Why Is This Such a Big Issue?

Lately I have been getting a significant amount of mail from politically focused organizations I don’t know, and from politicians I don’t want to hear from. I am not sure how I became a target, and I don’t have the energy to worry about it. However, lately I have noticed a recurring theme in their literature, the threat of transgender athletes in high school and college sports. As you know, I plan to stay apolitical in the column, but when something that is clearly political gets me thinking, I intend to write about it.

These recent pamphlets haven’t caused me to think deeply about the issues surrounding transgender athletes competing in sports. I haven’t thought about it in detail, and I don’t expect I will. I can’t fathom how this issue will ever impact my life, my family, or those I care about. It simply isn’t enough of a priority for me to study the issue and to develop an opinion. Since I don’t have a view on the subject, I won’t share one in this piece.

However, I am fascinated about why this issue has become so important that 23 states have signed legislation since 2020 to ban transgender athletes from sanctioned sports and why am I getting frequent mailers encouraging me to be scared about the growing impact on our culture and our future as a country. I initially thought, maybe I am missing something; is this a more prevalent occurrence than I imagined? Surely the speedy push to invest public resources to address this issue at the state house level is based on some looming crisis to the state and its citizens. I don’t know what I thought the numbers showing transgender participation must be, but I was surprised to learn that the best estimates are there are less than 100 transgender athletes in the US that might be interested in high school sports. In fact, if you look for publicized examples of this happening, the number of times it has occurred is well below one hundred. It is rare, very rare.

So, what gives? What could possibly be the reason for the intense focus legislators have on the issue? Maybe they are intent on ensuring that sports are fair? That sounds noble and makes sense. But I hate to break it to them, sports aren’t fair. The best team doesn’t always win, the team that works the hardest loses just like the team that is talented but not committed, sometimes officials make mistakes, and there is a lot of heartache when you compete. But more than that, sports have never been a level playing field. If you have been around sports at any level, you have seen players get selected for a team, or receive more playing time because their dad gave money to the school, or they are friends with the coach, or have status in the community. Kids who compete have always faced unfair hurdles that have nothing to do with talent or work effort; it is what it is. Given that, feigning concern about fairness as a driver to address this issue is hallow at best.

Maybe it is purely political. There is a segment of the US population that believes everything is a culture war and this is an example for politicians who target them to give them red meat. Or maybe it is religious based. It wouldn’t be the first time in our country’s history that a group of religious leaders and their followers spend a large portion of their time trying to “stamp out the sins of others.”

You could go down a rabbit hole trying to understand the rationale for why people are so worked up over this issue and it would likely do nothing but open you up to criticism and anger from either side. I admit, I thought about that and wondered for a moment if I should even ask the question. But you know what? I think it is fair for people to wonder why something is happening and to think about whether it makes sense. As one of my mentors likes to say, “until you know what you are solving for, how do you know what you should be doing?”

I like that and believe the philosophy applies here. Borrowing from that approach, it is fair to ask what is the goal of the political leaders and have they accomplished it; or anything for that matter, passing these statues? Take for example the initial state that started this trend. Idaho was first in acting to pass legislation to prevent transgender athletes from competing; Barbara Ehardt is the congresswoman who sponsored the bill using the premise that she didn’t want what was happening in other states to happen in Idaho. She was solving a problem that didn’t exist. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but it is how she spent her time representing her constituents. At the same time, if you look at some of the early states that passed legislation, namely Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Each of these states acted swiftly to follow the lead of Idaho and to enact legislation that would protect and serve their citizens. I think it is fair to ask if, in these states, this was such a big problem and one that should be solved immediately. After all, these states have some of the worst statistics in the country for measurements that impact the lives of every citizen of the state every day. Poverty levels in Mississippi are greater than 18%, Louisiana is also above 18%, Alabama is right at 16%, Tennessee is at just over 13%, and North Carolina is a smidge below 13%. Not impressive data and a drain on every person in the state (not the least of which is the impact felt by the people who are living at that level). And as would be predicted, it doesn’t end there, each of these states also struggle nationally in healthcare and high school graduation rates.

I am not picking on those states (I like most of them 😊), what I am suggesting is why do politicians choose to address the “easy” problems and ignore the hard ones. We all know the answer, and even though it is obvious, we shouldn’t accept it. We shouldn’t accept politicians proclaiming bills like this signify a successful legislative session, when all they have done is solve a problem that at best will likely never impact the overwhelming majority of people in their district or state.

I believe in America, and I believe in our country. I also think it is a good idea to ask why our leaders are spending resources on certain areas, and to hold accountable those who seem to be focusing on things that aren’t important.

I suspect some of the readers of this column will think this is hugely important. Maybe it is and I am not smart enough to know why. As a person committed to lifelong thinking and learning I am more than happy to get smarter about why I am missing the boat; just make sure the argument for why this is so important is more than hyperbolic fear tactics about how the growing wave of transgender high school athletes is going to destroy the country. I am open to learning; I would just prefer data and facts over the noise that is showing up in my mailbox.