North Carolina is one of 31 states in which Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would restrict trans youth from playing sports.
The “Save Women’s Sports Act,” or House Bill 358, would require North Carolina public school athletes to play on teams that align with their sex assigned at birth. But the bill seeks to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, LGBTQ+ advocates say, and a new report from North Carolina Health News would seem to underscore that claim.
According to the independent nonprofit news outlet, fewer than 10 public high school students across the entire state have filled out the “Gender Identity Request” form that trans athletes must complete to participate on sports teams matching their gender.
“We will only say there are fewer than 10 requests in the nearly two full years this policy has been in place,” James Alverson, spokesperson for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, told the news outlet in an email, declining to provide an exact number.
In 2019, the state implemented a new policy designed to boost trans participation in school sports, but Alverson’s comment shows that very few trans students have completed the paperwork necessary to compete.
For comparison, there are an estimated 1.7 million school-aged trans kids in North Carolina. While it’s unclear why so few North Carolina trans kids play sports, LGBTQ+ advocates say it could be due to the obstacles they often face, including burdensome paperwork, a lack of support from adults, and hostility from educators and fellow students.
On the positive side, participating in sports generally improves mental health and academic outcomes for students, Rebby Kern, director of education policy at the statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality NC, told them. When trans students face obstacles in sports, however, they can’t reap these benefits, Kern noted.
“We’re seeing big drops in their mental health outcomes and seeing increased depression, anxiety, even self harm, even leading into suicide ideation, suicidal ideation, and even youth suicide,” they told them.
According to Kern, HB 358 would likely further harm the mental health of trans students.
“If a bill like this is passed, it could just completely out these students, and then potentially even place them on a team where their gender identity would not fit at all whatsoever,” they added.
Proponents of the bill claim it would protect women’s sports; however, it could actually do the opposite, since it would require transgender boys to compete in girl’s sports. A 15-year-old boy named Asher, who attends a private school in the state under the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association, currently has to compete with girls in track, since the association already has a policy similar to what HB 358 would put in place for public high schools statewide.
“It feels like you don’t belong with either groups [sic],” Asher told North Carolina Health News. “It’s detrimental to sports, to everything, that feeling. It hurts every aspect of life.”
Representative Mark Brody (R-Monroe), one of HB 358’s sponsors, told the news outlet that he is concerned that trans girls will outcompete their cisgender peers.
“We hear a lot from constituents [who are concerned],” he said. “It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen here, it’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen here.”
However, the state lawmakers who introduced these bills have struggled to pinpoint actual real-world examples of trans girls outcompeting their cis peers. Meanwhile, statistics show that states with trans-inclusive sports policies see wider participation among students in athletics across the board.
Since 2014, participation in girls’ school sports in California has increased 14% since 2014, when the state enacted its inclusive policy, although boys’ athletic participation saw only a slight gain of under 2%, according to a report from the Center for American Progress.
HB 548 cleared its first reading in the North Carolina House in late March but has yet to face its first vote.
“Bills like this are taking power away from entities which are already putting in place practices that are working for our state,” said Kern. “Our young folks just want to wake up, go to school and reach academic success, and so we’re hoping that these barriers do not increase harm.”
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