By: Satine Berntsen
On January 25th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that reversed former President Trump’s 2018 transgender military ban. Trans people were once again allowed to serve in the military.
It would be dismissive of me to say that this reversal isn’t a big win for trans people. However, I will say that it shouldn’t be celebrated as a step forward, but as a turning point. Trans people are once again being remembered to exist in the public eye. This is equally great as it is worrying.
Every time we, trans people, have seemingly taken a step forward, we’re barraged by people pushing us back. We’re once again being seen fighting for our rights to live decently and that attracts unwanted attention.
Since this military ban, a surge of anti-transgender legislation has been introduced and some have gained more momentum. One of the most prominent is a piece of legislation that would bar trans youth, specifically trans girls, from joining in on their school sports. Let me say this again, many states, including Connecticut, want to make it illegal for some girls to play on their sports teams. Not to mention that this would disproportionately affect black trans girls. Some states have passed it already.
The argument is that trans girls have naturally higher testosterone levels, which gives them an advantage over other girls.
Let me explain how this is utterly ridiculous and is the fuel for my daily stare at an empty wall in exasperation ritual.
First of all, everyone has a differing natural amount of testosterone in their body, no matter their sex or gender. Some cisgender women have naturally high levels of testosterone. In fact, cisgender black women tend to have naturally higher levels of testosterone. They are still women. They should always be, and are, allowed in school sports. Indeed, black cisgender men have naturally higher levels of testosterone compared to white cisgender men. It is clearly seen to be discriminatory if we were to segregate school sports based on race, so too it should be seen that it is discriminatory to ban trans girls from participating in school sports for the same testosterone related reasons.
This is also the same argument that is being used in professional sports and even the Olympics. So, I ask you readers, should we ban players taller than 5’10” from basketball? Maybe we should call up Olympic swimmers with naturally webbed feet and tell them, “Oh no no no! You can’t perform in the Olympics, a competition of those with natural and trained exemplary bodies, because you have a natural body that you’ve trained that makes everyone else worse than you! That’s totally unfair!”
I’d also like to note one very interesting point. This legislation doesn’t bar trans boys from participating in male sports. Do the government and schools truly care about a difference in testosterone levels if they are ignoring trans men’s naturally lower testosterone levels? Maybe, dare I say, they don’t care simply because they don’t want trans people to prove they’re just as good as cis people. They want us to lose.
If they claim that they aren’t ignoring trans men and really do want to “even the field” then they would have to help trans men. If they really want to say this isn’t transphobic legislation, they have to start leveling the field in all aspects, including putting limits on every naturally occurring human difference. According to their logic, it’s only fair.
Though the easier alternative is not being discriminatory, I assume that’s much too hard for these officials.
Sincerely,
An exhausted trans man,
Satine Berntsen
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