Trans advocates: Indiana girls' sports bill addresses non-existent problem

May 20—Senator Stacey Donato, R-18th District, visited the Lewis Cass school board meeting May 11 and was invited to share what she was currently working on.

"We will be doing technical corrections on May 24," she said. "I was the sponsor for HB 1041, which was the girls' sports bill, and we plan on veto overriding that."

The so-called "girls' sports bill" prohibited transgender girls from participating in Indiana girls' sports. Governor Eric Holcomb vetoed the bill on March 21, stating high school governing bodies already have a policy. Leaders from both chambers in the Indiana General Assembly vowed to override the veto and will gather for a one-day session on Tuesday to begin that process.

"When the governor decides to pull rank, we pull a little back, and we are definitely going to veto override that," Donato said at the school board meeting.

After the meeting Donato said that the girls' sports bill was important to the community, citing questionnaires that came back to her asking for the integrity of girls' sports to be maintained.

"There is the potential of a biological gender boy going through transgender treatments and being able to participate in a girls sport and we know that a boy is biologically stronger than a girl, and it makes unfair competition in a girls' sports when there is a boy biologically made that is competing with them," Donato said. "For girls, for scholarships, for their future, that should be maintained in its integrity also."

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is taken by those undergoing gender transition. It helps develop a more feminine appearance in those transitioning. It is also sometimes given to women going through menopause. Transgender youth go on puberty blockers, which pauses puberty, stopping the release of testosterone or estrogen.

When asked about HRT, Donato admitted she "was no specialist on any sort of medical treatments."

"I can still think that having a biological girl in a biological girls' locker room is something that I would value, and I would hope that the board members here would value that as well," she said.

Donato said she wasn't allowed to play sports when she was a child, and does not watch women's sports such as the WNBA or women's soccer, but said she sometimes watches girls' basketball when her schedule allows.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association already has a process in place to determine if a transgender athlete is eligible to participate in sports. It said that no transgender girl has ever competed in a high school sport, and it supported the governor's veto of the bill.

The frontline

Kit Malone, the advocacy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana who oversees the organization's LGBTQ Rights Project, was on the frontline opposing HB 1041.

"Twenty-five states in the US have trans-affirming policies for their sports teams," she said. "We have not seen a situation throughout the country where trans girls are making it impossible for other girls — because of course trans girls are girls — to get scholarships or succeed in their sports. There is no mass takeover of girls' and women's sports happening in those states that allow trans girls to participate. That is just sort of the reality as opposed to the moral panic around this idea that there are girls who happen to be trans who are just going in and stealing all the scholarships."

Being transgender for any reason, let alone sports, is very difficult for those in Indiana, Malone said, citing the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

Of the 452 transgender people who were surveyed in the 2015 report, 73% reported harassment in a school setting, 18% had been physically assaulted and 5% suffered sexual violence. Ten percent of transgender students had dropped out of school.

The Williams Institute within the UCLA School of Law estimated there were 1.4 million transgender people in the country in 2016, with 27,600 in Indiana.

"It is difficult to imagine a teenage boy choosing to live as a girl, to perhaps go on puberty blockers or hormone therapy, choosing to live as a girl throughout daily life, to experience misogyny from their peers as well as bullying for being trans to get a minor or not very provable physical advantage over other people," Malone said. "It doesn't seem like something that is likely and the reality is that is something that has never happened."

A thoughtful decision

Most transgender children begin puberty blockers at the age of 10 or 11.

Hormone replacement therapy causes decreased libido, genital atrophy, breast growth, redistribution of body fat and decreased muscle mass. Some transgender women have reported loss of bone density, diminished height and the loss of strength and stamina. Activities that may have once been easy, like opening a jar, can become more difficult.

Risks include blood clots, strokes, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

And there are also plenty of therapy and doctor appointments before the process can even be approved.

"Hormone therapy is violent to your body," said Jordan Huffer, a board member with Kokomo Pride, 909 S. Courtland Ave., an LGTBQ resource center in Kokomo. "It's not like you can just go to the doctor and say 'hey doctor, give me some reassignment hormones' — there's counseling, classes, things you have to do. Someone is not going to do this to win a high school first place ribbon. Its way more intense and way more involved."

For some people, especially those most stricken with gender dysphoria, HRT is a lifesaving treatment.

The Trevor Project's 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health report said that 45% of all LGTBQ youth contemplated suicide in the last year, with 14% attempting it. One out of five transgender or nonbinary youth also attempted suicide. Nonbinary people do not identify as male or female.

Not about sports

Huffer said the Indiana girls' sports bill is not about sports because only one gender is targeted.

"They parade this around as if it's about protecting girls and protecting girls' sports, but that's not the case," she said. "It's just another attempt at silencing trans voices and forcing trans individuals back into the closet. You can tell that is what it's about because there is no subsequent bill keeping trans boys out of boys' sports. It's a political point to try to protect just girls from what is perceived as this evil trans thing, a perception that is completely unfounded and untrue."

Huffer understands conversations about developed athletes who begin transition and start to play girls' sports are not black and white. However, she would prefer to leave those decisions to medical professionals and those who have lived a transgender experience rather than Indiana lawmakers.

But she is hopeful conversations with those who support the girls' sports bill can be fruitful.

"I feel like if you would just talk to one of these public officials, their views are probably not so extreme when it comes to trans lives and trans identities," she said. "It's just the way that our country and our state is right now, you have to move your political pieces so far to the right that you have to appear strong on these topics even if you aren't necessarily interested in it. It's all about perception."

She encouraged people to write, call and approach their lawmakers to start conversations about transgender rights and LGTBQ issues.

Malone said that lawmakers' time and energy could be better put to use by actually helping girls' sports.

"We are in an era where women's sports in general are broadly underfunded and under supported," Malone said. "That is a material thing we could be doing instead of demonizing a very, very tiny group that is not currently represented in school sports. We could actually choose to fund and create opportunities for women's sports so there is not this feeling of a group of people competing for a piece of what is already a tiny pie. But that is not something we have seen the Indiana legislature take up. But we would be happy to see it."

Kokomo Pride says it offers LGTBQ people a safe place to meet and hosts group meetings, including a transgender support group, a book club and events. It will host their first Pride festival on June 18. For more information, visit www.kokomopride.wpcomstaging.com.