Despite Much Larger Issues, Legislators Focus on Banning Transgender People From Sports

February 4, 2022 South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem signed a law to force transgender athletes to play with their gender assaigned at birth.

This piece of legislation is the first transphobic law of 2022 after a record-breaking year of 147 transphobic bills introduced in 34 states in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

A nationwide study by HelpAdvisor revealed a staggering 87% of LGBTQ+ residents in South Dakota suffer from Depression.

About two weeks after signing this law, Noem was asked by a reporter why she thinks LGBTQ+ residents of South Dakota are so greatly affected by mental illness. She responded, “I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.” Video on Twitter

In the Beijing Winter Olympics there was a record-breaking 36 out LGBTQ+ athletes competing, including Timothy LeDuc, the first openly non-binary person to compete in Winter Olympics.

Despite a diverse Winter Olympics, transgender athletes face an uphill battle worldwide. The Australian Prime Minister called a bill to prevent transgender athletes from competing in same-sex sports “terrific.” In the United States, 27 states have already introduced bills to keep transgender people out of sports. A breakdown of each piece of legislation is available on transathlete.com, a website by Chris Mosier.

Mosier is an accomplished triathlon runner and transgender advocate. Recently, he has shown his support for Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer for UPenn who has been a topic of bigoted debates about trans women in sports. Opponents of Lia Thomas feel that she has an unfair advantage because she transitioned after puberty and has a larger frame than most cisgender women.

“No one is pretending to be trans or transitioning to gain a competitive advantage. Trans people play sports for the same reasons as everyone else: to be a part of a team, to move our bodies, to master new skills, to have fun, and so on,” Mosier said in an interview for The Nation.

Mosier connects Lia Thomas’ story to the larger issue of transphobic bills sweeping the nation and explains how the outrage around Thomas is part of the right-wing agenda to make sports inaccessible to transgender people. When these bills become signed into law, they have serious consequences for LGBTQ+ communities. According to the Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health 2021, “42% of lgbtq youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.” The same survey stated that trans and nonbinary youth who lived with families that respected preferred pronouns, attempted suicide at half the rate of those who didn’t. Many studies have revealed that sports can play a significant role in preventing and managing mental illness including suicidality. Banning transgender youth from sports only deprives an already at-risk demographic from the benefits of athleticism.

In October 2021, a former UIL student athlete named Eli spoke before Texas legislators when they tried to pass a bill that targeted trans athletes. “High school sports are a part of being in school. […] That’s the only reason I graduated high school and actually survived.” Watch His Speech on TikTok