Everyone’s talking about the several other states passing anti-gay bills similar to that of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, but the accumulation of anti-transgender bills that are being passed at the moment are being glossed over. As of March 15, 2022, 154 of 238 anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed in 2022 are anti-transgender related. Despite it only being April, this year alone holds the highest number of anti-LGBTQ+ related bills and the number of anti-transgender bills surpasses that of 2021.
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| Chiwaya, N. & Ramos E. (2022) Anti-LGBTQ state bills on the rise [Graphic]. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nearly-240-anti-lgbtq-bills-filed-2022-far-targeting-trans-people-rcna20418. |
Just recently, on April 11, 2022, the Tennessee Senate passed two continuations of a 2021 anti-transgender bill that restricted transgender girls or nonbinary individuals from participating in women’s sports. The first, Senate Bill (SB) 2153, prohibits males assigned at birth from playing sports meant for females at a middle school, high school, and postsecondary school level, whether the institution be public or private. SB 1861 takes SB 2153 a step further, placing a financial penalty on public schools. It states that if a local education agency refuses to comply with this new legislation, the Commissioner of the Department of Education is required to withhold any education funds that the local education agency may be eligible for.
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WGNS Radio (2022), https://www.wgnsradio.com/article/74275/tennessee-bills-prohibiting-transgender-school-athletes-from-participating-in-sports-events-passes-senate. |
Senator Joey Hensley sponsored both these bills and the one in 2021 under the guise of protecting women and girls, attempting (and failing) to justify his transphobia. These bills do not protect children, rather they directly attack an already heavily marginalized group of people and ostracize children that do not follow the gender binary. SB 1861 and SB 2153 promote harmful misconceptions about transgender and nonbinary individuals that can result in harsh reprecussions, such as an increase in LGBTQ+ youth suicide risk.
The reality is, there is no epidemic of transgender girls taking over women’s sports nor is there significant scientific evidence to back up the popular belief that testosterone causes transgender women to perform better in sports. In fact, there is no clear relationship between testosterone levels and athletic performance. Even if there was such a relationship, the Tennessee legislation is still forcing transgender males to compete with cisgender females, directly contradicting their argument. According to the inaccurate claims about the relationship between testosterone and athletic performance, if a transgender male was taking hormone treatments that increased their testosterone levels, then they would perform better in women’s sports. In addition to all of this, transgender women on puberty blockers have little to no traces of testosterone, thus making the testosterone argument about transgender women invalid.
Overall, while these bills are aimed to maintain fair competition in women’s athletics, it is just invoking emotional and mental trauma onto children who are trying to figure out who they are and where they stand in the world. If legislators wanted to protect female athletes, they would pay attention to the demands of said athletes, not make laws about perceived risks.
If Tennessee is aiming to protect female athletes, they should look at the massive wage gap between men and women’s sports teams. They should pay attention to the rate of sexual abuse inflicted by coaches and medical trainers onto female athletes. They should recognize the high rate of mental illness and eating disorders in female athletes not only due to societal expectations, but also to their coaches’ expectations. There are so many issues that require the attention of legislators when it comes to women’s athletics, and transgender women competing with cisgender women is not one of them.
Works Cited
Brown, M. (2022, April 11) TN Senate passes two bills aimed at transgender athletes, including one penalizing schools. Tennessean. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/11/tennessee-senate-passes-two-anti-trans-bills-school-college-sports/7283711001/.
Karkazis, K. (2019, March 26) Stop talking about testosterone – there’s no such thing as a ‘true sex’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/06/testosterone-biological-sex-sports-bodies.
Lavietes, M. & Ramos, E. (2022, March 20) Nearly 240 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in 2022 so far, most of them targeting trans people. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nearly-240-anti-lgbtq-bills-filed-2022-far-targeting-trans-people-rcna20418.
SB 1861. (n.d.). https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1861.
SB 2153. (n.d.). https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB2153.
Turban, J. (2021, March 16) Trans Girls Belong on Girls’ Sports Teams. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trans-girls-belong-on-girls-sports-teams/.
Yu, Y. S. (2021, March 22) Tennessee’s transgender athlete ban passes legislature, heads to Gov. Lee’s desk for signature. Tennessean. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/22/tennessee-transgender-athlete-ban-passes-legislature/4797692001/.
