A state senator has proposed legislation that would prevent transgender female athletes from competing against other female athletes in school sports. Supporters of the bill say that they’re trying to protect girl’s sports. But others say that it unfairly penalizes transgender female athletes and could have drastic consequences for their mental health.
Two things you’ll read in this story are the words cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans). A cisgender person identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth; a transgender person does not.
Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes is the leader of the Senate majority. Her new bill had its first hearing in front of the Senate Education Committee in early March. Hughes told that committee that trans female athletes are bigger and stronger than cisgendered females. She said that gives them an unfair advantage.
“Girls and women should not be robbed of the chance to be selected for a team to win a championship or to be awarded a college scholarship,” said Hughes.
But the person who oversees high school sports competitions in Alaska says that premise, the idea that someone will be robbed of a scholarship by a trans athlete, isn’t accurate.
“This is a solution looking for a problem,” said Billy Strickland.
Strickland grew up in Bethel and spent most of his career at the Lower Kuskokwim School District. He now lives in Anchorage and is the executive director of the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA). He said that he only knows of one trans female athlete in all of Alaska’s history, and she has already graduated. He said that she came in second in one big track and field race and third in another. But her success didn’t prevent any other athletes from getting scholarships or making it onto a college team.
“Your numbers are your numbers. You're not recruited because you're a state champion in Alaska, you're recruited because you run a 10 second 100 meter dash,” said Strickland.
But Hughes said that just because a trans female athlete hasn’t beaten out a cis female athlete for a scholarship doesn’t mean it won’t happen. She said that her bill protects against that possibility.
Trans woman Emily Mesch said that school sports should be about education and inclusion.
“When you're not allowed to socialize with the group of people that you think you belong to, that hinders your development. That hinders your ability to to be a part of society,” said Mesch.
Mesch chairs Southeast Alaska’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer alliance, called SEAGLA. She’s also a member of the Juneau Human Rights Commission. She’s against Hughes’ bill.
One reason Mesch is against the bill is that it’s not clear how it would be enforced. How do you know the birth-assigned gender of an athlete anyway? The thought leaves Mesch uncomfortable.
“I don't even want to list the possibilities of how you would check that. Like, it's not a comfortable thing,” said Mesch.
Sen. Tom Begich had a similar view.
“You'd have to examine them. You might be able to test for chromosomes, you might be able to do that. But listen to what I'm saying. These are all extraordinarily invasive things,” said Begich.
Begich is a Democrat and sits on the education committee with Hughes. He said that he doesn’t support the bill, and questions whether the bill is constitutional.
Hughes agreed that, as written, the bill leaves its enforcement open to interpretation by the Alaska Department of Education. But she said that the committee could choose to amend it to be more specific about enforcement. This bill looks similar to an Idaho law that was passed, but didn’t go into effect. A federal judge considering the bill has said that it is likely unconstitutional.
Begich pointed out that transgender children have a higher rates of suicide than cis children, and that this type of legislation would hurt them more.
Hughes said that hurting trans children is not her intention. She said that she wants to provide them with essentially a separate-but-equal playing field.
“I am not transphobic. I love people, no matter what their choice, as far as their identity. I have value for them,” said Hughes.
But Mesch said that Hughes’ actions speak differently than her words.
“Sen. Hughes might believe that she's not transphobic, but her actions are transphobic in the extreme, so that makes her transphobic,” said Mesch.
For his part, Strickland said that he prefers ASAA’s policy to this bill. That policy allows individual schools to determine an athlete’s gender. Under this policy, girls must play against girls teams and boys and co-ed teams must play against boys teams.
Strickland said that Hughes' bill was written without input from ASAA.
The Senate committee considering the bill will hear public testimony on Senate Bill 140 on Saturday, March 12.
