Twenty-Six States Introduce Bills To Ban Trans Girls From K-12 Sports
Kentucky Will Now Follow Suit
A committee of state lawmakers in Kentucky moved forward a bill that would prevent transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams in K-12 schools. The measure, Senate Bill 83, from Henderson Republican Sen. Robby Mills would require girls teams to only be open to students who are listed as female on their birth certificate.
The bill is similar to two others Republicans have filed this session and mirrors bills in at least 26 states across the country.
And not without good reason: last December, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas crushed the competition and broke two female national records at the Zippy Invitational while last September, Alana McLaughlin won an MMA debut in the second round upon using a rear-naked choke against Celine Provost. McLaughlin is the second transgender woman to compete in MMA and said, "I want to pick up the mantle that Fallon put down."
For reference, Fallon Fox is the transgender MMA fighter who fractured an opponent's skull in 2014.
Sporting bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consistently move the goalposts and are quick to erode standards when it comes to transgendered athletes.
For example, in 2004 the IOC required transgender athletes to undergo gender reassignment surgery to compete in their preferred gender category. Then, those guidelines were updated in 2015 to remove the surgery requirement. Instead, transgender athletes had to reach a testosterone level threshold of no more than 10 nmol/L if they wanted to compete in women's sports.Â
However, earlier in 2021, the IOC further refined its guidelines to remove the testosterone threshold requirement and allow international federations to establish requirements. The guidelines state, "the IOC is therefore not in a position to issue regulations that define eligibility criteria for every sport, discipline, or event across the very different national jurisdictions and sports systems."
In other words, there are no longer universal guidelines when it comes to trans athletes and if a man decides he wants to compete in women’s sports there’s nothing to stop him if the country he represents allow him.
Like New Zealand.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has adopted rules for trans athletes competing in college sports. Specifically, NCAA guidelines state that if a male wants to compete in women's sports, he must first complete one year of testosterone suppression medication but, unfortunately, this therapy doesn’t level the playing field.
A study published in the journal Endocrine Practice found that only one-quarter of transwomen treated with oral spironolactone (a testosterone blocker) and oral estrogen therapy could lower their testosterone levels to the usual female physiologic range. Indeed, the study found that 75 percent of transwomen fail to suppress their testosterone through medical intervention alone while another study by sports scientist Tommy Lundberg and published in the National Library of Medicine found that transwomen generally retain their strength levels after one year and maintain an edge in strength over biological women.
In another PubMed study released in early 2021, researchers found that the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty. Pointedly, it concluded, "longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area, and strength typically amounts to approximately 5 percent after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed. Sports organizations should consider this evidence when reassessing current policies regarding participation of transgender women in the female category of sport."
After Lia Thomas dominated the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:43:47, the swimmer allegedly bragged, "that was so easy, I was cruising." Further, one of Thomas' teammates said about females competing against Thomas, "They feel so discouraged because no matter how much work they put in it, they’re going to lose. Usually, they can get behind the blocks and know they out-trained all their competitors and they’re going to win and give it all they’ve got. Now they’re having to go behind the blocks knowing no matter what, they do not have the chance to win."
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