Supporting Fairness and Inclusion for Transgender Athletes
In today’s polarized debate about transgender athletes in sports, a debate about individuals who make up approximately 0.05% of professional sports, it’s easy to lose sight of compassion and human dignity. We believe that inclusion and fairness are not at odds. Participation should be rooted in science and respect for human dignity.
Why Athletic Categories Exist
Sports are often divided by sex to account for general physical differences between cisgender men and women. Here’s what science tells us:
- Cisgender male athletes tend as a whole to demonstrate more physical power and speed than cisgender female athletes.
- Divisions between male and female athletic competitions exist to acknowledge the difference in athletic performance between cis male and cis female athletes.
Gender
Gender is a spectrum and there are people who do not fit neatly into two categories. Among them are intersex, non-binary, and trans athletes.
- The performance abilities of intersex, non-binary, and trans athletes may be different from the performance abilities of cis athletes.
Science-Informed and Compassion-Driven Policy
We support science and current science-based understandings regarding gender and the performance differences of athletes.
- In elite sports (professional/paid sports), we support policies that acknowledge scientifically proven performance differences among cis, intersex, non-binary, and trans athletes while still providing space for intersex, non-binary, and trans athletes to compete.
- The sports performance science of trans, non-binary, and intersex athletes is currently sparse.
- Outside of elite (ie. community) sports, inclusion and acceptance should take precedence—and intersex, non-binary, and trans athletes should be able to participate according to their gender identity. Sports build belonging, and everyone deserves to play.
Looking Ahead
We encourage sports organizations to consult experts, listen to lived experiences, and create policies that reflect the complexity of human identity. Inclusion and fairness can—and must—coexist.