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Earlier this month, a “Play the Game” conference was held in Finland, including a panel titled “Who has the right to compete?” Exploring the Inclusion of Transgender Athletes in Sport.”
The panel included five speakers representing both sides of this controversial issue, including Joanna Marie Harper, a transgender professor at Western University in Canada.
Jon Pike, professor of philosophy at the Open University in England, argued that an open category should be created for transgender athletes to avoid potential injustice from biological males competing against girls and women.
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Opponents of a bill banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports are reacting to the bill’s passage after a vote by members of the Nassau County Legislature on June 24, 2024. (Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Harper, however, wasn’t a fan of the idea, because “99 percent” of the open category “will be…cisgender men.”
“And so what you’re asking for is that trans women compete in a category that is virtually entirely made up of cis men, and just call it an open category. Most trans women, myself included, would rather give up their sport than compete in such a category,” Harper said.
In a 2015 opinion piece in the Washington Post, Harper wrote, “The science provides a clear explanation for why, in many sports, trans women retain no athletic advantage,” citing hormone therapy and her personal experiences.
Supporters of transgender athletes hold signs as an overflow crowd converges outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday evening to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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“In 2005, when I ran in the women’s category, the difference was staggering. I finished a 10K in 42:01, almost five minutes slower than I had run the same course two years earlier as a man,” Harper wrote.
Harper added that trans women might have advantages in sprinting and basketball because of their already acquired muscle mass and height, but they might actually have disadvantages in distance running and gymnastics for those same reasons.
“For those who suggest that trans women have advantages: we allow advantages in sports, but what we don’t allow are overwhelming advantages,” Harper told Outsports in 2021. “Trans women also have disadvantages in sports. Our larger bodies are fueled by reduced muscle mass and reduced aerobic capacity, and can lead to disadvantages in speed, recovery and a number of other factors.
“Ultimately, we can have meaningful competition between trans women and cis women. From my perspective, the data seems favorable to trans women being allowed to compete in women’s sports.”
Transgender athlete supporter Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside, holds the Progress Pride flag while “Save Girls Sports” supporters Lori Lopez and her father Pete Pickering, both of Riverside, listen to the debate as they join the crowd converging outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday evening to debate of transgender athletes’ rights to participate in high school sports on Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Twenty-nine states currently have restrictions on transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February banning biological males from competing against biological females.
