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A win for trans kids everywhere

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A win for trans kids everywhere

Aug 11, 2022 | 7:00 am ET
By Kit Malone Emma Vosicky
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A win for trans kids everywhere
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Indiana's transgender sports ban gets an initial rebuke in court. (Getty Images)

Elated. That’s how those of us who work with trans youth felt when we heard that Indiana cannot ban trans girls from girls youth sports.

A judge recently issued a preliminary injunction in a case filed by the ACLU of Indiana, requiring that A.M., a 10 -year-old trans girl, must be allowed to rejoin her school’s all-girls softball team while litigation continues.  

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit in April, on behalf of A.M., challenging House Enrolled Act 1041, which bans transgender girls from participating in school sports that match their gender identity.

This decision means Hoosier kids can return to being kids, benefiting from sport’s documented social, health, emotional, and community-building benefits. We can return to the whole purpose behind school sports: getting exercise, learning teamwork, and building self-esteem, self-confidence, and positive mental health outcomes. 

This decision sends a message for trans girls across our country that they, too, deserve access to scholastic opportunities. That they too, can aspire to become professional athletes.  Most importantly, it sends the message that they are not alone – parents, friends, allies, and countless professional organizations will stand with them, and we will overcome.

For trans kids and their families who might be concerned that this critical win only applies to A.M., one girl in the IPS school district, it’s pivotal that you know any lawyer representing a public school system will look at this decision and recognize that prohibiting a trans girl from participating on an all-girls sports team, violates Title IV. 

And make no mistake, the ACLU of Indiana will pursue litigation against any Indiana school that attempts to discriminate against trans students. We have your back.

Win protects integrity

As Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto statement noted, this statute could not survive in the face of clearly-established law, so it isn’t as if this decision is a surprise. The current injunction simply follows that law, and yet, despite the warning, the Indiana General Assembly proceeded with a law it knew would not hold up in court.

When Indiana legislators attempted to ban trans girls from girls sports teams, they only achieved one thing: putting a group of vulnerable children – little girls who happen to be trans – at further risk. While legislators were doing this under the guise of the “integrity” of girls’ sports, they couldn’t cite a single instance in which any of the 364,000 Hoosier girls playing sports were negatively impacted by allowing all children to play. 

We know that this legal win is what will truly protect the integrity of girls’ sports. A 2021 study found that states that allow all kids to participate in K-12 sports have steady or increasing opportunities for girls in sports, while states that bar transgender kids from sports have declining opportunities for girls in sports. Inclusion of girls and women who are transgender in athletics supports the ongoing investment in all girls through access to sports and other athletic activities. Allowing all girls to play will protect the integrity of girls’ sports.  

Hopefully, we can now focus on remedying the factors which actually interfere with a level playing field for girls’ sports by ensuring equal funding for girls’ and boys’ sports, balancing sports funding across all school districts, and addressing disparities arising because most families lack the money to afford coaches, clubs, and travel teams.