Texas Rule Would Effectively Bar Transgender Youth And Teens From Playing Sports

Proposed policy would define gender according to birth certificates for athletic participation.

The governing body for Texas high school sports has proposed a policy that LGBT advocates say would effectively bar transgender students from participating in athletics. 

Under the University Interscholastic League’s proposed policy, a student’s gender would be determined by their birth certificate for the purposes of joining sports teams. Few transgender youth have changed gender markers on their birth certificates, an expensive process that requires a court order. 

Asaf Orr, staff attorney for the Transgender Youth Project at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told The Texas Tribune that the proposed policy “absolutely bars trans kids from playing sports.” 

Paul D. Castillo, staff attorney for Lambda Legal, told The New Civil Rights Movement he believes the proposed policy runs afoul of Title IX of the U.S. Education Code. The Department of Education has said that Title IX’s prohibition against sex-based discrimination applies to transgender students.

“UIL should be focused on encouraging equal opportunity for transgender athletes, not erecting barriers that preclude transgender students from enjoying athletic competition,” Castillo said. “High school athletics and other extracurricular programs are part of a comprehensive curriculum and the focus should be on enabling participation — not restricting it — for all students.”

The proposed policy also runs counter to a national trend of allowing transgender youth to participate in athletics according to their gender identity — amounting to a step backward for Texas while the rest of the nation moves forward. 

The UIL’s 32-member legislative council opted not to vote on the proposed policy Monday, instead leaving the decision in the hands of superintendents from member districts, but recommending that they approve it. 

According to the UIL, the proposal reflects what is already its general practice. The UIL prohibits discrimination based on disability, race, color, gender, religion or national origin when it comes to athletic participation. However, the athletic director for North East school district in San Antonio told Fox 29 the proposed policy would make clear that gender identity is not covered under the nondiscrimination policy. 

Funk said current UIL policy explains what types of teams boys and girls can join, “but nowhere in this does it define what’s a girl and what’s a boy.”

According to the NCLR’s Orr, 15 states and the District of Columbia allow transgender youth to participate in athletics based on their gender identity. The NCAA also does so.

“Transgender women display a great deal of physical variation, just as there is a great deal of natural variation in physical size and ability among non-transgender women and men,” the NCAA’s transgender inclusion manual states. “Many people may have a stereotype that all transgender women are unusually tall and have large bones and muscles. But that is not true. A male-to-female transgender woman may be small and slight, even if she is not on hormone blockers or taking estrogen. It is important not to overgeneralize. The assumption that all male-bodied people are taller, stronger and more highly skilled in a sport than all female-bodied people is not accurate.” 

Orr also dismissed common fears that transgender girls would be far better players than those born female.  

“We are not getting these hulking guys claiming to be girls dominating sports,” Orr told the Tribune. “If we do see strong transgender athletes, it’s because they’re superstar athletes; It’s not because they’re transgender.”

 

Image by Steven Pisano via Flickr and a CC license