The participation of transgender people in competitive sports, a traditionally sex-segregated institution, is a controversial issue, particularly the inclusion of transgender women and girls in women's sports.
Opponents argue that transgender women have an unfair advantage over, and may endanger, cisgender women in competitive sports due to sex differences in human physiology, and that these differences are not sufficiently reversed by transgender hormone therapies. Supporters of transgender athletes argue that medically prescribed puberty blockers and estrogen suppress testosterone levels and reduce the muscle mass of transgender women, reducing possible competitive advantages. Supporters also argue that sport, particularly youth sports, is also about belonging, well-being, and socialization of young people. The American Medical Association states that legislation barring trans women from women's sports harms the mental health of transgender people.
The controversy has caused debates regarding sex verification in sports. Since the mid-twentieth century, sports institutions have responded to the participation of transgender women and women suspected to be transgender, male, or intersex by adding eligibility requirements to women's sports variously determined by physical examination, sex chromosomes, and sex hormones. Proponents of such regulations regard them as necessary to ensure fair competition and women's safety. Opponents have criticized such regulations as discriminatory against transgender and intersex women, disproportionately affecting women of color, and as causing violations of medical ethics.
, there is no unifying international framework for the participation of transgender people in competitive sports. Traditionally, the inclusion criteria for women's sports have been decided upon by individual sporting bodies at the national and international level. In the United States, an anti-LGBT movement emerging in the early 2020s has led to some U.S. states passing legislation restricting the participation of transgender youth in high school sports or of trans women and girls in women's sports. Several international governing bodies including World Athletics, World Aquatics and World Rugby have restricted trans women who had undergone male puberty from participating in the female category.
History of transgender athletes in competition
Historically, sport has been seen as a male domain. The masculine perception of sport was first moderated with the rise of women's sports and further challenged with the gradual acceptance of gay sportsmen. A third departure from tradition occurred with the emergence of trans athletes, many of whom challenge the culturally accepted binary gender norms of male and female.
Renée Richards
One of the earliest high-profile transgender athletes was tennis player Renée Richards. Already a promising tennis player in the men's circuit, Richards underwent gender reassignment therapy in 1975 and started playing in women's tournaments a year later. Her discovery and the resulting media frenzy sparked protests. After she accepted an invitation to a warm-up tournament for the US Open, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) withdrew their support and 25 of the 32 women pulled out of the tournament.
As a result, the USTA and WTA introduced the Barr body test, which identifies a person's sex chromosomes. Richards refused to take the test and was banned from the US Open. She filed a lawsuit in 1977, claiming that her civil rights were violated and that the policy was unfair. The New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, saying that the Barr body test as the sole determinant of sex was "grossly unfair" and ruled Richards legally female. She then competed in the 1977 US Open at the age of 43, reaching the doubles final; she retired four years later. At the time, the ruling in Richards's case did not lead to major changes outside of tennis.
Olympics
In 2003, a committee convened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission drew up new guidelines for participating athletes who had undergone gender reassignment. The report listed three conditions for participation. First, athletes must have undergone sex reassignment surgery, including changes in the external genitalia and gonadectomy. Second, athletes must show legal recognition of their gender. Third, athletes must have undergone hormone therapy for an appropriate time before participation, with two years being the suggested time.
It was not until 2004 that the IOC allowed transgender athletes to participate in the Olympic Games.