Why Biden’s New School-Sports Rule Matters
Americans are in a cultural battle over school sports. For years, thanks to Title IX, most athletic programs have been divided on the basis of sex. This has allowed female athletes to thrive—to end up in finals, on podiums, and as champions. If we didn’t separate competitive athletes on the basis of sex, men would dominate women in most sports, and we wouldn’t know the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Angel Reese, or Katie Ledecky as stars, at least in this arena.
But more young people now identify as transgender than ever before, and more transgender women and girls—perhaps most famously the swimmer Lia Thomas—are pushing to be included in sports programs that match their gender identity. Their desire for a sense of belonging is understandable. It also sets up an inevitable collision with our country’s half-century-long history of championing and protecting girls’ and women’s sports.
After years of controversy and that would allow schools to limit the participation of transgender women and girls on female teams, but only in certain circumstances—for example, if competitive fairness and physical safety are at risk. This is a big deal. The policy represents the first time the administration has acknowledged that biological sex—our physical forms as male or female, depending on our chromosomes and gonadal hormones—matters in certain school-sports settings. At the same time, the rule seeks to maximize opportunities for transgender athletes by recognizing that sex differences emerge over time and matter less in certain educational environments, sports, and levels of competition.
