Should transgender athletes be able to compete in high school sports? Here's what Maine …

Maine has been thrust into the center of a national debate about whether transgender athletes should be able to compete in girls sports ever since a Republican state lawmaker posted about the issue on Facebook in February and caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who has singled out the state for not complying with his executive order targeting transgender girls.

The Trump administration is now trying to force Maine to ban transgender athletes from girls sports, while state officials have said that doing so would violate the Maine Human Rights Act.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services has referred Maine to the U.S. Justice Department for action on the issue, while the federal Department of Education is separately trying to get Maine to agree to ban transgender athletes. Both agencies cited a transgender student’s victory in a girls track championship in February — the same issue highlighted by Rep. Laurel Libby in her Facebook post — in recent findings that Maine has violated federal Title IX law.

At the same time, state lawmakers are expected to take up bills this session that would prevent transgender athletes from competing in girls sports and that would remove gender identity protections from the Maine Human Rights Act.

A recent poll of Maine voters from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found that 64% believe transgender athletes definitely or probably should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports and that 51% believe transgender athletes definitely or probably should not be allowed to compete in men’s sports.

But public debate so far has mostly been among adults, even though young people are the ones directly affected.

Here’s what some Maine students had to say about whether transgender athletes should be able to compete.

Angelina Boisvert, junior, Maine Central Institute

Angelina Boisvert, a junior at Maine Central Institute. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

I’m a female biologically and identify as female. I do gymnastics, track, field hockey and I’ve done cheer and next year I will do basketball.

I think it’s unfair (for transgender athletes to compete in girls sports) because boys are already naturally stronger and faster and that doesn’t change just because they say they’re a girl. Girls deserve a fair playing field and by letting boys in, it takes that away.

People from my school (do have the opposite opinion) and I’ve told them I’m not trying to attack anyone in any way. It’s not about that. No one’s trying to be hurtful.

People say you’re taking the opportunity away, but (transgender students) do have the opportunity to play in the boys’ category while someone like me, who isn’t trans, I don’t have two options.

Amelia Connolly, sophomore, Freeport High School 

I play soccer in the summer and fall and am a track athlete in the winter and spring, and I identify as female.

My thoughts are that no matter how you identify or who you are, as a high schooler, you should be able to be celebrated for your successes. I don’t think it’s anyone else’s place to judge, whether it’s people in power or my fellow students and peers.

I think there comes a point where it’s gone too far, where this child essentially, her mental health is being jeopardized in the face of people’s opinions and it’s being wildly blown out of proportion. It must be so hard for her as a high schooler, as an athlete, as a person, to go through all of this.

I’m not a pole vaulter, so I’m not directly associated with this event. But if I were, I don’t think I would feel threatened or robbed of anything. I think it’s very hard for trans people to exist in society as it is, however much things have progressed. I think we really just need to celebrate people.

Jack Brogan, junior, Freeport High School

Freeport High School junior Jack Brogan. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

I’m a male and I play soccer. I also play lacrosse and formerly ran track.

There’s not a lot of (transgender athletes) in the world, but I think it’s generally unfair for people who had previously identified as one gender to switch and the next season, which could be less than a year later, compete as a different gender.

You’ve spent however long you do practicing, taking time out of your normal schedule to compete in an event and do your best. And in this particular case it was a state championship. It just seems unfair. It seems like you’re cutting corners, and as an athlete, that’s not what you’re supposed to do.

I understand there are always extenuating circumstances and it’s not fair to punish (students) for not feeling like they’re the gender they were assigned at birth, but I feel like there should be some rules in place to level the playing field, and there aren’t right now.

Maya Koerber-Marx, senior, Brunswick High School

Maya Koerber-Marx, a senior at Brunswick High School. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

I identify with the gender I was assigned at birth and use she/her pronouns. I play four sports — cross country, basketball, indoor track and outdoor track.

In my opinion, I think transgender students should absolutely be able to play high school sports. I don’t see any problem with it because in my mind, transgender women are women and transgender men are men.

When I see headlines that say, “Keep men out of women sports,” it’s just a misperception because to me there’s no issue. Those are women playing in women’s sports, where they belong.

I think people should be more concerned with the mental and physical health of trans kids. These are children you’re talking about and there is very high risk for the LGBTQ community when it comes to mental health issues.

So my greater concern is, how are we taking care of trans kids? How are we making sure they feel safe and protected and welcome? That’s more important than if they’re playing a high school sport.

Cassidy Carlisle, senior, Presque Isle High School

I’m a female and I’m in varsity girls soccer, varsity Nordic skiing and varsity track and field.

I do not feel as though transgender athletes should be able to compete in girls sports and that is mainly because I’ve been personally affected by it. I’m a Nordic skier and I’ve been beaten numerous times by a transgender athlete and I don’t feel that’s right.

I don’t think it’s right to take those opportunities away from biological females who work very hard for the spots that they have.

I believe everybody deserves an equal and fair space to compete, and respect, just like everybody else. But I think we also have to protect spaces for women. It’s been proven that biological males have a physical advantage over biological females, and for me personally, I think we need to keep those women’s spaces equal and fair and safe.

People like to say, “One person beating you isn’t that big of a deal.” But the reality is one person beating females means all those females lose a spot. Everybody is bumped down a spot. That’s taking podium finishes away, and that’s defeating, because we work hard.

Sage Sculli, senior, Gardiner Area High School

Sage Sculli, a senior at Gardiner Area High School. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

I use she/her pronouns and I play tennis.

I think transgender students should absolutely be able to compete in sports regardless of how they identify. Playing a sport is about your participation and the effort you put in. I don’t think gender identity should have any sort of hold on your ability to play.

I understand boys and girls sports are based on physical limitations and I can see how that might raise cause for concern for some people, but I think that population (of trans athletes) is such a minority that it really does not hold any sort of statistical significance.

I think that whole incident with that track kid was like one in a million and I feel so bad. Can you imagine working so hard your whole season, and winning first place, and this is how people react to it instead of congratulations and support? Like, ‘You won because you’re a guy.’ It doesn’t sit right with me.

Anonymous student, sophomore, unnamed high school in Maine

I’m a trans man. I am not an athlete currently, but I did softball for 10 years and wrestling for two.

How I feel about trans people, and trans kids specifically, in sports, is I’m in whole-hearted support of it. I might be a little bit biased, because I am trans. But also, sports isn’t about your direct identity. It’s about who you want to be and what you are trying to do. When you go out on the court, you’re there to hit the ball and win. Your gender identity isn’t directly influential on that.

A lot of attempts to segregate trans people, to remove them from public spaces and conversations, it’s an attempt to put them in a narrative that we’re not like everybody else, that trans kids aren’t like every other kid. They’re something else. They’ve been influenced by the media.

Even though I knew I was trans when I was like 10, I hadn’t heard of the word. I know a bunch of kids who had never heard of the word. They weren’t influenced, it’s just a fact of their identities.

It’s not about a biological advantage, in my personal opinion. I think it’s because (opponents) are trying to make being transgender a bad thing, when it is exactly the opposite. It’s a great thing. People come in all different types. You can be a different ethnicity or a different gender, and that’s what makes people beautiful and what makes humans human, the fact that we have such large variation.

It’s high school sports. If you are trying to take high schoolers out of their sport, you are trying to make kids feel bad about themselves for the way they are and you are trying to take something they love because you have this idea of what a person should be.

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