Issue Brief Overview Post

The topic I will be addressing is ensuring fairness and inclusivity in women’s sports in relation to transgender women competing in women’s sports. This is a relevant and extremely current topic—conservatives at high levels of state and federal governments throughout the U.S. have been pushing for “save women’s sports” measures that effectively ban all transgender women from participating in women’s sports in the name of fairness and safety. These measures can be seen as descendants of the controversial “bathroom bills” of the past several years, as they imply that transgender women are seeking to either gain competitive advantages over cisgender women by participating in gendered social institutions or to endanger or even assault cisgender women by gaining access to gendered facilities such as bathrooms. Just two days prior to the writing of this post, Mississippi’s governor signed into law a bill completely banning transgender athletes from participating in sports at public schools and universities. My issue brief will be focused on examining and addressing the legitimacy and causes of concerns about fairness and safety in women’s sports, as well as suggesting research-based solutions to ensure fairness and safe participation for all student athletes, regardless of their gender identity.

The cause of transphobic fears of female transgender student athletes can be broadly categorized as inadvertent, although for most individuals it is probably a lot more complex than that. When one thinks about the possible emotions that go into spreading concerns about trans athletes, it falls into one major negative emotional category—fear. A “phobia” is defined as, “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation”, so even just breaking down the term “transphobia” can give us that impression. Here is where the categorization of cause becomes complicated—since fears typically exist largely at a subconscious level, it’s hard to call something that is the result of a fear “intentional”, but at the same time, the spreading of that fear and the creation of policy on its basis is very much intentional. If we determine that the cause of concerns about trans athletes can be simplified to “transphobia”, then we can largely categorize the cause as inadvertent, despite the many intentional actions which often follow.

In crafting policy for my issue brief, I am likely to rely heavily on the “capacity builders” solution. Since I have determined that transphobia is the singular greatest root cause of concerns about trans athletes, an educational campaign aimed at diminishing and ultimately getting rid of that transphobia seems like the most logical course of action. I may need other solutions for the short term however; “capacity builders” tend to fall short in immediate, proven action, and certain bans and policies are already in place to discriminate against trans athletes. A long-term educational campaign would not be able to help those athletes currently affected by this ban.