Changing the Game: Trans Athletes and the Fight for Inclusion

By Addie Tsai

Mack Beggs’s dirty blonde hair hangs over his face, slick with sweat. Though he faces the camera, his eyes are locked on the fellow teen athletes who encircle him. The huddle claps in unison as Beggs—a high-school wrestler from Euless, Texas, and the reigning state champion—rallies his teammates. The indoor stadium is bustling as the competition begins—a competition that Beggs ultimately wins. 

Beggs has people talking—not just because of his win, but because he is a transgender man. And, due to a UIL policy that states that “boys may not wrestle against girls, and vice versa,” and “gender shall be determined based on a student’s birth certificate,” Beggs is forced to compete in the girls’ wrestling division.

A political war is being waged against transgender Americans, and young trans athletes are caught in the crossfire.

Mack Beggs is one of four transgender athletes featured in Changing the Game, a documentary that profiles the lives of young trans athletes in an effort to raise awareness about the complexity surrounding the transphobic policies that transgender high school athletes are forced to navigate just to compete. “The documentary is about young trans athletes across the country whose stories are shared from their own perspectives, showcasing the courage that is required but should never be expected of anyone to be fully themselves in doing what they love, which includes playing sports,” says Alex Schmider, associate director of transgender representation at GLAAD and executive producer of Changing the Game. “This film is about showing the reality Mack, Andraya, Terry, and Sarah experience in their lives and giving their stories back to them, which have mostly up until now been taken, exploited, and used to justify discrimination through a very specific narrative in sport. From screening the film across the country and internationally, it’s become clear that once people get to know the real kids and communities behind the cultural conversation, it’s impossible not to be moved and consider the people affected by the policies.”

While Changing the Game hopes to humanize transgender people and the barriers they face, anti-trans political groups and organizations are working desperately to pass legislation, now more than ever, that does the exact opposite. 

In March, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed two bills into law that limit the rights of transgender athletes. House Bill 500, also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, while House Bill 509 prohibits transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificates.

In May, Betsy DeVos’s U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights ruled against Connecticut’s inclusion of transgender student athletes in school sports consistent with their gender identity, stating that allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports with cisgender girls is a violation of federal law. The Department then threatened to defund the schools involved unless they exclude trans athletes.

Legislation against trans athletes hinges on two main arguments: gender discrepancy (an essentialist view that denies transgender identity outright) and that transgender athletes, especially trans girls, have a competitive advantage based on hormones. 

Koomah, a Houston-based intersex artist and former athlete, addresses the issue of competitive advantage from the perspective of bodily variation. “There are natural variations that may or may not make us excel at some things. We give testosterone way too much credit,” Koomah says. “It’s important that we both know where the other side is coming from because, as it stands, this concept that it’s all about the hormones reinforces forcible sterilization. The other thing to understand is that it’s incredibly sexist. It reinforces the stereotype that if you’re assigned female at birth, you’re supposed to be weaker. So much of the argument boils down to patriarchy and gender roles. But I think there are athletes and non-athletes of all different body shapes and sizes. Bodies are very, very different, so I don’t see why it should be so difficult to understand.” For more information about the sports science of hormone impact on athletes and bodily variations Koomah recommends Katrina Karkazis’s research on testosterone.

Changing the Game is a critical documentary, especially as Americans approach the upcoming November election. “Anti-trans people employ a kind of protectionist, paternalist framework,” says Anne Lieberman, director of policy and programs for Athlete Ally, an organization working to create LGBTQIA+-inclusive athletic environments. “It’s a compelling argument that is looking for an easy win ahead of the 2020 elections. What is really important to understand is that this is not only about sports. Organizations and individuals at the national and local levels that are pushing these agendas are also linked to organizations that are trying to tear down LGBTQI+ rights around the country.”

Sports instill many values that transcend competition and winning. They bring a sense of camaraderie and joy, a way to learn teamwork, and a sense of belonging—all experiences to which transgender athletes deserve equal access. Emmett Schelling, executive director for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, reinforces this notion. “It gives me hope that young adults know they have the ability to push back,” he says. “To say, ‘No, I deserve to be in sports. I am not going to sit here and let myself be sidelined and disrespected just because I’m trans. I deserve my place to participate.’”