Transgender Athletes – Participation, Equity and Competition

When a transgender female athlete wins a girls sporting event, some members of the public raise questions about the fairness and integrity of the event. That, combined with the social and emotional well-being of transgender student- athletes are issues facing high school administrators today.

At the national level, the NFHS does not regulate the manner by which transgender athletes participate. Instead, some state associations are bound by state statute, whereas others have a formal policy in place. Some associations entrust local leaders – such as the high school principal – to make an eligibility decision on the student-athlete while others have no formal policy or procedure.

Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS chief executive officer, said the issue is not a simple one. In fact, the issue was addressed at a workshop session at the 102nd NFHS Summer Meeting last year in Orlando, Florida. Niehoff moderated the session with Dr. Glenn Lungarini, Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) executive director as the presenter. Niehoff previously served the CIAC as executive director for eight years before joining the NFHS.

“Most of this came from our shared lens,” Lungarini said. “The more we can educate ourselves on the students we interact with, the goals, the mission of our schools, means the greater value we can provide the student-athlete.”

Court Matters
Connecticut remains at the center of attention on the topic after Soule et al v. Connecticut Association of Schools gained national attention. Several cisgender student-athletes filed a lawsuit claiming they were harmed by the CIAC’s allowance of transgender female student-athletes to participate in girls sports. Originally dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, the case remains pending appeal in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Important to the issue of transgender participation is Executive Order 13988 which was signed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on January 20, 2021. (High School Today reported on this Executive Order in its March 2021 issue.). This Executive Order informed the U.S. Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination. The agency determined that the key terminology “…on the basis of sex…” implies “…encompass discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” As a result, conflicts exist between states passing laws to ban transgender females from participating in girls sports and the interpretation of the U.S. Department of Education. Worthy of note is that Title IX, landmark legislation passed in 1972, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Challenges to state laws are underway and one example is a transgender female track athlete at Boise State University taking Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act to federal court. The Idaho law was set to prohibit transgender women and girls from kindergarten through college from competing on teams that align with their gender identity – including intramural and club teams. However, Lindsay Hecox, a transgender woman and track athlete who had aspirations of joining the track team at Boise State University, received a preliminary injunction in her favor in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, which was subsequently appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court. The Ninth Circuit Court opted to return the case back to the district court to sort out procedural issues and questions where the case remained at press time. Although the Idaho case focuses on the collegiate level, the ruling will have ramifications at the high school level.

The Session
The NFHS Summer Meeting workshop session focused on research performed by Lungarini, who found that Connecticut transgender female track athletes do not always place in the top three 55-meter and 100-meter race times, nor always run NCAA Division I scholarship qualifying times. Lungarini also found, however, that while the two high profile Connecticut high school transgender female track athletes ran somewhat faster than the majority of their cisgender female peers, the ranking results do not appear to suggest an unfair advantage. Dr. Lungarini’s research also found that Connecticut high school cisgender male track athletes run significantly faster than their transgender female peers.

Even so, Lungarini emphasized that the purpose of interscholastic activities is meant to be education-based and not for the sole purpose of achieving scholarships, championship titles and wider recognition in the sport.

“We have to keep in context the purpose of our experiences as an extension of the school curriculum,” Lungarini said. “Interscholastic activities remain an opportunity to develop a connection with teammates and the school community, in addition to social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.”

From the competitive aspect, Lungarini said the CIAC races – specifically ones from 2019 and 2020 – were extremely competitive in that the cisgender athletes beat out the transgender athletes in 2020, a reversal from the 2019 finish.

“This is what has held true throughout history and to today,” Lungarini said. “We don’t see transgender females dominating across the sport. There are still very few transgender female and transgender male athletes.”

Lungarini also pointed out the unique factor in track and field that athletes have entire control of – their time.

“Times are going to tell your story with recruiting,” he said. Niehoff pointed to the inclusion part of high school activities during her role as moderator.

“What is the purpose of high school sports?” Niehoff asked. “It’s the health and safety of participants, as well as developing life skills and citizenship. Is it to win? No. Is it to offer an opportunity? Yes.”

She also discounted the idea that young people might be using gender identity as a “loophole” in order to participate. “We have not seen or heard about a case in which a young person has identified as a transgender in order to play sports,” Niehoff said. “This isn’t just about kids that want to win in athletics. These are kids that just want to feel that their identity is the right one. Why would we say, ‘High school sports are open to everybody but you’? How many kids are we really talking about?”

Lungarini and Niehoff both pointed to alarmingly high suicide rates and incidences of depression and anxiety among transgender students.

“When you’re talking about high school kids, who might be struggling to begin with, we must remember that we need to offer them a community,” Niehoff said. “Some struggle more than others, among the other challenges in high school. Just because they are transgender does not guarantee playing time or success.”

After the session, Lungarini said he was able to speak with many other state association administrators on a personal level and he appreciated the opportunity to be “able to put some quantitative and qualitative analysis to this topic.”

NCAA Policy as High School Policy?
Recently, the NCAA announced that the organization would scrap its own transgender athlete policy of more than 10 years in favor of relying on national governing bodies (NGBs) to frame policies by sport – similar to that of the Olympic Games. If no NGB policy exists for a sport, that sport’s international federation policy would be used. If there is no international federation policy, previously established International Olympic Committee policy criteria would be followed. Ultimately, the NCAA has the ability to adopt or reject each sport’s policy for collegiate athletics.

Policies that have trickled out thus far have included the requirement for hormonal tests to gauge an athlete’s testosterone level. Lungarini cautioned that the hormonal therapy is not appropriate for an age group where many changes to a student’s body are occurring.

“We shouldn’t be in a position where a school activity requires you to chemically alter your body in order to participate in that activity,” Lungarini said.

Niehoff echoed Lungarini’s comments and pointed out that puberty can start before the teenage years and continue through young adulthood. She said some studies indicate the brain does not finish developing until a person is in their mid-20s.

“These are not professional or collegiate athletes,” Niehoff said. “There is not a certain age where something changes. Identity has to be first. We must carve out elementary, middle school and high school from the NCAA and professional levels.”

Ultimately, the conversation continues on the subject as education- based organizations work to find ways to serve all athletes in the best way possible.