For once, Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump agree on something: transgender athletes.
In the inaugural episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” the California Governor called the debate over transgender athletes “an issue of fairness.” That should sound familiar: President Trump’s February 5th executive order refers to banning trans athletes from competing in women’s sports as “a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
If one is agreeing with President Trump, one is undoubtedly on the wrong side of an issue. This is no exception. Trans women are women, and their exclusion from women’s spaces has nothing to do with fairness, no matter what lawmakers say.
This idea of “fairness” is rooted in the notion that transgender women have some kind of biological advantage when it comes to women’s sports. President Trump certainly thinks so—during the signing of his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, he contended that “men claiming to be girls” were “stealing” victories from women. The implication is obvious: that transgender women will always outperform their cisgender competitors.
This is not the case. A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that trans women volleyball players “displayed similar exercise performance and biomarkers compared with [cisgender women] but lower results compared with [cisgender men].” The study debunks the point that trans women have some kind of inherent competitive advantage when it comes to sports and demonstrates why trans women should be allowed to compete alongside their cis compatriots. The playing field is even. If the issue with transgender athletes is “an issue of fairness,” then there is no issue at all.
But anti-trans lawmakers don’t actually care about fairness – in fact, they are actively working against ensuring fairness in women’s sports by attacking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT, simply put, saves lives. After being on HRT, the suicide rate for trans people dropped by 30%. It also reduces the risk of depression and substance abuse. Additionally, the changes associated with HRT “can potentially alter physical performance parameters” for trans athletes. Essentially, HRT makes trans women physically resemble cis women in terms of weight distribution, muscle mass, and overall strength. Anyone that wants to ensure “fairness” in the world of women’s sports should be in favor of HRT, right?
Wrong. Prior to signing the executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, President Trump signed an order that banned federal funding and support for gender-affirming care for any trans person under 19. Not only is this counterproductive to any attempt to create fairness in women’s sports, it is also life-threatening for some in the trans community. People suffer without HRT, and banning it is needlessly cruel in the same way that banning trans women from women’s sports is needlessly cruel.
It is this cruelty that drives anti-trans lawmakers. These lawmakers, who claim to support cisgender women, are happy to attack any athlete for her appearance – even athletes who are cisgender. Any cisgender athlete who doesn’t conform to some misogynistic standard of “what a woman looks like” falls victim to this ire. The most recent example of this comes from the 2024 Olympics, after Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated her opponent from Italy, Angela Carini, in 46 seconds. Carini’s tear-streaked forfeiture of the fight led to an outcry from those who believed that Khelif had been assigned male at birth. Khelif was, in fact, assigned female at birth, but because of her appearance, those same politicians who claim to be protecting women sought to ridicule her.
Excluding trans athletes does not help cis athletes – it harms them. It subjects them to constant scrutiny by a patriarchal society that expects female athletes to look “feminine” at all times. It divides trans women—who are not men in any sense of the word—from cis women, who ought to be their allies in combating oppression. Is that feminism? Is that “fairness?” It is not. Banning trans athletes from women’s sports is an act of misogyny, not an act of feminism or fairness.
This misogyny (and the cruelty that it originates from) is needless – but it is not directionless. There is an awful sense of purpose to it. This cruelty is an element of a broader right-wing attack on the liberties of minorities, an attack that begins with trans people and will rapidly expand to target others as well. The most prominent historical parallel for this kind of attack is obvious: Nazi Germany. When the Nazis were rising to power, it was the trans community that they targeted first. One of the first Nazi book burnings took place at a trans health clinic, when thousands of pages full of research and medical knowledge went up in smoke to fuel an ideology built on hate. Under Hitler, transgender people were interrogated, arrested, and sent to concentration camps, and Trump is keeping that legacy of persecution alive. By attacking trans people, he enforces a hierarchy literally built on the ideals of Nazism.
Whenever a fascist movement begins to take power, it targets trans people. The trans community is a small minority, and as such, it can be easily attacked if no one else stands up for it. Creating hate is how fascism thrives – it is a necessity for it to flourish. Trans people are, consistently, the target of this hate. And while the ban on trans athletes participating in women’s sports may seem small when considered in the context of this mass effort towards hate, it is anything but. The ban on trans women playing in women’s sports is a critical component of this hate, and it must be rescinded. But it can’t be done unless people stand up and say something in protest.
So get out there and play some defense.
Featured Image Source: ACLU of Wyoming
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