As a wave of anti-transgender legislation targeting children sweeps across the country, Georgia Equality has been hard at work trying to stop Trans Sports Bans at the Capitol. Our volunteers have shown up in force, making phone calls, sending text, and testifying at committee hearings. We asked several of our supporters to share what these bills mean to them and why they are fighting so hard for the rights of Trans kids.
Heidi Miracle, Parent of Trans Child
As a mother to a transgender daughter and a cisgender daughter, I can confidently say that people’s fears that Trans girls take away anything from cisgender girls are unfounded. There is simply no proof. While I understand where this fear comes from, the fear is not based in reality. We need to focus on the FACTS. Transgender athletes have been competing for decades and it has not harmed women’s sports or cisgender athletic opportunities.
What is the goal of SB 266? Is it to make the playing field more even? If that is the case, why not focus on proven ways to make things more fair? Transgender youth need to fit in, to be accepted. To force them to be on a team with a gender identity that does not match their own and against their will would be devastating for them. If the bill’s goal is to take care of women and youth in sports, it must include Trans women because Trans girls ARE GIRLS.
Kendall S., Rugby Player
I have always played against athletes who are bigger and stronger than I am; bodies are incredibly diverse between and across genders, and competitive advantages take many forms, from access to private coaching to Michael-Phelps-flipper-feet. This is not a zero-sum game. In fact, it is cultures of inclusion that hold the most promise for the growth and well-being of young athletes.
As a relatively small cisgender women’s rugby player who has played with trans players in competitive full-contact play, I am saying, “Not In My Name.” Please, do not use me in your fight to prevent Trans students from participating on teams that align with their gender.
Nica Clark, Softball Player
Playing softball and rugby for several years during secondary school and college enriched my adolescence and young adulthood immeasurably. Because of my love of sports and natural physique, I am regularly mistaken for a man while out in public. While this no longer phases me, as a pre-teen, teen, and young adult, I would have been incredibly and irreparably damaged if I were required to produce my birth certificate to prove I was assigned female at birth to defeat a challenge by a girl who felt she had been deprived of an opportunity because I, a cis-girl who existed outside of socially adopted gender norms, dared to occupy a space in this world.
Because Black female athletes tend to have more muscular definition than the accepted notion of what a female has, they would especially be affected by this bill. SB 266 should not pass because if made law, its application could cause psychological, emotional, and physical harm to the very people the bill intends to protect.
Dawn Hardy, PFLAG Parent
These laws would harm the children of this community because the invasion of their privacy, humiliation, and fear would discourage not only Trans kids but any child wishing to just be a kid and play ball. Children’s sports should be about inclusion and community, not stigma and discrimination. If our legislators truly care about women in sports, they should increase funding for girl’s athletics and require school districts to publicly report Title IX compliance metrics.
Politicians should get out of our bedrooms and children’s panties and start doing the hard work to return our country to its leadership role by creating jobs, ending racial and social disparity, and saving our planet.