Sports and the Fight for Gender Norms

It can sometimes seem like the pronoun conversation is dominated by upper-middle-class white people. But Black trans activists, especially trans women, are more visible in the racial and social justice movement than ever — from Laverne Cox to Jasmine Davis. And Black institutions are responding. In 2020, Morehouse College, an all-male historically Black college and university (HBCU), began to admit trans men, in what the college president called an important step forward into “one of the new frontiers of social justice — gender identity.” In all, nonwhite people are slightly more likely to identify as transgender or nonbinary: 0.8% of Black Americans, 0.8% of Latinos and 0.6% who are of a different race identify as transgender or nonbinary, compared to 0.5% of white Americans according to a study published in 2016.

About 2 percent of American high schoolers identify as trans, and legislators last year introduced bills in 25 states across the country — from Idaho to Florida — that would prevent students from playing on sports teams that don’t correspond with their biological sex. Idaho passed a first-in-the-nation law that’s been tied up in court over possible violations of federal civil rights, and Mississippi’s governor signed a similar law in March 2022. Iowa, South Dakota and Utah have officially banned transgender students from participating in sports, and over 20 other states are proposing a ban. The movement to ban centers on the argument that trans girls have physiological advantages enabling them to outcompete cisgender girls. While there is evidence that adult trans women retain an advantage after a year of hormone therapy, researchers say that doesn’t apply to younger athletes.

Democrats have moved to expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect people based on gender identity and sexual orientation. During a debate on the House floor, openly gay New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney asked why Republicans were hiding “behind the ridiculous, embarrassing, easily debunked arguments, falsehoods, fear-mongering about locker rooms and women’s sports?” The bill bans discrimination in the private and public spheres and rolls back parts of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act used to justify anti-LGBT policies. Stella Keating, then age 16, testified how this bill would protect her. The House passed the bill, but it stands almost no chance in the Senate — thanks to a Republican filibuster. Recently, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the language of the Civil Rights Act protects gay and transgender workers.

This 25-year-old Argentine soccer player really had to kick down some barriers to pursue her dreams. Gómez, who provided hormone samples to prove she had no unfair advantage, recently became her nation's first trans woman to play professional soccer.

Wrestling champ Mack Beggs made headlines back in 2018 when, during his transition, he qualified to wrestle in a Texas girl's state tournament. Beggs inadvertently became the face of the debate over whether transgender high schoolers should be able to play on teams that align with their gender identity. Beggs, who now wrestles for a men's college team, has lobbied for inclusion for trans youth like him.

Transgender track star Andraya Yearwood has never taken no for an answer. Undeterred by the wave of legislation seeking to ban trans athletes, she told Time magazine, “Is it fair to not let someone compete in the sport that they love, being themselves? It’s not fair to say you cannot run because of how you were born.”

Last year was the deadliest yet for American transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, even though President Joe Biden quickly moved to protect the rights of trans people after taking office: He rolled back the transgender military ban, signed an executive order that expands protections for transgender students, threatened sanctions on countries that repress trans rights and nominated Rachel Levine for assistant health secretary — the first openly trans person tapped for a Senate-confirmed post. Biden has also called for the passing of the Equality Act, condemning attacks on trans youth by state legislatures. Meanwhile, most conservatives continue to support transgender sports bans.

Between 1 and 2 of every 1,000 people have a surgery to “normalize” their sex organs. This procedue often takes place shortly after birth for babies whose genitals don’t completely align with those of a biological male or female (a condition known as intersex). But now there’s a growing movement to allow intersex people to make that choice, rather than having parents and doctors make it for them before they know what’s going on.

on The Carlos Watson Show, season 4!

Brazil is the world’s most dangerous country to be trans, but Mexico is a close second. Kenya Cuevas, who transitioned while working on the streets as a teen, has become one of Latin America’s foremost trans activists. Emerging from a life of drug addiction and incarceration, she opened Mexico’s only shelter exclusively for trans women and distributes condoms to sex workers and meals to the needy. Now she’s dedicating herself to persuading Mexico’s government to recognize trans femicide as a hate crime. Cuevas has also recently opened a second shelter for trans people in Mexico City.

Should you make a language less gendered? While the rise of the singular “they” poses a problem to English grammarians, the problem is much more complex in languages that rely on gendered nouns. German often defers to the “generic masculine” when using general descriptors like “citizen” or “customer.” One controversial solution is to add a “gender star” or asterisk between the word and the added feminine ending. In Spain, the new government wants to revise the constitution to be gender-neutral, while the conservative Royal Spanish Academy wants it to stay gendered. Meanwhile, France is pushing to adopt more gender-inclusive language, as many words to describe occupations have only a masculine form. But the Académie Française has called gender-neutral alternatives an “aberration.” Perhaps we can all learn from the gender-neutral pronoun used by some young people in Baltimore: “yo.”

Where do you stand on sports and the fight for gender norms?

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