Transgender Leagues are Exclusionary

By Alex O.

LQTBQ+ laws are a big topic nowadays, especially in sports. Transgender athletes are being  discriminated against more than ever due to recent controversy involving a transgender athlete, which has led to many new laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing as the gender they identify with in schools and national leagues. According to GLSEN, six states completely ban transgender athletes, while 15 more states have restrictions. This has sparked a major debate about if transgender athletes should be able to compete with the gender they identify with. 

According to NBC, “nearly 70% of U.S. adults say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that correspond with the sexes they were assigned at birth.” When I first saw this I thought having a league for only trans kids would be a good solution to this problem. With further research I realized that this would not be a beneficial solution to this problem. When I thought about trans athletes having to compete in a separate league instead of for their school, I realized there are a lot of unfair things about that. Some of my favorite things about sports are being able to play with my friends, being able to talk about our games during school,and hanging out with my friends on the buses to our basketball games, which transgender kids would be missing out on.

The big problem with having a separate league is treating trans gender athletes differently, which is never the answer. According to Public School Review, “a benefit of participating in sports as a middle schooler is the opportunity to work with other students.” Transgender kids would miss out on this because they couldn't play for their school. That would feel hurtful because they let all the other kids compete with the other students which is just unfair. According to Fostburit it is also beneficial for students to compete for their schools because  “school sports teams are often a source of pride for the community they represent.” If trans kids could not compete for their schools they would lose that feeling that they were representing something.

In conclusion, transgender laws are a big topic nowadays and it is not fair to treat trans athletes differently just because they are trans. I don't know the answer to this problem, much like everyone else. It is important to not only think about fairness while addressing a problem, but the people that will actually be affected by the solution and make sure they are okay with the solution instead of just making one based on non trans people's decisions.