Just over two months into President Donald Trump’s administration, one of its most frequently discussed issues has been the participation of transgender athletes in college sports. The administration has taken a hard stance on this topic, even threatening to pull federal funding if states do not comply with the directive. President Trump made this threat directly to Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, in a viral video last month.

The conversation around this issue is filled with so much misinformation and disinformation that it is hard to determine what is going on. One of the biggest problems is how much attention this issue receives in general. It has dominated national news cycles and the current administration’s talking points. There are over 500,000 athletes who compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and fewer than 10 are transgender. There are many more significant issues in this country that deserve attention compared to this issue, which affects fewer than 10 people. The White House considers this issue so important that they have dedicated a page on its website to it.

There are many more issues that could be addressed instead of this issue that could actually make the day-to-day life of Americans better, but the culture war that is currently taking place is what is going to keep getting politicians elected.

Another big piece of misinformation that many people think is that there is no way to create rules to make these athletic competitions fair. The International Olympic Committee currently has policies in place to keep these sports fair. Instead of trying to come up with a system to keep the sports fair, the current administration could attempt to do something similar.

Sports are inherently unequal and unfair to begin with. One of the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Phelps, has an inherent advantage over his competition because he produces half the amount of lactic acid compared to others. This allows him to stay active for longer periods of time than his competitors. We do not see anyone trying to ban Phelps for his advantages for fairness reasons. But this conversation has never been about fairness. It is about transgender people being accepted in general.

This can be seen in the language that is being used towards these transgender athletes. Many politicians call them a “threat to female sport,” and the president himself called it “transgender insanity.” These are not terms that would be used if this were strictly about athletic fairness.

If the ban on transgender athletes does eventually come, then it will set a precedent that can cause a snowball effect to take place. This was seen recently with a proposed law that would require gender checks. If someone believed and accused an athlete of being transgender, it would require an official to check an athlete’s genitals to see if they are transgender or not. With the message being to protect women, how is having them expose themselves to a stranger protecting them?

And even worse, if they want to go further with this law, then it could open the door for youth athletics, such as middle school and high school sports, to have these same checks for people under 18. This could be traumatizing. I just do not see how not letting these transgender athletes play these sports is worth potentially hurting and violating other people.

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