Breaking the b inary in sports

REBECCA CARLSON STAFF WRITER

For as long as sports have been around, there have always been barriers separating genders from playing with each other. Sports are considered a more “masculine” domain where boys are perceived to possess greater ability than women, making it more important to them because they have the chance to be the best. Although women can play in men’s leagues such as the NFL, NHL, and more, it is very uncommon for women to join a male-dominated sport. Not to mention Title IX, which requires all educational institutions in the US to reward male and female athletes equally, was not passed until 1972. While sports have always been labeled ‘male’ or ‘female,’ many non-binary, non-gender conforming, or genderqueer athletes have felt like they had no other option but to play the sport of the gender people think they identify as or what they used to identify as.

“It definitely doesn’t help my dysphoria,” sophomore

Liv Kalikin

Ohio has now proposed a transgender athlete bill that would make it so that, if there is any doubt, a child as young as kindergarten aged would have to undergo an invasive exam, just to prove she was female, so she can play a sport. This bill allows athletes to file a civil lawsuit “if the participant is deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers harm as a result of a violation of the bill’s single-sex participation requirements or if the participant is subject to retaliation for reporting such a violation,” according to an analysis by the Legislative Service Commission.

“With the massive amount of anti-trans bills [447] going through other states, I know they won’t be able to stop me from playing [softball], but I also know that if I want to live my authentic self, I will need to stop playing,” Kalikin says.

Many people, even in the Olympics, have felt like they couldn’t be themselves because of the world. The Tokyo Games were the first to feature trans and non-binary athletes Quinn and Alana Smith. Smith, despite having their pronouns [they/them] on their skateboard, was constantly misgendered by commentators and callers from the BBC while competing. While Sarah Fuller also became the first woman to play football in a Power Five Conference she received almost endless hate and comments:

““Is it bad that I want her to get ROCKED? I mean it’s only fair.”

“They couldn’t have grabbed one from the guys’ team?”

“Someone better tackle - her. Make her realize it’s 2020, but you shouldn’t be on the - field.”

And that is only some of the things that people have said about her.

“I think there is a reason that the gender barrier exists because otherwise sports would really be dominated by men,” Kalikin says. “However, I think that there are ways to let people play the sports they want to play, on the teams they want to be on.”

According to AAPS’s website: “In compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the District does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the edu- cational programs and activities which it operates, including employment, admissions, recruitment, referrals, and collective bargaining.”