Proposed bill that would assign student-athletes to teams based on their biological sex is causing contention between activists trying to “save women’s sports” and transgender rights activists.
Representative Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, is sponsoring HB2706, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act after incidents across the country have led to concerns that transgender women athletes pose an unfair physical advantage in competition.
This bill has garnered national attention, with statements of opposition from over 150 local businesses, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. Supporters of the bill and the Save Women’s Sports movement include feminists organizations like the Women’s Liberation Front.
Save Women’s Sports is a national movement that endorses biology-based eligibility for joining sports teams and argues that their fight for a level playing field is defended by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
“This is an issue of fairness. If we allow (biological) males to participate in girls’ sports, it won’t be long before every title in every sport is going to be held by a biological male, and there goes Title IX,” Barto said.
While no court has ruled on the issue, the U.S. Department of Justice stated in 2016 that “federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX.”
The current policy of the Arizona Interscholastic Association allows students to join teams based on their gender identity with signed approval from parents, school administrators and a health care provider.
If passed, the Save Women’s Sports Act would require students whose gender has been disputed to prove their gender with a physician-signed statement based on the student’s reproductive anatomy, naturally produced testosterone levels and genetic makeup.
According to Dr. Veenod Chulani, an adolescent physician and director of the Gender Support Program at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, feminizing hormonal therapy includes testosterone blockers that reduce transgender girls’ testosterone levels to around one-twelfth of what they naturally produce.
But Rep. Barto expressed concern over other the advantage from other biological factors, such as muscle fibers, bone structure, and body fat placement. She referenced a Swedish study which suggested that after a year of hormonal treatment, transgender women were still stronger and had more muscle mass than transgender men.
Some of these body features can be altered if a child recognizes their gender incongruency early enough and undergoes puberty blockers, but people undergo treatments at various times and to various extents, resulting in many different transgender body types, Dr. Chulani said.
“Each sport differs in terms of the advantages that different body types confer,” Dr. Chulani continued. “Gymnastics requires a different skill set than sprinting, than swimming. You really can’t generalize competitive advantage.”
Chulani also continued to say that there are no large studies that address all of these factors.
“I think the bill is discriminatory and is grounded upon what is lacking in terms of science,” Chulani said.
Another protestor to the bill is Jennifer Brown, an Arizona mother of a transgender girl who rowed on a women’s crew team at her Virginia high school. She spoke to the benefits of her daughter participating in a women’s sports team, which included supporting each other and establishing a friendship, during a press conference last Thursday at the Capitol.
“She hated everything about herself and her body, and this was something that her body could give back to her,” Brown said. “I’m not asking for any special treatment. Anything you would do for any other girl, that’s what I expect for my child.”
Amanda Parris, a policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said this bill also raises privacy concerns not just for transgender girls, but all women of all ages because it could be used to require any female student to undergo an inspection of their genitalia.
“This bill has the practical consequences of fueling bullying and accusations against girls who might cause question,” Parris said. “Girls who are successful, especially in sports, are notoriously accused of being men. It’s really important to realize that girls are already struggling with body issues, especially athletes at this young age, and I think that all parents, not just parents of LGBTQ youth should be really concerned about this bill.”
Contact the reporter at bmfloren@asu.edu
