Oppose the Federal Trans and Intersex Athlete Sports Ban (HR734)

I am writing to urge you to oppose HR734. This legislation would stipulate that Title IX compliance requires banning transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports. If this bill passes, transgender and intersex girls and women throughout the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, missing out not only on the proven physical and mental health benefits from sports but also on the lifelong lessons that come from being part of a team and working hard towards your goals. This bill also fails to consider recent research and policies at the highest level of sport, which affirms that transgender women do not have an inherent advantage in sport. “This bill is part of an ongoing, coordinated national effort to erase transgender & intersex children from public life,” said Athlete Ally’s Founder and Executive Director Hudson Taylor. “If it was not, it would take into consideration the painstakingly documented challenges women and girls face in sport and the importance of sport participation for the wellbeing and development of all young people. Instead, this bill is attempting to make all transgender children an outsider to one of the most important institutions in society. Any policy that would apply the same standards to a child and a professional athlete is not a policy genuinely designed to protect anyone. It is my deepest hope that transgender & intersex kids will never have to feel the isolation, exclusion and othering that this legislation is seeking to enshrine in law.” Every kid deserves the right to participate in sports as they are, including trans & intersex kids. Today, politicians in D.C. are trying to deprive children from equal inclusion in sports.