Opinion: Trans Athletes at Estancia?
Point: We Should Not Allow Trans Athletes to Play At Estancia
Charlie Goan, 11th Grader - Guest Writer
Students should not be allowed to play sports based on gender identification at Estancia High School. Allowing biological men who identify as women to play in female sports or vice versa would result in an increase in injuries, unequal competition, and controversy over gender mixing in locker rooms. People may also argue that transgender athletes should get an exception but this switch on gender identification doesn’t change biological factors resulting in an unfair comparison in strength, size, and athleticism.
Estancia high school has split gender sports for a certain reason. To keep them fair. This policy would single handly disrupt this long lasting system.
Allowing mixed gender sports would result in an increase in injuries due to the biological differences between male and females. Studies show average male athletes have 30% greater muscle mass and 40-50% greater upper body strength than female athletes according to the Journal of Applied Psychology. Men are biologically bigger, stronger, and faster than women and allowing men to play in female contact sports could cause serious injuries. The size difference alone, would be dangerous in a sport such as soccer, basketball, or waterpolo. Adopting this policy would result in a big increase in injuries. The biological differences listed earlier explain why the World Rugby Union has banned mixed gender contact play.
The natural biological difference between genders is the reason men and women's sports are split up. It just isn’t fair to combine the two. Take into account AB Hernandez, a biological male who identifies as female at Jurupa Valley High School. Hernandez recently competed in the girls track and field events during CIF and placed first in triple jump and high jump, and second place in the long jump. Parents and other athletes are outraged that Hernandez was able to share first place because he wasn't a biological female. As a born male, AB has physical advantages over the other women he is competing against and it is not fair to put him in the same events as biological women. Even after a year of hormone therapy, Trans women retain 10-12% of higher strength. Allowing this mix of genders in sports defeats the sole purpose of why there was segregation in the first place.
The mixing of genders in high school sports could cause controversy given the bathroom and locker room situation. The state of California allows transgender students to participate and use facilities consistent with their gender identity. Students of the opposite gender of a transgender athlete may not feel comfortable changing in the same locker or team room. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 62% of US adults beleive that transgender athletes should play with their biological gender. Parents of these teams may be angered and tensions could arise among the parents targeted specifically towards the transgender athlete. AB Hernandez, the same girl who faced controversy for her CIF performance in track and field, Is also facing a lawsuit of alleged sexual harassment charges due to reported butt slapping during sporting events. This mix of genders in changing rooms can lead to awkwardness, embarrassment, and harassment.
The opposing side may argue that this policy protects students’ rights and promotes equality. But this will only be benefiting a select few and disregarding the vast majority of students. It is not fair to change the structure of high school sports and create unfair competition in hopes of benefiting a few students. Most schools have both gender sports and are continuing to add more such as girls flag football.
In conclusion, Estancia High School should not allow mixed gender sports due to the injuries, unfair competition, tensions, and harassment that could arise from it. This policy would increase injuries due to the biological differences in size and strength, It would create unfair competition due to the same reason. Tensions would flare among athletes and parents due to this unfair advantage and harassment among opposing genders has shown to be a result.
Counter-Point: We Should Allow Trans Athletes to Play at Estancia
Michael McAuliffe, 11th Grade - Guest Writer
At Estancia one of the main values that our school advocates for is inclusion. Especially in sports. That is why transgender students should be eligible to participate in all sports with certain requirements being met to take fairness and competition into consideration, but also to be inclusive and allow kids to just have fun and play sports with friends. The overall argument that emphasizes the unfairness that transgender students cause in sports is completely blown out of proportion. In fact the chances of a competition being unfair due to physical advantages are very rare.
It is understood that sports are split up by gender, since one fully abled man competing in women's sports would be unfair for the women due to physiological differences. However, during the transition process through hormone therapy for a male transitioning to female the hormones decrease bone density and muscle mass. I believe it would be fair for those wanting to participate in a sport with athletes that are not of their gender origin, to meet certain requirements to allow them to play. For example one criteria could include being on hormone therapy such as estrogen for a certain amount of time, so the so-called male physicality advantage can’t be used as a scapegoat to attack transgender individuals who just want to enjoy and participate in sports.
In Charlie’s argument he uses the example of AB Hernandez who is a transitioned athlete from male to female. He uses this scenario to represent the exaggerated “issue” of physical advantage with transathletes. There are other details to take into account, like the amount of hormone therapy AB went through, the fact that she got 2nd place is self-evident that she is not the superhuman they make her out to be in comparison to cis gender athletes.
If AB would’ve been a cis woman she would have merely been seen as a good athlete and no one would bat an eye. However, when she succeeds it is seen as unfair instead of just a matter of skill for female athletes. Charlie also makes another weak point talking about a sexual harassment charges from AB which have not be varified to be true, we also have to take into consideration that butt slapping is a part of sports comraderie, but probably should not be a common practice at all. Lastly, this is just one case that can’t represent all transgender athletes, so it’s not very fair to use this to side with the perspective that ALL trans athletes should not be able to partake in sports.
I acknowledge that there could be potential for a male transitioning to female to have a physical advantage in certain sports. However, a complete ban demonizes many people who are or have transitioned, which could cause irreparable harm and mental health impacts to the transgender community.
To sum up everything that has been stated so far we should allow transgender students to partake in sports for inclusion, acceptance and just for simple fun for the few trans students. It is unjust to be able to take away their right to play sports, they make up a small number of students for it to even be worth an argument.
