Editor’s note: This column ran as a pro-con with another column that supported transgender athletes getting to play girls sports.
I’ve played co-ed sports my entire life, and it has never felt unfair or unsafe.
From playing co-ed soccer in elementary school, to being the only girl on my giant slalom team through middle school with my Buddy Werner race team.
My husband and I played flag football in college together. After college, I joined a co-ed soccer team to help keep me in shape and to meet friends in a new town. I golf with men, and I ski with my nephews.
It boggles my mind that suddenly, transgender athletes playing with girls and women have become so controversial and so divisive. There is nothing dangerous or unfair about boys and girls playing together and when it does become unfair – let’s say at the end of middle school – there are simple measures that can be taken to make certain that women and girls are getting their fair access to playing time, quality coaching, and of course awards, records and eventually college scholarships.
Long before transgender athletes became a political fight, I believed that all sports should be co-ed through middle school. Co-ed sports would open up football and baseball for girls without having to start from scratch, developing a program. Girls would get equal funding and better development of their talent and skills earlier in their athletic careers. There’s no indication that any of these sports are less safe for girls than boys.
Transgender athletes deserve to play, and let’s be clear, with all of the focus society is placing today on their gender transition, it’s a miracle any of them are brave enough to step onto a track or field, let alone to thrive on a team or in an individual sport.
Transgender athletes should be celebrated in public schools across this country, not vilified.
Colorado high school sports exist for the sole purpose of offering school children the benefits of organized athletics. All kids should get to participate, and it’s not difficult to see why for transgender girls, joining an all-boys team might be one barrier too many, no matter how brave and strong they are. Perhaps some day, girls playing up on boys teams will be so commonplace that transgender girls will feel welcome, but today is not that day. None of the people calling to ban transgender girls from the girls’ teams have expressed an interest in undertaking the hard work required to ensure those same athletes feel welcome on the boys’ team.
My mother and I didn’t fight about much, but I swore I’d never forgive her for not letting me join the wrestling team in middle school. I thought she was being sexist and unfair. She was trying to protect me from stigma and harassment. In retrospect, she was probably right, and any joy I got from winning wrestling matches would have been overshadowed by the animosity sent my way from some of the boys and probably some of the parents too.
Until we get to the point where boys’ teams open their doors to anyone who can compete, transgender girls belong on high school girls’ teams.
There is nothing unfair about losing to a transgender girl in high school, just as there was nothing unfair to the boys I could beat down the hill in the Buddy Werner League. Anyone who has watched kids’ ski races knows that until about high school, the girls are often faster on the course. I don’t know the reason for it, but I also know it’s not unfair to have them compete against each other. And yet, when we get to professional ski racing, for decades women were not allowed to even race the same course as men in downhill and Super G.
Women are done being held back. This moment in history is a chance to make all sports co-ed through middle school and allow high school athletes to play where they need to play to get the fierce competition and coaching they deserve.
The Colorado High School Activities Association should stand strong with its anti-discrimination policy and allow girls and boys to play where they need to be to support fierce competition, advancement of skills and all the other benefits that come from being a high school athlete.
Megan Schrader is the editor of the Denver Post’s opinion pages.
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