How Many Transgender Athletes Play Women's Sports?
"Attacks on Ohio transgender community a calculated political ploy to scapegoat the vulnerable "
By Anna Skinner On 4/21/23 at 3:42 PM EDT
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* The U.S. House approved a bill Thursday that proposes an amendement to Title IX, restricting transgender athletes from competing in girls and women's sports at federally funded educational institutions.
* The ruling, which is not expected to pass the Senate, would apply to a small number of U.S. citizens if it becomes law.
* Several states have already outlawed transgender athletes from participating in girls and women's sports, but some GOP governors have vetoed similar bills that landed on their desks.
Transgender people are again at the center of the GOP's crosshairs after a recent bill outlawing transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports passed the U.S. House along party lines on Thursday.
The bill, titled Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and authored by Florida Republican Greg Steube, is not expected to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Joe Biden has threatened to veto the bill if it lands on his desk. Despite its unlikely path to success, the bill solidifies that the LGBTQ+ population remains at the center of a culture war waged by the GOP.
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How many transgender athletes are in the U.S.?
Of the estimated 332 million citizens living in the United States, 1.3 million adults and 300,000 youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, equaling half a percent and 1.4 percent of the population respectively, according to a report published by Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA's Law School in 2022.
Not all transgender people identify as women, and an even smaller number consists of transgender women hoping to compete in girls' and women's sports.
Privacy laws make it tough to identify the exact number of transgender athletes competing in public school sports, but researcher and medical physicist Joanna Harper estimates the number can't exceed 100 nationwide.
"While we don't know the exact number of trans women competing in NCAA sports, I would be very surprised if there were more than 100 of them in the women's category," Harper told Newsweek.
One hundred transgender athletes would comprise an incredibly small number of the U.S. population, and the number dwindles even further when it comes to middle school and high school athletes.
Gillian Branstetter, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the number of transgender athletes isn't comprehensive, but she's also certain it's a very small portion of the nation's population. Branstetter told Newsweek that Save Women's Sports, an organization advocating for banning transgender athletes from competing in girls' sports, identified only five transgender athletes competing on girls' teams in school sports for grades K through 12.
However, transgender athletes that do compete in women's sports pack a punch when it comes to conservative responses.
In Washington, an outcry exhibited by Republican legislators and some parents made national news when a transgender female student-athlete at Seattle Academy competed with girls after leaving the boys' team. The transgender student won several races on the girls' team and was a top finisher in others. Scrutiny arose after learning that when competing on the boys' team, the student never performed better than 25th place.
The news led to cries of unfairness from Republicans, including Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned in 2015.
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Not all Republican leaders believe in banning transgender athletes
Despite the nationwide push against transgender athletes, some Republican states are ruling in favor of the athletes.
In Indiana, Republican Governor Eric Holcomb became the first conservative governor to veto a ban on transgender athletes from competing in women's sports in 2022 after the state legislature was unable to prove that transgender athletes were competing unfairly.
Shortly after Holcomb's ruling, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, also a Republican, vetoed a bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
Demonstrators gather at a rally to protest the passing of SB 150 on March 29, 2023, at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky. B 150, which was proposed by State Senator Max Wise (R-KY), is criticized by many as a "Don't Say Gay" bill and was vetoed by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear during the General Assembly. Lawmakers may override this veto, passing the bill into law. A recent bill passed by the U.S. House has divided people on whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women's sports. Jon Cherry/Getty Images
At the time of the bill's proposal in Utah, Politico reported that four transgender athletes out of 85,000 athletes competed in sports at state high schools. Only one of the athletes was competing in girls' sports.
In a letter to Utah's legislature, Cox wrote that although the conflicting science muddled his understanding of the topic, he wanted to err "on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion".
"Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day," Cox wrote in the letter, also citing suicide rates among transgender youth. "Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don't understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live."
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In a House hearing ..
Today I advocated for my bill, The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Biological men have no place in women’s sports.
I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand for women’s free and fair opportunities in athletics and to stand for truth, not lies. pic.twitter.com/N5dPQZyjDj
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) April 19, 2023
.. on his bill, Steube heavily quoted the Bible.
"For thousands of years in human history, we have recognized as a species that there are women and there are men who are obviously biologically different and dare I say, even scientifically different, and even science agrees with this premise," he said.
Newflash, Mr. Steube, For thousands of years the earth was thought to be the center of the solar system .. https://www.space.com/geocentric-model . Some of you still believe it. Science has moved on. Re gender identity science has moved on from the idea of two gender poles to a gender continuum. Not all men born with dicks and balls are scientifically the same. Not all women have the same hormone balance. Science has moved on from your Biblical positions Mr. Steube. Why do you persecute the small minority you do Mr. Steube.
When will it be time for you to shutter your Bible-based ignorance. When will you catch up to science. Read this Mr. Steube
It isn't a fad for the sake of it thing. It's important simply because millions of individuals have suffered harassment, humiliation and abuse during their lifetime simply because they were born a certain way.
What Does LGBTQ+ Mean? [...] 'We don’t know if your baby’s a boy or a girl': growing up intersex [...] Jack’s specific diagnosis is rare, but being born with a blend of female and male characteristics is surprisingly common: worldwide, up to 1.7% of people have intersex traits, roughly the same proportion of the population who have red hair, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights .. https://unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf . The British charity DSD Families .. http://www.dsdfamilies.org/ .. estimates that around 130 babies born in this country each year need investigations before their sex is assigned .. http://dsdfamilies.org/docs/Midwives%20article.pdf . Other people may have problems with their hormones that aren’t visible at birth. P - Jack’s parents knew he was different before he was born, when a routine scan couldn’t determine if he was a boy or a girl. Juliet was referred to a consultant at the local hospital, followed by meetings with geneticists and neonatologists, blood tests and an amniocentesis. She was told her baby was genetically male, but that this didn’t necessarily make him a boy. “It was very hard. I’d just assumed that XX is girl and XY is boy,” Juliet says. “Because people don’t know there are variations, when they occur it’s a freakish thing. But actually, he is just a normal child. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=168767794
"...roughly the same proportion of the population who have red hair,..."