Imagine being at the starting line of a race, hoping to place first in the race to win the State Title, but next to you is a female athlete with the muscular build of a male. She has the state’s fastest time by several seconds, a substantial margin for such a competitive sport. 

High school sports are already competitive. But now, men by birth that identify as women are winning big titles and creating new fast times taking away opportunities from other athletes. 

This controversy has led to students and parents creating petitions to prevent transgender athletes from competing in their identified sex rather than the sex assigned by birth. 

As a track athlete in Connecticut, the issue of transgender athletes competing has been raised to my attention. Held on February 9th, the CT state championship was the spark of controversy. Connecticut being one of 17 states in the US to allow transgender athletes to compete without required hormone treatment or surgery. Betty Remigino-Knapp, my own track coach at William H. High school stated in the Hartford Courant, “ I think the issue at hand is the inequity — if you are a biological male you have an advantage because of testosterone. It’s a proven medical fact. I think our female student-athletes and our coaches feel there’s no longer a level playing field”. Allowing transgender athletes to compete in their identified gender isn’t excluding them, its trying to create equal opportunity and fair competition. 

Although most of the controversy appears in high school sports, it’s recognized that in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) transgender athletes are allowed to compete. But, in the NCAA there are regulations that transgender athletes need to follow: “A trans female (MTF) student-athlete…..may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment”. Controversy arises when considering that testosterone increases both muscle mass and competitiveness.  It’s shown that males between the ages of 14-18 have levels of testosterone from 7 to 1,200 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter). In girls ages 14-18, testosterone levels range from 7 to 75 ng/dL, a significantly lower level. The NCAA provides rules and regulations that attempt to minimize the unequal playing field. Since many athletes strive to be the best to gain recognition from colleges, it should be a rule in high school sports that transgender athletes should have to follow certain rules on hormone treatments.

I realize that this can cause a feeling of exclusion within the school environment. But the end goal is not to be “discriminatory or “disrespectful” of transgender athletes. The real problem at hand is that transgender athletes are just coming in and beating everyone. By this, the exclusion of transgender athletes isn’t because people are transphobic or believe that they should have less opportunity, but because the competition is unfair. 

I’m not saying that transgender athletes shouldn’t be competing, or shouldn’t have the option to compete, but when it comes to the fairness of the competition, is it really fair to have a 17 year old woman, with the physical body of a male and the testosterone levels of a male, competing against a woman who has significantly less testosterone? Although fewer kids face the challenge of competing against unfairly advantaged athletes, when it takes away from recognition and achievements, athletes, coaches, and families begin to take action and notice the impact it has. Therefore, all high schools should be required to have regulations on hormone treatment to help minimize the unequal competition.