A new report on transgender athletes titled “On the Team: Equal Opportunities for Transgender Student Athletes” is the first ever to thoroughly address the complete integration of transgender student athletes within high school and collegiate athletic programs. The report is also the first to provide comprehensive model policies and a framework for athletic leaders to ensure equal access to school athletics for transgender students.
This groundbreaking report is sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and It Takes A Team!, an Initiative of the Women’s Sports Foundation, is urging high school and college athletic associations across the country to adopt standard policies to provide transgender student athletes fair and equal opportunity to participate on athletic teams.
The report provides:
· Model policies—created by leading athletic, legal, and medical experts—for including transgender students in both high school and college athletics that ensure the safety, privacy, and dignity of all student athletes.
· Specific best practice recommendations for athletic administrators, coaches, student athletes, parents, and the media.
· A thorough analysis of issues related to providing equal opportunities for transgender student athletes.
· An in-depth list of local and national resources to help address transgender issues in athletics.
· Definitions of key terms, as well as information about the legal rights of transgender people in the United States.
The report is authored by Pat Griffin, former director of It Takes A Team!, and Helen Carroll, NCLR Sports Project Director. Content of this blog was taken from the NCLR press release for the report.
11/16/2010: Article by Dave Zirin, Acceptance of GW transgender basketball player a good life lesson
One Sport Voice 
We have a student who identifies herself as a boy, and is a very good athlete- we have tried to set up a ” safety net” in protecting him- He insist that he changes in the boys lockerroom with his teammates,and we have made it clear that we want him to change in a seperate lockerroom that we use for the umpires and referrees- He is very upset by this, and is only a sophmore in highschool,
as ” he” is still a girl and has the physical characteristics and to my understanding he is taking medcine in which I beleive is testerone.
I want to make sure what guidelines we should take.. the parent doesnt seem to be proactive and yet we need to protect the student/school and other teammates.
Please help-
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Sean,
This is not my area of expertise, which is why I posted this report for those who need this information. I would suggest contacting Dr. Pat Griffin directly to get her expert opinion. -nml
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Thank you, all the best
S
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Hi Sean,
I’m a transgender athlete myself, just about to graduate from college. I think, at the moment, the thing you should be most concerned about at the moment is the safety and comfort of the transgender student. While it’s an area that doesn’t have much precedent, I think it’s important to let him–
and I say “him” because, if this person is being prescribed testosterone as part of a process to transition to a masculine body, and identifies as male, this person IS in the most important ways a boy–
partake in activities as the gender he identifies as, and integrate as well as possible with the biologically-male students. I can understand if there are concerns for his safety in the locker-room, but I think that’s mostly a matter of talking to his teammates and educating them. That is provided, of course, he’s comfortable with it being widely known that he is transgender, and there isn’t a risk of violence to him because of it being spread around. Sometimes that risk is unavoidable. This doesn’t have to be a big deal or a threat to anyone– the transgender student, his teammates, or the school.
I hope that helps.
~Jessamine
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