Should Transgender Athletes Be Banned From School Sports?

The discussion of transgender athletes in school athletics is one of the most highly heated and least understood subjects in modern psychology. What is generally portrayed as a concern of fairness or safety has quietly become something else: a test case for how easily public policy may ignore evidence in favor of misconceptions about sex and gender.

In the last 10 years, more than half of U.S. states have passed legislation or rules that say transgender athletes must compete as the sex they were born with. In February 2025, those limits got even stricter when a federal executive order made following them a condition for receiving school funding. This officially stopped transgender girls and women from playing women's sports. The reasons given were the same as before: fairness, decency, safety, and "truth."

But a recent review article in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry looks closely at the science behind transgender athletes and how these rules are applied. Authors Robin Mathy and Naaz Mirreghabie provide a comprehensive review of opinion polls and the challenges with using existing research to help teens who want to play sports. Their conclusions on gender identity and how false beliefs might affect funding decisions and school policies should not be ignored.

Why Are Opinions Changing?

Survey results suggest that more and more people support limitations on transgender athletes. This surge has occurred across all political groups, even among Democrats, yet significant differences remain between the two parties. These changes are important because they show that people's attitudes about gender are evolving. For example, more people are agreeing with the idea that gender is set at birth, despite this being a cultural position rather than a scientific conclusion.

Psychology has long recognized that sex and gender are separate constructs. Biological sex encompasses various characteristics—chromosomes, hormones, anatomy—that do not consistently correspond. Gender, on the other hand, shows how people see themselves, their social positions, and their lived experiences. Intersex conditions alone contradict the concept that sex is a neat binary, and gender identity adds another layer of complexity that cannot be reduced to a single biological marker.

Weighing the Testosterone Argument

The main point of most arguments against allowing transgender athletes is that testosterone gives them an unfair advantage in sports. Despite testosterone's contribution to the average performance disparities between males and females in specific sports, the actual research remains ambiguous. Most studies that look at how hormone therapy affects athletic performance have been done on adults, and the results are far from consistent. Some exhibit minor residual benefits, while others show significant overlap and no distinct pattern. These findings do not substantiate sweeping conclusions regarding children or teenagers. Ultimately, such restrictive laws seem intended to uphold conventional gender norms and to penalize those perceived to breach them, rather than to promote “fairness.”

Why Teens Pay the Most

One of the most obvious flaws in current policy debates is the ease with which group averages are used to make decisions about people. People often discuss transgender athletes as if they were all the same, even though they come from different backgrounds, ages, races, training histories, and body types. Transgender teens, in particular, are already more likely to be anxious, depressed, alone, and prone to self-injury. Though participating in sports can be important for promoting physical health, emotional regulation, peer connection, and self-esteem, the potential harm of barring teens from joining sports teams that align with their identities can be severe.

These restrictions also adversely affect women’s sports as a whole. Since the current debate often portrays female athletes as fragile and in need of protection, these arguments quietly reinforce the very stereotypes women’s athletics has spent decades dismantling. The implication that transgender women pose a threat requiring protection for female athletes undermines progress more significantly than it provides any protection.

Ultimately, it is not clinically sound or culturally competent to make generalizations about people based on data from a group. It also ignores how much athletic performance varies within any category—cisgender or transgender. Current research now supports individualized, sport-specific evaluations rather than blanket bans. This approach recognizes competitive fairness without resorting to exclusion based solely on identity. It also aligns more closely with how psychology approaches assessment across other domains: case by case, not ideology by ideology.

Transgender Essential Reads

The Left, the Right, and Transgender Youth

How the Left and Right Are Both Getting Trans Kids Wrong

Conclusion

Health professionals are not neutral observers when policy directly affects mental and physical well-being. When laws are based on misconceptions rather than evidence—especially when they target young people—psychology has a responsibility to challenge them. Allowing transgender children and adolescents to participate in sports remains essential as a means of reducing harm, promoting health, and fostering resilience.
When fear replaces science, the cost is paid by those with the least power to object, something we should all consider.