IF you’re a staunch advocate for LGBTQIA rights, diversity, equality and inclusivity, the Tokyo Olympics were unprecedented.
According to website insider.com, “New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and USA’s Chelsea Wolfe, a reserve on the BMX Freestyler team, were the first trans women to represent their countries at the Olympic Games. They were joined by the USA skateboarder Alana Smith and Canada soccer player Quinn—the first openly transgender non-binary athletes.
To cement the change even further, Quinn took home gold in the first Olympic win for Canada’s women’s soccer team.”
What does transgender mean? APA.com says, “Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”
According to WebMD, “Transgender is a general term that describes people whose gender identity, or their internal sense of being male, female, or something else, does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.”
University of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender athlete to win a US NCAA national championship, told ESPN.com, “The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned,” Thomas said. “People say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win.’ I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself.”
The subject is as complicated as complicated can be. Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps said on CNN.com, “I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field,” he said when asked about Thomas. “I don’t know what that looks like in the future. But it’s—it’s—it’s—it’s hard. It’s a really … honestly … I don’t know what to say,” he said, stumbling over his words. “It’s very complicated.”
One of her supporters is Schuyler Bailar, “It’s a symbol of Lia’s resilience,” Schuyler Bailar, who at Harvard became the first known transgender man to compete on a Division I men’s team, told ESPN. “The fact that she’s able to show up here, despite protesters outside, people shouting and booing her, I think it’s a testament to her resiliency. And it’s also a symbol that we can both be who we are and do what we love.”
New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard and USA’s Chelsea Wolfe are the first trans women to represent their countries at the Olympics. They won’t be the last ones. The aforementioned values like equality, inclusivity and diversity are part of Olympism.
Coming from honesty, I’m not exactly a fan of transgender athletes competing in men’s and women’s sports, but I’m more than willing to be educated and taught as to how the playing field will be kept fair despite the entry of transgender athletes.
Education and information dissemination on the production of testosterone among transgender women is needed. Testosterone makes us human beings stronger, especially the men.
Supporters of transgender athletes have to make convincing arguments against the transgender woman’s perceived physical advantage over cisgender women in sports. Can training and working harder negate those perceived advantages?
Sports teaches values and transgender athletes can compete in men’s and women’s sports but there has to be responsibility, transparency and commitment to fairness and a level playing field.
Critics suggest a separate category or division for transgender athletes while supporters say doing it would amount to discrimination and prejudice.
World sports governing bodies have crafted and formulated rules specifically for transgender athletes who want to compete in their sport which asks the question, do transgender athletes still have a natural advantage even if they’re required to keep their testosterone down? Does it make everything equal but creating inequality in the process?
A few more arguments from each side before we end.
From ESPN.com, “Thomas’s participation and success drew criticism from some teammates, competitors and other members of the swimming community, including former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied Thomas for fifth place in the 200.
“What are we trying to protect?” Gaines said in an interview with ABC’s “Nightline.” “If our priorities are fairness, which it should be in sports, why are we completely neglecting that for one person or a small group of people?”
“Trans women competing in women’s sports do not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas said. “Trans women are a very small minority of all athletes. The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women’s sports have been around for 10-plus years. And we haven’t seen any massive wave of trans women dominating.”
From a medical perspective or point of view, will the lowering of testosterone levels and increased hormone therapy over a period of time guarantee to make it fair and level the playing field so to speak?
At the end of the day, after all is said and done, transgender women can compete in any sport they want, just as long as there are rules, policies, and regulations that govern their participation to assuade accusations and allegations of an uneven playing field and not playing fair.