I am a former high school athlete who is trans, but wasn’t out at the time. I was allowed to work out, train, and practice with the boys on the football team but not allowed to play or use their locker rooms, as I was born with traditionally female anatomy. I was the best kicker the coaches had seen in 10 years and they petitioned several times to try to allow me to play, but it didn’t work out. I’m so grateful to see today that trans kids are able to play on the teams that match their sport, gender identity, and their hearts.

Forcing a teammate out of the locker room and into either a separate bathroom stall or the boy’s locker room is alienating, othering, and cruel. While (trans or not) girls and women are statistically safe with other (trans or not) girls in the locker room, girls and women are statistically unsafe in a locker room with boys and men, and their safety decreases when the girl or woman is trans. Statistics show that it’s safer for EVERYONE when trans girls are treated just like other girls and trans boys are treated just like other boys.

I find it interesting that this proposal ignores trans boys and nonbinary kids, which is often a bit of a red flag about whether or not his is actually about the safety of women and girls. If bathrooms are divided up by anatomy at birth or chromosomes or whatever you decide defines sex, trans boys will be required to be in girl’s locker rooms and spaces. Why is it okay for those boys to be in the locker room with girls?