Highlights from Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports Lecture
Author: rcooney
Panel led by Dr. Christina Roberts, Keenan Crow, and Lia Thomas, moderated by Dr. Kelly Winfrey
Blog written by Natalia Rodriguez-Felipe, Junior in English and WGS
This past November, the WGS Program along with the Lectures program and the Center for LGBTQIA Student Success hosted a panel that looked at Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports. Here are some of the highlights!
Lia Thomas is an athlete and activist. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. She was named one of the most influential Philadelphians from Axios.
Dr. Christina Roberts is a professor of pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She counts with 23 years of service in the Navy, gave gender-affirming care in the military, and took care of active duty members in the Air Force. She worked at the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Her study includes gender-affirming care in athletic performance before and after receiving care.
Keenan Crow is a director of policy and advocacy at One Iowa, with 11 years of experience. He’s observed the vast array of hostile policies, including transgender bans on student-athletes in Iowa high schools and at a collegiate level, HIV policy, and LGBTQIA+ policy.
Why focus on sports? What is the value of people being included and excluded from sports?
Crow: “When we talk about trans people, we talk about fairness and think about what sports do for them as a person. Most people get enjoyment from sports. Exclusion from sports due to their identity makes them feel excluded.” Crow has observed how legislation has gotten anti-inclusivity, emphasizing how legislators vote against LGBTQIA+ rights.
Dr. Roberts: “Sports can help people. The sports bans focus on people who are different; sports demonstrate how to be included in camaraderie. That exclusion strips people away from that experience. Suicide ideation increases highly.”
Thomas: “Participating in sports is beneficial; it is life-changing, they feel seen and feel like they belong. Lessons sports have taught me first started in competitive swimming at 5 years old. I felt nervous to swim through the pool, but with motivation from a friend, I swam all the way through the other side of the pool.” She emphasizes putting in the hard work, when you miss the goal times, and keep trying. “I did the hardest practices and I still made it. It’s given me lifelong friends and they’ve been with me through my lowest moments and my friends are still with me.” Thomas also explains how she got a sense of confidence from doing athletics, and she saw swimming as a stress reliever. “Federal organizations are stripping away the right to swim, it’s like saying: ‘you don’t deserve to swim,’ and trans kids feel excluded and have mental health issues.”
What is it like to transition, and what factors go into deciding on transgender healthcare?
Dr. Roberts: “Athletic performance will decrease or increase muscle mass and affect performance. They may get an advantage or disadvantage. When gender-affirming care starts, it’s an agreement with their parents and providers. They get set with puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Red blood cells get higher, muscle mass decreases, and athletic performance starts to decline. A lot of those advantages go away, and th”
Thomas: “A lot of factors go into transitioning, and there’s a lot of misconceptions thinking that we “wake up and want to be trans,” it’s a soul-searching journey.” Her journey started at high school, and she felt disconnected from her body. “The disconnect didn’t go away; you feel like you’re going through the motions instead of living life. One week before Penn, my family started talking about a woman transitioning, and that’s when it clicked in my head: I am transgender, and I am a woman, and a weight was lifted from my shoulders.”
In Thomas’ sophomore year at University of Pennsylvania, she experienced depression and found it hard to focus during swim practice. Her depression got severe and had thoughts of suicide. Her friends told her not to give up and encouraged her to transition. Within a few months of transitioning, she had to start HRT, and was aware that she had to give up swimming due to rules and regulations.
Are there other rules that are centered around trans athletes?
Crow: “There are other rules when it comes to schools, and it’s harder to switch to other schools due to safety. When policy is crafted, you think if there is a reason to restrict someone. Restricting trans kids from sports is exclusion.”
Thomas: “Two and a half years into transitioning, the International Swimming Federation released a ban about trans women swimming, and I was told that I had an “unfair” advantage. HRT changed everything in my body, like muscle mass and performance. The policy is centered around exclusion and discrimination. There is so much misinformation surrounding it and it promotes exclusion.”
Advice for LGBTQIA+ students in the United States:
Thomas: “Do not give up. Things may seem dark, but always remember you’re not alone in this fight, there’s people who will fight tooth and nail for you.”
Dr. Roberts: “Being an ally, use their name and pronouns. Fight for your own rights and stand up for what’s right, and have people around you to tell you that I’m here for you. Rally around people and your friends and allies. Always check up on them.”
Crow: “Organize your own folks. Advocating for people, an example of one is when we nearly lost the LGBTQIA+ community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic which took out many people. Have your allies.”