According to a new Gallup poll, the vast majority of Americans don’t support transgender athletes competing on teams of their choice, instead believing they should compete against athletes of the same birth sex.
69 percent of Americans say transgender athletes can only compete on sports teams that match their birth sex, a number that’s up 7 percent since 2021.
Likewise, just 26 percent of Americans support the idea of transgender athletes playing on teams that match their current gender identity — a significant decrease from 34 percent two years ago.
The issue has become increasingly political in recent years, particularly in cases where transgender women are pitted against biological women, often dominating the competition.
The governing bodies of various sports have not come to any concrete conclusions on how to deal with the controversial issue of allowing transgender athletes to compete.
US support for transgender athletes competing on teams of their adopted gender has declined significantly since 2021
Student athlete Macy Petty speaks during an event celebrating legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would protect women’s sports from natural male competition
In the political world, the issue has become a talking point, particularly among conservative lawmakers, several of whom have instituted state bans on transgender women competing against female-born athletes.
At least 20 states have now passed such legislation, and the Republican-led House of Representatives recently passed a statewide ban. However, given Democrats’ control of the Senate and President Joe Biden’s promise to veto it, it’s extremely unlikely to become federal law.
At the same time, there is greater public opposition to transgender athletes who compete based on their assumed gender identity, while increasing numbers of adults in the US say they know a transgender person.
39 percent of Americans (up from 31 percent in 2021) say they personally know someone who is transgender.
Despite this statistic, the percentage of people who know a transgender person and support allowing athletes to play on teams that match their gender identity has fallen 10 percentage points in two years – from 40 percent to 30 percent.
People who know a transgender person generally continue to be more accepting of transgender policies, but this relationship has weakened over the past two years.
For those who say they don’t know anyone who is transgender, agreement dropped from 31 percent to 23 percent.
Transgender athlete Ricki Coughlan speaks during the launch of Australia’s national sport organizations policies and guidelines on transgender inclusion and gender diversity
Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender student athlete, speaks at a news conference on LGBTQI+ rights at the US Capitol
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas makes an appearance during an ESPN segment of Women’s History Month. Thomas was the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA championship
New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard – the first transgender Olympian – at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
In addition to athletics, the poll also asked Americans about their broader attitudes towards transgender issues.
A majority (55 percent) responded that “sex change” was “morally wrong.” 43 percent consider it “morally acceptable”.
Those results shifted slightly from 2021, when 51 percent of Americans said being transgender was morally wrong and 46 percent believed it was morally acceptable.
Political Liberals are the only major sub-group with a majority in favor of allowing transgender people to play on any team.
93 percent of Republicans remain opposed to allowing transgender athletes to choose their team.
A real-life example of the competitive standards most Americans oppose is 27-year-old Austin Killips, a born man, who throttled the competition in a grueling 137-mile race called the Belgian Waffle Ride in North Carolina on Saturday.
By the 13th mile, Killips was in the lead while regular drivers Paige Onweller and Flavia Oliveira had to settle for second and third respectively.
The trans athlete claimed the win was down to sheer hard work, saying: “It was just a grueling effort.” I’m just really proud to put it there and get the result. “I prevailed and was able to build up a lead early on.”
“We kind of all rode together for quite a while and you know I come from a cross background and I’m going to attack those individual sections of track as hard as I can and I did.” I hammered [it] and could remain free.’
Austin Killips pictured on the podium after the women’s elite race of the ‘Kasteelcross’ cyclocross race, race 7/8 in the ‘Exact Cross’ competition, Saturday January 21, 2023 in Zonnebeke, Belgium
Despite established guidelines on hormone levels and transition dates that trans athletes must meet to compete, critics say that puberty as a man confers significant biological advantages on many trans women that make them nearly impossible for women to beat.
Proponents point to the policies being designed to level the playing field, but some studies show they still don’t remove the inherent advantage trans women enjoy.
The organizers of the North Carolina race also seem willing to force a change in the rules, at least as far as their own competition is concerned.
‘We are listening. “We understand and appreciate all opinions and comments regarding this challenging situation,” the organizers wrote on Instagram on Saturday after the race.
“With that in mind, we are fully aware that we need to create an official policy that addresses this important issue.” We know we must take this upon ourselves in the hope that others will follow suit.
“Our plan is to keep this (an official guideline) for the remainder of the 2023 season.” “We’ll get there quickly,” they promised.
The UCI – the governing body of cycling – tightened its eligibility rules last year – halving testosterone limits and doubling the transition period – shortly after a row broke out in the UK over Welsh transwoman Emily Bridges’ possible participation in a race with five-time Olympic gold medalist Laura Kenny.
However, cycling’s eligibility requirements remain more relaxed than some other sports, where all trans women are banned from competing in the women’s category at elite level.
The World Cycling Federation recently defended its rules on transgender participation.
“The UCI recognizes that transgender athletes may wish to compete in a manner consistent with their gender identity,” it said last month.
“The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been consistently applied. “The UCI continues to monitor the development of scientific knowledge and may change its rules in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.”
At a competition in December 2022, Killips, seen in white, was seen trying to push cyclist Hannah Arensman off the track during the UCI Cyclocross National Championships
At a competition in December 2022, Killips was spotted trying to push cyclist Hannah Arensman off the track during the UCI Cyclocross National Championships.
Video posted to Twitter shows Killips trying to push Arensman, 24, against the border fence. This led to some people online calling for Killips to be completely banned from racing.
Arensman said, “I expect cycling as a full-body contact sport will eventually take a hit.”
“But when you run into a man over 1.80 meters tall, it’s very different. I tried to keep running so it wouldn’t even cross my mind. However, this one incident, captured on video, seemed unnecessary to me.
Ultimately, the incident led to Arensman’s early retirement from the sport after she shared how it had become discouraging to compete against male cyclists in women’s competitions.
Arensman offered heartbreaking details about her decision to quit the sport, saying the inclusion of trans competitors meant she “would lose no matter how hard I train.”
She gave up the sport after losing a podium spot to Killips, telling the Daily Telegraph: “I realized that if there was an opportunity to speak up on behalf of other women, I would grab her.”
“It took long enough, it went far enough.” It should never have come to this, it should never have been allowed. Someone has to take responsibility.
“It’s not a fair sport and the governing bodies, which should have made the rules from the start, need to recognize that.” “The very people who are supposed to be protecting our sport aren’t doing that,” Arensman said.