This year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, a bill focused on inclusion and equality for female athletes, being passed. Title IX was celebrated in this year’s Super Bowl as Billie Jean King performed the coin toss.
Although not a new issue, the topic of transgender women in high school sports has received national attention, including in Utah.
On March 25, H.B. 11, a bill barring transgender athletes from competing on certain sports teams, was passed despite a veto from Gov. Spencer Cox. In effect on July 1, the bill has sparked a debate over competitive advantages and equality.
One of the people key to the crafting of H.B. 11 was Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan. An assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Morgan High School, Birkeland has been coaching and officiating high school sports for five years. Discouraged with how the lockdown was handled in Morgan, Birkeland felt like she was needed in politics.
“I was pretty frustrated with what I was seeing with businesses being told to shut down and education taking a back seat to a lot of things,” Birkeland said. “I put my name in there. There was another person who did, and then he and I talked, and he withdrew.”
With her background in sports, Birkeland felt like the most qualified representative for this issue.
“I felt like I knew enough about the different super leagues, comp leagues, the different sports and what they do,” Birkeland said. “I could kind of pick the brain of the parents and the coaches to understand if it was going to be an impact at all in our state.”
According to Birkeland, the bill bars athletes not assigned female at birth from participating in the five single-sex female leagues during competitive situations. These sports include swimming, basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball.
Many have found this bill discriminatory, including the president of Weber State’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Morgan Phelps.
“I don’t think that it’s something that actually makes sense,” Morgan Phelps said. “Your body density and your height are more impactful than whether or not you’re transgender.”
According to Birkeland, there are still ways for transgender women athletes to compete in one of the five sports. There is, however, a process.
If a transgender woman athlete was assigned male at birth and wants to compete in a female sport, the decision will be discussed by a commission that will consist of a mental health therapist, a doctor, a sports physiologist, a coach or official from the sport and a statistician. The commission’s goal will be to determine the appropriate placement of the athlete.
“They go before the panel and talk about the pros and cons, the dangers, the competitive advantage and those types of things,” Birkeland said. “They can crunch and see what is the average, typical, appropriate levels for someone of their age and really put together a data-driven, medically-factual comparison.”
Phelps said the bill is exclusionary because it primarily focuses on transgender women athletes being excluded from sports.
“What do non-binary people do in sports? What do trans men do in sports?” Phelps said. “By that same logic, transgender men should always be losing in sports.”
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas has been a pivotal figure in the argument over whether transgender women athletes have a competitive advantage.
Thomas won a 500-yard freestyle swim race, recording a time of 4 minutes and 33 seconds. She placed fifth in a 200-yard race and eighth in a 100-yard race.
Although a successful athlete, Thomas hasn’t broken any NCAA all-time records. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, she has aspirations to swim after college and possibly compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Birkeland first attempted to pass the bill in 2021 and claimed the stories surrounding Thomas didn’t factor into the process of crafting H.B. 11. However, she does believe that the controversies surrounding the swimmer were considered by her fellow legislators.
“I think it really helped us get a lot of support legislatively,” Birkeland said. “What so many people seem not to consider is the backlash that Lia Thomas herself is facing.”
Thomas has had her share of detractors, including prominent swimmer Michael Phelps, who compared Thomas’ abilities to athletes on performance-enhancing drugs during an interview with CNN.
“I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on a level playing field,” Michael Phelps said during the interview.
Thomas appears to push through the backlash, however, as she aspires to be a role model for others in her situation.
“I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone,” Thomas told Sports Illustrated. “They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love.”
Birkeland believes that H.B. 11 is still inclusive enough to not have to make transgender athletes answer that question. However, she does believe that they should consider playing a co-ed high school sport.
“What we’re trying to say is there’s 19 activities,” Birkeland said. “Please go compete, have the great time and tell us what activities you feel like you want more of.”
Although meeting before a commission is a possibility, Birkeland believes that transgender women athletes should look to play on the men’s teams, noting that women who want to play football have to play on the men’s team.
“A lot of the transgender girls playing on the boys’ teams for some activities isn’t really that bad of a deal,” Birkeland said. “If you’re born and defined a young man at birth and you transition to girl, then go play on the boys’ teams because we expect girls to be okay with that. You should be able to understand how that’s hard, but you’re a girl now, you say, so go feel that pain with them.”
As a figure in high school sports in Utah, Birkeland’s goal is to promote the integrity of the game and to place female athletes in an ideal situation. Morgan Phelps, however, says that the bill needs to factor in the cultural impact of sports.
“Sports matter so much for people who are in them,” Phelps said. “Because it’s so important, we need to continue fighting for access and for trans people to be allowed into sports.”
Utah has now joined 12 other states to bar transgender athletes from competing in single-sex sports: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
The history of sports is filled with pivotal players and decisions that have proven they are more than just games. Wherever a person stands, they realize how important the issue is. The future of transgender people in sports will affect far more than athletic competitions.
