Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Athletes Increasingly Accepted As Trans Policies Lag

The Outgames Human Rights Conference is a three-day series of presentations taking place during the second annual GLISA North America Outgames – “a celebration of sport, culture and human rights” — held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, between July 25 – 31, 2011. On July 26, I joined a group of more than 20 leaders from athletics and academia at an all-day session on homophobia in sports and transgender athletes.

The topic is timely: 2011 has already proven to be a watershed period for LGBT visibility in athletics, with more than 25 sports figures publicly coming out before June.

The morning workshop was facilitated by Jennifer Birch-Jones, Lead for the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sports and Physical Activity (CAAWS) Addressing Homophobia in Sports program. High-level executives, LGBT athletes and organizers of recreational leagues engaged in frank discussion and interactive exercises, and at the end of three hours, two things were clear: the sporting world is increasingly looking for ways to include its lesbian, gay and bisexual athletes; and the issue of transgender athletes is more complicated.

First, the good news. In the working groups I participated in, the topic of trans athletes came up organically, the product of genuine curiosity and a desire to improve policy. The issue of trans participation is complex because of the physiological changes associated with sex reassignment. Put simply, testosterone is a banned substance, so beyond discrimination and transphobia, female to male (FTM) athletes face performance restrictions. The very process of transitioning requires attention to competitive advantage and sporting fairness.

Sports organizations may have an easier policy position in including male to female (MTF) transgender athletes, and those who do not seek hormone treatment. The presenters characterized this latter group as undergoing a “social transition” – they present themselves as the gender with which they identify, but don’t take hormones or undergo surgery.  A recent example is Kye Allums, a transgender FTM basketball player on the women’s team at George Washington University, who came out in 2010 and with the support of his team, finished the season.

The inclusion of trans athletes is going to take time, education, and a policy shift but the push for a working model has begun. Afternoon session facilitators Dr. Pat Griffin and Helen J. Carroll presented their report, “On the Team: Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student Athletes”, which documents policy recommendations and best practices for transgender inclusion in student athletics.

The sports programs at high schools and colleges feed into professional sporting associations. The inclusion of trans athletes at the school level bodes well for inclusive policies shifts in the future.

 

(Image: Keph Senett)

 

Keph Senett is a Canadian writer who walks the line between incisiveness and ineptitude in her travels and on the soccer field, yet somehow she’s managed to get herself invited to play the beautiful game on four continents.

In addition to travel and soccer/​football, Keph also writes about human rights, LGBT and gender issues, world politics, community, culture and her own folly. Read more at on her website.

Keph’s currently living and working in Mexico, and trying to figure out how to qualify for a soccer squad in Asia, Australia or Antarctica.