Should Trans-Female Athletes Be Allowed To Compete In Sports?

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With the introduction of transgender people into athletics, the landscape of women’s sports is greatly changing. In some cases, biologically female athletes are coming in second in athletic events in which they compete alongside transgender athletes. These individuals were assigned female at birth and now identify as male. The reality of many biologically female athletes is that competing against people who were once male puts them at a severe disadvantage. The debate over whether transgender female athletes should be permitted to compete according to their gender identity is a complex issue. Often, this argument is rooted in religion and whether it is morally acceptable to be transgender. However, the debate over trans-female participation …show more content…

The Cato Institute reports, “Those opposed to this type of competition believe this ‘commingling’ is a direct assault on landmark Title IX (prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school or educational program receiving funding from the federal government) of the 1972 federal Education Amendments and marks the beginning of the end of women’s sports as we know it (Weisman). The main purpose of instituting Title IX was to make athletics fairer for women and ensure they were on a level playing field as male sports programs. It would be unfair to allow individuals who were once male to enter into the same categories as women because of their physical advantage. In allowing transgender women to compete in the female category, the justice for biological females that was fought for goes out the window. Biological women should be competing against biological women because it is the most physiologically fair way to conduct sports competitions. Transgender women should not be allowed to compete in sports according to their gender identity because this would undermine the athletic efforts and sacrifices of biological women. Generally speaking, athletes devote energy and effort when competing in athletics because they want to come out on top. Because trans female athletes show a scientific advantage in athletic ability, it would be unjust for biological females to compete against them. An example of this disparity is Selina Soule, a former track and field high school athlete in Connecticut, a state that permits transgender athletes to participate in sports according to their gender identity. Soule says that she competed against transgender athletes many times and never won and complains that these races were never fair. She also reports that in a specific race, if two trans athletes had not been in her heat, she

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