that he should not be able to play at all, due to their belief that he shouldn’t play in the boys league, as it goes against the UIL rules. However, they simultaneously believe that because of the low legal doses of HRT Mack had undergone and the winning tradition he has cultivated, it is unfair to the girls he is competing against because of the ‘advantage’ that he has over them. 

However this in totality is completely paradoxical to what politicians and pundits on the right have been arguing: that if athletes were to compete in their preferred gender assignment it would be unfair to the cisgender athletes. This shows that the right’s argument is simply another way to denigrate trans athletes, specifically children, and to strip away even more of their right to live the life they deserve. 

These issues were clearly shown at the 2024 Paris Olympics when Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s quick victory over her Italian opponent, Angela Carini. Carini’s tearful post-fight interview drew an outcry on social media from twice impeached former President Donald Trump and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, to Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling as Carini’s comment led to many speculating that Khelif was a transgender woman who was going to harm other competitors by sabotaging the validity of the matches. This instant blame on trans athletes has not only affected the life of Khelif, a cis boxer but has also affected trans athletic communities by painting trans athletes as dangerous.

There is one point on the right that could be conceded, that biological girls and biological boys mature at different speeds and different ages, thus affecting these trans athletes in middle school and early high school ages. Girls mature and grow at a much earlier age than boys, which could cause a large discrepancy in athletic prowess between the two leagues causing debates discussing how these ages should be affected by the implementation of the aforementioned UIL rules. 

However these rulings affect more than just the games and leagues it is about, but they greatly affect the mental health of these trans athletes who are denied the simple humanity of playing sports for a team. For example, recent studies from the Trevor Project show that these laws have negatively affected 90% of LGBTQ. May this impact be mental or social these rulings have made nearly 45% of transgender families consider moving to a different state so that their child could receive the care that they need or even to live in a less prejudiced area so that they could live like any other kid, because that is what they are.

Anti-trans rulings in sports have affected athletics in states like Texas, New Jersey, and Ohio. One ruling in particular has affected children’s sports in a shocking way. Ohio’s House Bill 151 would force high school athletes to prove their sex through intrusive external and internal inspections. These examinations of genitalia are not only invasive but also painful to even adult women who are comfortable with their examiner. Additionally, these tests could be demanded at any time with no cause for the need for inspection. This is a danger, not only to the integrity of women’s sports as games could be paused or forfeited due to lack of proof, but it is also a danger to the children who will be forced to undergo these painful exams.

It is a danger for athletes for a slew of reasons as not only is this event scarring, but it also opens a large door to potential sexual abuse cases that could involve an underage girl unwillingly going through pelvic exams simply to show proof that she is biologically a woman. This is all to exclude trans athletes from competing in their sports. Finally, this bill furthers misogynistic gender norms on cis and trans athletes alike by creating the possibility that any female athlete with masculine features or male athlete with feminine features could be forced to get these tests to prove that their genitalia matches the gender they identify as.