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The participation of transgender or transsexual individuals in competitive sports is a controversial issue. Opposition to transgender or transsexual individuals competing in sporting events generally focuses on a perceived "unfair advantage", especially in relation to hormonal factors, such as higher testosterone levels. Exclusion of trans athletes, sex verification testing, and access regulations been used with the aims of ensuring fair competition, but such methods remain problematic.
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History of transgender athletes in competition
The issue of transgender participation in sports has arisen in parallel with the increase in women's sports in the 20th century. At the heart of this controversy are concerns that transgender women would outperform cisgender women due to their more masculine body structure and higher testosterone levels. The intense scrutiny of transgender athletes has focused on trans women because it is generally assumed that transitioning from female to male would not confer a competitive advantage.
Sports organizations have sought a test for sex verification to ensure fairness across all sports. This began in the 1940s with 'femininity certificates' provided by a physician. In the 1960s, visual genital inspections were to used to confirm gender, followed by chromosomal analysis to ensure that all athletes had an XX or XY chromosomal makeup. These tests were all designed to ensure that athletes were allowed to compete only as their birth gender, but mostly resulted in the exclusion of intersex athletes.
More recently, testosterone levels have become the focus and, at the same time, new guidelines have been sought that would allow successfully-transitioned athletes to compete.
Non-Olympics
Renee Richards filed a lawsuit against the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1977 because she felt discriminated as she could no longer play competitive tennis based on her being transgender.
Olympics
In 2003, a committee convened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission drew up new guidelines for participation of athletes who had undergone sex reassignment. The report listed three conditions for participation. First, athletes must have undergone sex reassignment surgery, including changes in the external genitalia and gonadectomy. Second, athletes must show legal recognition of their assigned sex. Third, athletes must have undergone hormone therapy for an appropriate time before participation, with two years being the suggested time.
It wasn’t until 2004 that the IOC allowed transsexual athletes to participate in the Olympic Games.
In 2015, the IOC modified these guidelines in recognition that legal recognition of gender could be difficult in countries where gender transition is not legal, and also that requiring surgery in otherwise healthy individuals "may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights". The new guidelines require only that female trans athletes declare their gender and not change that assertion for four years, and demonstrate a testosterone level of less than 10 nanomoles/liter for at least one year prior to competition and throughout the period of eligibility. Athletes who transitioned from female to male were allowed to compete without restriction. These guidelines were in effect for the 2016 Rio Olympics. While there were rumors that two closeted transgender athletes competed in Rio, these rumors have not been substantiated.
Testosterone and athletic ability
People who oppose transgender women competing in women's sports say that they are given an unfair advantage over cisgender women due to their testosterone levels, and different muscle and fat distribution. Testosterone regulates many different functions in the body, including the maintenance of bone and muscle mass. It is also argued that athletes who transition to female after puberty will have a greater muscle to fat ratio compared to genetically-female athletes. Helen Donohoe, from the United Kingdom Women’s Sports Foundation, argues that by having these beliefs, one is also assuming that “anyone exposed to testosterone before puberty will be a good athlete, all males are better athletes than all females, [and] males will change gender in order to reap the benefits of women’s sport that they are unable to achieve in men’s sport.”
However, the use of estrogen supplements and testosterone blockers (or physical castration via sex reassignment) cause a decrease in muscle mass, bone density, and oxygen-carrying red blood cells. This leads to a decrease in strength, speed, and endurance. According to Joanna Harper, a competitive runner, scientist, and transgender woman, every athlete has advantages and disadvantages. The greater height that a transgender female may gained before transitioning may be an advantage on the basketball court but it is likely to be disadvantageous to a gymnast. Eric Vilain, a professor of human genetics at UCLA and a consultant to the IOC medical commission, stated: "There is 10 to 12% difference between [cisgender] male and [cisgender] female athletic performance. We need to categorize with criteria that are relevant to performance. It is a very difficult situation with no easy solution."
United States
In schools in the United States, transgender children and young adults face challenges in sports; in the 2010s this issue has become intertwined with the question of which bathroom or changing room transgender children should use. In a 2012 survey of LGBT youth, about 10 percent of respondents identified themselves as “transgender” or “other gender,” and wrote in identities like “genderqueer,” “gender-fluid” or “androgynous” instead of male or female. This suggests that these youth are identifying somewhere on a broad gender spectrum. States vary widely on participation of transgender children in sports and which locker room those students should use. Advocates in favor of allowing transgender children to participate in sports based on their preferred gender point out the known benefits of participating in sports and the psychological well-being of the transgender children. Opponents emphasize the same issues of an unfair advantage of larger size and strength in trans women, plus the safety of cisgender children, both in competition and in the locker room.
LGBT Events
In the absence of openly-LGBT sportspersons, LGBT-focused leagues and events have been created since the late 1970s. One of the earliest-recorded such sports event organizing committees is the Federation of Gay Games. The goal of the Gay Games was to help communities of sexual minorities feel included and celebrate diversity since they are so often marginalized in mainstream sport. However, one of the challenges faced by this event was finding sponsorships from companies without dismissing their values.
By 1989, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation was formed to organize the EuroGames for LGBT athletes in Europe.
In 2006, a schism occurred between the Federation of Gay Games and the Montreal organizing committee for the Gay Games, leading to the Montreal committee organizing a rival multi-sports event, the World Outgames, which continues to the present. The sponsoring organization for the Outgames, the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, has also organized smaller, regional multi-sports events, including the North American and Asia-Pacific Outgames.
Various international LGBT sport-specific organizations have been established as well since the 1970s.