Andraya Yearwood was just a freshman at Cromwell High School when she became the face of a national debate on transgender inclusion in school sports.
Yearwood and Terry Miller, both 16-year-old Black trans girls, won a combined 15 track championships in their home state of Connecticut between 2017 and 2019. Their success made national headlines, prompting a public backlash, invasive assumptions about their bodies, and a February 2020 lawsuit by the families of three white cisgender athletes to prevent them from competing, filed with the support of the anti-trans organization Alliance Defending Freedom.
While the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, trans kids today are facing an all-out legislative assault against their right to exist. Over 435 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 2023 alone, according to the ACLU, the most ever recorded in a single year. They include a number of trans sports bans with increasing levels of severity, such as a 2022 Ohio bill that would have allowed “genital inspections'' of student athletes. In 2023 thus far, states have considered, and in some cases passed, over 40 bills that restrict or prohibit the participation of trans student athletes on sports teams.
“It's heartbreaking having to see such restrictive bans,” Yearwood, one of the stars of Hulu documentary Changing the Game, tells Them. “It just reminds me of how privileged I was to be in the situation I was in because a lot of kids, especially now, don't have the opportunity and may never have the opportunity.”
While she didn’t fully grasp it at the time, Yearwood says her parents knew their daughter’s simple desire to run on the girl’s track team would be an uphill battle. So they did everything in their power to support her: they organized meetings with school administrators, arranged press coverage that illustrates the realities of being a trans student athlete, and simply showed up to support her at track meets.
All this legislative turmoil may leave parents and allies of trans student athletes wondering how best they can support them. But things aren't hopeless. From speaking out in one’s community to spreading awareness about what it means to be a trans athlete, there are many ways you can help fight for trans rights.
If you want to be a champion for trans student athletes in your life, Yearwood says it’s crucial to understand the issues trans youth are facing, educate yourself, and show up. If you want to learn more about how trans sports bans may impact student athletes and how to best advocate for them when they do, read on for our comprehensive guide.
What do trans sports bans mean for student athletes?
The majority of anti-trans sports legislation attempts to prevent trans youth from participating on school athletic teams. Since the first of these bills passed in Idaho in 2020, the conservative right has seized upon anti-trans sports bans as a primary arm of their political strategy to galvanize the public against trans people as a whole. So far, 19 states have passed sports bans into effect since 2020.
These bans are often steeped in assumptions about trans children and their bodies that simply aren’t based in reality. Anne Lieberman, Director of Policy and Programs for Athlete Ally, says rather than repeating common myths about trans student athletes, it’s important to focus on facts. While conservatives cite a wave of trans athlete’s coming to take over professional sports, trans folks make up less than 0.002% of the 50,000 athletes that have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics since 2004, according to Athlete Ally.
“So much of the emphasis has been on trans women participating at elite levels — but the impact we see is on our youth,” Lieberman tells Them. “In many of the states that have proposed or passed sports bans, lawmakers couldn’t even cite an example of a trans girl participating.”
While the talking points these bills are rooted in are false, their impact is very much real. Their legal mandates can include the institution of hormone restrictions on college athletes, a federal ban of all trans and intersex girls and women from competing in scholastic and professional sports, genital inspections on minors to ensure trans athletes can’t compete, and more.
“When politicians police our bodies and attempt to tell us who we can be, it will harm all of us in the end,” says Maria Bruno, Public Policy Director at the LGBTQ+ nonprofit Equality Ohio. “We need cis folks to stand up to these anti-transgender laws because, without our allies, these bills will just continue to move forward. It’s up to all of us to protect each other.”
How can families and allies of trans athletes be supportive?
It’s been well-established that trans children who have supportive families are much more likely to see positive mental health outcomes. When parents of trans kids accept them for who they are, they experience significantly lower rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation throughout their lives. The case is no different when trans youth are facing anti-trans sports bans.
Amid the hate and pushback she received, Yearwood says it was really her community of support that kept her grounded: her parents, her friends, and her team.
“There were times where I wanted to quit track or I didn't want to keep running and they were the ones there to be like, ‘No, you should keep running. You shouldn't let these people stop you from playing a sport that you love,’” she tells Them.
If you’re a parent or friend who doesn’t know where to start, here are some tips on how to support your trans student athlete.
The first step to supporting your child is simple: accept them for who they are. While a common conservative talking point against trans youth is that they don’t understand their own identity or that their gender is a passing phase, study after study has proven that this is not true. Trans kids understand their gender as young as their cisgender peers do, so it’s up to the adults around them to listen.
“The single most important thing that adults and family members can do is to accept and respect their child, and be a reliable safe space and listening ear,” Bruno says. “It’s also more important than ever to stand up to bullies. Adults are bullying children, and it’s up to other adults to stand up to them.”
The better you understand the resources available to you, the better equipped you can be to help trans people. Yearwood says a good way to start is by researching LGBTQ+ support groups in your area, from your local PFLAG chapter to this list of state-by-state trans legal aid organizations by the National Center for Trans Equality to the queer student alliance (QSA) at your student’s middle or high school.
Yearwood tells Them that resources like these can help connect trans student athletes in your life to the broader LGBTQ+ community, which can be incredibly supportive. During her freshman year, she was able to attend a meeting of her local PFLAG chapter with her parents, where she connected with other trans youth experiencing similar struggles at their high schools.
“We were in the space and were there to hear about other parents' and other kids' experiences to see how that could pertain to our own situation,” Yearwood says.
If you can’t find local resources, national organizations like Athlete Ally, the You Can Play Project, and GLSEN are all working to provide support to trans student athletes facing sports bans in their district or state.
Nothing says you are here and ready to fight for your trans student athlete than taking it upon yourself to be engaged. This can include educating yourself about anti-trans legislation affecting your state and asking how you can best support them in their day-to-day life.
“Generally speaking, we encourage people to work with LGBTQ+ organizations to keep up with what legislation is being proposed in their state, and to speak up before these bills are passed and become law,” Bruno says.
Yearwood says physically showing up to games and meets can also go a long way to show your support.
“[My mom] did a lot to take the initiative and to do things on her own,” Yearwood says. “It would just help for the kid to see you being involved and that you genuinely are interested in your child's gender identity and sexuality journey.”
Unfortunately, not everybody in your life will work to understand or accept trans people, including family members. Often, this can manifest as bullying, harsh words, or hostility. This means you may have to cut them out of your life until they do, especially if they’re being harmful to children in your life.
“Be okay with the possibility of losing people or losing family members,” Yearwood says. “My mom, for example, had to stop talking to her dad — my grandfather — because he wasn't really okay with me being trans. They're fine now, but in order for her to take those steps to support me, she first had to come to the realization that, ‘okay, there's many people that may not agree with it, especially family members… Sometimes you have to put your kid first.’”
Trans children are magical. Sadly, lawmakers, administrators, and even loved ones may try to stifle their shine. That’s why it’s so important to educate and equip yourself with the best possible toolkit to advocate for trans children when the world around you won’t.
“We are people and we deserve these rights. We deserve adequate healthcare. We deserve to play on the sports teams that align with our gender identity, and we shouldn't have these rights taken away from us,” Yearwood says. “Continue spreading awareness, whether it be on social media, whether you tell people like your next door neighbor, [and] people in the community.”
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