I wrestled from the age of 4 until I was 20. My father was a wrestler, so I fell in love with the sport, not just through competition but also through spending time with him. I practiced hard and won five state championships in the 15 years I was involved in wrestling.
Above the door of the wrestling room in high school, our coach had a sign that read, “Every day you leave this room a better wrestler and a better person than when you entered.” And after every practice, every member of the team would tap the sign to acknowledge how hard they had worked. Every day, our coach would say, “If you don’t feel like you’ve improved as a wrestler today, stay and practice. If you don’t feel like you’ve improved as a person today, stay and talk about it together.”
I care deeply about sports and the lessons they can teach me, I’m transgender, and I care deeply about whether other transgender people can participate in sports and experience the joys and lessons I have experienced.
Pressure has been building for the NCAA in recent months to make a decision about transgender girls and women’s participation in sports. Over 400 athletes, Over 300 academics and researchers and Over 50 civil rights organizations They sent a letter to the NCAA Board of Governors urging them to include transgender people in their policy.
Those who oppose the inclusion of transgender girls and women in sports often make the disingenuous claim that they are doing it for girls and women. They want you to imagine male-dominated boys competing against helpless girls, a caricature of transgender women that is completely unrelated to the reality of transgender girls and women.
We are women in every aspect of our lives: in the classroom, at work, on the playing field. Our bodies, like every other girl’s and woman’s, are diverse. When we play sports, we sometimes win and we sometimes lose. But transgender women will never outperform cisgender women in the sports we are allowed to play. In fact, a new study by the IOC found that: Transgender athletes are often at a physical disadvantage compared to their cisgender counterparts..
The truth is, there are real barriers that female athletes face. Unequal pay Female coach and players Unequal funding For women’s sports teams, Sexual harassment and abuseThese are barriers for both transgender and cisgender women, and banning transgender people from playing does nothing to solve these real problems. Studies have shown that transgender-inclusive policies in schools have led to an overall increase in participation in high school girls’ sports.When women lift each other up, we all benefit.
That is why leading organizations in our country are committed to women’s rights and gender equality. All support transgender inclusion in sports.
We must recognize that excluding transgender girls and women from sports has a broader purpose: to erase transgender people from existence by making it impossible for us to participate in our daily lives and pursue our passions and dreams. Anti-LGBTQ extremists who seek to exclude transgender people from sports: Ban medical treatment For transgender people, Prohibited books It takes away the opportunity to learn about LGBTQ people and people of color in schools. Classroom discussion LGBTQ issues should not be discussed, and LGBTQ teachers should not be allowed to talk about their spouses in the classroom. The NCAA should not be persuaded by extremists whose end goal is to eliminate an entire community.
I no longer compete for trophies, but I take the lessons I learned as an athlete with me every day and strive to be a better person in all that I do. It’s those same lessons that led me to higher education. It’s those same lessons that led me to run for office. And it’s my gratitude for those lessons that led me to stand up for transgender athletes.
Sports changes lives. I know that from personal experience. But to experience the power of sports, transgender athletes must be allowed to play.
Rep. Zooey Zephyr represents Montana’s 100th Congressional District and is one of the few openly transgender women in the nation.
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