Transgender people in sports

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The participation of transgender or transsexual individuals in competitive sports is a controversial issue. Opposition to transgender or transsexual individuals competing in sporting events generally focuses on hormonal factors (such as higher testosterone levels among trans women), the socialisation of young men and women, and physiological factors such as height and weight. Insisting trans athletes compete against athletes of the same biological sex, sex verification testing, and access regulations have been used with the aim of ensuring fair competition.

Historically sport has been seen as a male domain.^[1] The masculine perception of sport was first moderated with the rise of women's sports and further challenged with the gradual acceptance of gay sportsmen.^[1] A third departure from this traditional view came from trans athletes, who did not fit into the culturally accepted binary gender definition of male and female.^[1]

An early high-profile transgender athlete was tennis player Renée Richards. Already a promising tennis player in the men's circuit, Richards underwent gender reassignment therapy in 1975 and started playing in women's tournaments a year later. Her discovery and the resulting media frenzy sparked protests.^[2] After she accepted an invitation to a warm-up tournament for the US Open, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) withdrew their support and 25 of the 32 women withdrew.^[3]

The USTA and WTA introduced the Barr body test, which identifies a person's sex chromosomes. Richards refused to take the test and was banned from the US Open.^[2] She filed a lawsuit in 1977 claiming that her civil rights were violated. The judge agreed that the Barr body test as the sole determinant of sex was "grossly unfair" and ruled Richards legally female.^[4] She competed in the 1977 US Open at the age of 43, lost in the first round and retired four years later.^[2] At the time, the ruling in Richards's case did not lead to major changes outside of tennis.^[4]

In 2003, a committee convened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission drew up new guidelines for participation of athletes who had undergone gender reassignment. The report listed three conditions for participation. First, athletes must have undergone sex reassignment surgery, including changes in the external genitalia and gonadectomy. Second, athletes must show legal recognition of their gender. Third, athletes must have undergone hormone therapy for an appropriate time before participation, with two years being the suggested time.^[5]

It was not until 2004 that the IOC allowed transgender athletes to participate in the Olympic Games.^[6]

In 2015, the IOC modified these guidelines in recognition that legal recognition of gender could be difficult in countries where gender transition is not legal, and also that requiring surgery in otherwise healthy individuals "may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights".^[7][8] The new guidelines require only that trans woman athletes declare their gender and not change that assertion for four years, and demonstrate a testosterone level of less than 10 nanomoles/liter for at least one year prior to competition and throughout the period of eligibility. Athletes who transitioned from female to male were allowed to compete without restriction. These guidelines were in effect for the 2016 Rio Olympics, although no openly transgender athletes competed.^[9]

The first out transgender person to make a US National Team was Chris Mosier who in 2016 qualified for Team USA in duathlon.^[9]

In 2017 Mack Beggs, a teenager from Texas, was required to wrestle against girls throughout the season of his transition from female to male up through the state championship, despite wanting to wrestle against boys. This was due to state sport regulations requiring athletes to compete alongside athletes of their birth gender. Some opponents say the testosterone prescribed as part of his transition gives him an unfair advantage and made it unsafe for the other wrestlers. (He finished the regular season at 52-0 and won the state championship.)^[10]

In October 2018, Rachel McKinnon won a gold medal at the cycling Masters World Track Championship in Los Angeles. ^[11]

At the heart of this controversy are concerns that transgender women would outperform cisgender women due to their possibly more masculine body structure and historically higher testosterone levels. The intense scrutiny of transgender athletes has focused on trans women because it is generally assumed that transitioning for transmasculine individuals would not confer a competitive advantage.^[12]

Sports organizations have sought a test for sex verification to ensure fairness across all sports. This began in the 1940s with "femininity certificates" provided by a physician. In the 1960s, visual genital inspections were used to confirm gender, followed by chromosomal analysis to detect the presence of the SRY and DYZ1 genes, normally found on the Y chromosome.^[13] These tests were all designed to ensure that athletes were only allowed to compete as their sex, but mostly resulted in the exclusion of intersex athletes.^[14]

More recently,^[when?] testosterone levels have become the focus and, at the same time, new guidelines have been sought that would allow successfully-transitioned athletes to compete.^[7]

There is ongoing debate over the impact of biological sex differences in humans on sports abilities. People who oppose transgender women competing in women's sports say that they are given an unfair advantage over cisgender women due to higher testosterone levels and different muscle and fat distribution. Testosterone regulates many different functions in the body, including the maintenance of bone and muscle mass.^[15] It is also argued that athletes who transition to a woman after puberty will have a greater muscle to fat ratio compared to female athletes.^[16]

The debate on transgender women does not only pertain to elite sports, but also to school sports and sports scholarships.^[17] There was controversy in Connecticut after high school competitions were won by a transgender student.^[18][19] This resulted in a civil rights complaint being filed.^[20]

Joanna Harper argues that the use of estrogen supplements and testosterone blockers (or physical castration via sex reassignment) cause a decrease in muscle mass, and oxygen-carrying red blood cells and that this leads to a decrease in strength, speed, and endurance.^[21] According to Joanna Harper, a competitive runner, scientist, and transgender woman, every athlete has advantages and disadvantages. The greater height that a transgender woman may have gained before transitioning may be an advantage on the basketball court but it is likely to be disadvantageous to a gymnast.^[22] Eric Vilain, a professor of human genetics at UCLA and a consultant to the IOC medical commission, stated: "There is 10 to 12% difference between male and female athletic performance. We need to categorize with criteria that are relevant to performance. It is a very difficult situation with no easy solution."^[23]

This section needs expansion with: information about transgender children and sports in other countries. You can help by adding to it. (August 2016)

States vary widely on participation of transgender children in sports and which locker room those students should use. Advocates in favor of allowing transgender children to participate in sports based on their preferred gender point out the known benefits of participating in sports and the psychological well-being of the transgender children.^[24] Opponents emphasize the same issues of an unfair advantage of larger size and strength in trans women, plus the safety of cisgender children, both in competition and in the locker room.^[25]

• List of LGBT sportspeople
• Doping in East Germany, another example of anomalous hormone levels leading to visible virilisation and international scrutiny

Acknowledged^{[by whom?]} law and regulation research papers regarding policies around transgender athletes in competition:

• NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes
• Including Transgender Athletes in Sex-Segregated Sport
• Transgender student-athletes and sex-segregated sport: Developing policies of inclusion for intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics
• Hormone Check: Critique of Olympic Rules on Sex and Gender