Sports Teams

As a person I am not interested in sports that much but as a trans-person I am interested on what teams we can play on. Here in Connecticut the guidelines for trans-youth says in part that,

Transgender students should be permitted to participate in sex-segregated athletic activities based on their gender identity. Denying students such an opportunity is likely to result in their inability to participate in sports and gym programs altogether and risks exposing the school to liability under the law.

In other states with gender inclusive non-discrimination laws also have similar policies and Nevada is joining their ranks…

NIAA to Pave Road for Transgender High School Athletes
KOLO8
By: Catherine Van
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013

RENO, Nev. -- Should transgender high school athletes be able to decide for themselves whether to play on the boys team or girls team? Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is considering granting transgender students the ability to choose.

High school sports can be gender exclusive but for those athletes who identify with the opposite sex, those eligibility lines can be blurry. More than half a dozen states including Washington and California have adopted the policies to allow transgender students to compete on teams of their choosing and Nevada could be next.

The article goes on to say that,

The policy has already been adopted at the college level, but now high schools across the nation are looking to do the same. Students will have to provide medical documentation and a statement from both the student and the parents on their gender identity.

In Connecticut, the question of what medical documentation that is needed is open to debate. The Connecticut does not require medical intervention to establish transgender status, the law only offers suggestions to establish transgender status.

"There are some concerns that some student athletes may abuse the policy from the standpoint of participation rules or for other reasons," Anderson said. "The policy will be written in a way that will weed through those situations and the only cases that might be considered under the policy would be true situations of transgender student athletes."

Now tell me what male student athlete would want on his school recorded that he played on the girls’ basketball team. I can just see him applying for a college basketball scholarship claiming he scored 200 points a season but on a girls’ team. Or transitioning just so he can play on a girls’ team because the law says “that the gender-related identity is sincerely held” so a person cannot just claim his is a girl to play on a girls’ team.