TRANSGENDER ATHLETE PARTICIPATION: NAVIGATING LEGAL CHALLENGES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

Credits: ACLU

Introduction

The inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports has ignited complex legal debates around the world. On February 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” with the aim to ban transgender women from participating in female sports categories. This order threatens to revoke federal funding from educational institutions that allow transgender girls or women to compete on girls’ teams, arguing that such participation violates Title IX provisions. Notably, this order addresses only transgender women while ignoring the participation of transgender men in men’s sports.

Proponents of this policy believe that this policy upholds the integrity of women’s sport by ensuring fair competition and safeguarding the athletic opportunities of female athletes who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth, i.e. cisgender female athletes. They contend that biological differences, particularly those arising during male puberty, create a competitive imbalance that hormone therapy cannot entirely eliminate. Another argument is the preservation of the original intent behind Title IX, which was preventing sex-based discrimination and promoting equality for women is athletics-based educational programs.  

In this piece, the author examines the legal and human rights debates around transgender athlete participation in women’s sports. By analyzing the Indian landscape, Executive Order 14201, global sports policies, and key U.S. court rulings, the blog highlights the tension between fairness, inclusion, and the original intent of Title IX, aiming to explore balanced solutions for all athletes.

Indian Policy Landscape

The Apex court in the National Legal Service Authority v. Union Of India gave legal recognition to transgender individuals as “third gender”, in turn affirming their right to self-identity and directed legal protection. Further in 2019, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act followed, yet critiques argue about its implementation gaps, such as a lack of reservation in sports and education, and the Act’s requirement for a medical certificate to change gender on official documents has also been widely criticized for being invasive and contrary to the National Legal Service Authority principle of self-identification. Recently, the Kerala High Court took a key step and directed organizers to allow transgender athletes to compete in their affirmed gender category. Regardless of these attempts, national-level sporting bodies such as Sports Authority of India or the Indian Olympic Association are yet to adopt specific transgender participation policies, leaving a legal vacuum.

International Policy Landscape

The global perspective that the author highlights here is that bodies governing sports have implemented diverse policies on transgender athlete participation, reflecting fairness, safety, and inclusion:

World Athletics: This institution introduced regulations excluding transgender women who have undergone male puberty from competing in female categories. This decision arises out of concerns regarding performance advantages and the need to maintain fair competition. This regulation also reduced the permissible testosterone levels for athletes with differences of sex development (DSD) to 2.5 nmol/L, extending this requirement to all women’s events. President of World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, emphasized that these measures aim to protect the female category in sports.

World Aquatics: Previously known as FINA, voted in June 2022 to restrict transgender athletes from competing in professional women’s swimming events. Post voting, the institution allowed participation only for those who had not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before the age of 12, whichever occurs later. FINA then launched ‘Open Category’ to accommodate transgender swimmers, aiming to balance inclusivity with competitive fairness in October 2023.

World Rugby: This institution implemented similar provisions way before in 2020, prohibiting transgender women from participating in elite women’s rugby, highlighting safety and performance concerns. The organization stands firm in its stance that transgender women retain physical advantages that might pose risks to other players. However, this organization gave flexibility to national rugby governing bodies to apply these guidelines flexibly.

Legal Challenges and Court Rulings

In the US, legal disputes have arisen vide state laws and organizational policies concerning transgender athletes. Since the US is a federal nation, multiple states have approached this issue through their own lenses. The state of West Virginia in 2021, passed a House Bill numbered 3293 named “Save Women’s Sports Act”. This act bars the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports. While a federal district judge initially upheld the law, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled it unconstitutional in 2024, stating that the law was not “substantially related to an important government interest” and that it deprived victim of meaningful athletic opportunities based on sex.

In another case, a transgender high school student named Luc Esquivel was prohibited from joining the boys’ golf team due to a 2021 state law in Tennessee. The suit was filed by Esquivel arguing that the law violated his constitutional rights. The court ultimately dismissed the case through summary judgment, which led to a nation-wide debate on how transgender youth is impacted by categorical sex-based sports restrictions. These rulings have begun to shape the legal boundaries of Title IX interpretation and Equal Protection jurisprudence concerning gender identity.

Human Rights Consideration

The participation of transgender athletes has become the contrast point in the broader discourse on human rights, in turn raising questions about fairness, inclusion, and the rights of individuals to compete in alignment with their gender identity. Advocates of trans-athlete participation are of the opinion that including only cisgender women in women’s sports constitutes discrimination based on gender identity, infringing upon principles of equality and human dignity. They stress on the idea that sports is about belonging, well-being, and socialization and not restricted to the promotion of competitive spirit. Various organizations such as Human Rights Campaign highlight that many athletic bodies have successfully balanced fairness and inclusion without issue, and that bans on transgender athletes often stem from misinformation and fear rather than empirical evidence.

On the contrary, some experts of human rights field express concerns about the implications of transgender inclusion in women’s sports. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is one such expert, who has time and again advocated for female sports categories to be exclusively accessible to cisgender females, citing concerns over fairness, safety, and the preservation of women’s sports records. Alsalem is of the stance that maintaining separate-sex sports aligns with international human rights laws and aims to protect the integrity of female sports while offering inclusive participation opportunities through the creation of open categories.

The American Psychological Association opined that such a ban can lead to increased stigma and discrimination, adversely affecting their mental health. Further, such policies may discourage participation in sports altogether, depriving individuals of the physical, social, and psychological benefits associated with athletic involvement. 

Way Forward

To resolve the ongoing conflict a more holistic approach is required, one that will balance inclusion, fairness and scientific evidence. A step could be adoption of open categories, as pioneered by World Aquatics in 2023, though it had its drawback of limited participation, this concept offers a middle ground, where athletes of any gender identity can compete without undermining the integrity of female-only categories.  Another important step would be to take into accord the disparity in public and institutional reactions to trans male versus trans female participation. Trans men usually face fewer objections, stemming often from presumed performance disadvantage, while trans women are subjected to heightened scrutiny over perceived biological edge. This asymmetry must be factored into policy development. The study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine have examined performance differences post-transition, noting that advantages may persist in some sports but not others. The ultimate sustainable solution requires a dialogue among athletes, policymakers, scientists, and human rights advocates. Only through evidence, inclusive frameworks can be formed, upholding both competitive fairness and the dignity of all athletes.

Conclusion

The participation of transgender athletes in sports has led to a multifaceted challenge comprising of legal, ethical, and human rights considerations. The legal disputes such as those of the India and U.S. highlight the conundrum of balancing inclusivity and fairness in competitive sports. Including but not limited to West Virginia v. B.P.J. and L.E. v. Lee sheds light on ongoing debates and the lack of consensus on this issue. Human Rights consideration further increase the complexity of this issue. Advocates argue that excluding transgender women from women’s sports constitutes discrimination based on gender identity, which overshadow principles of equality and human dignity. Conversely, opponents argue that biological differences may confer competitive advantages that could undermine the integrity of women’s sports. These human rights considerations highlight the delicate balance between ensuring fair competition and respecting the rights and identities of all athletes. As societies evolve so does the understanding of gender identity, the global sporting community moves forward, the challenge lies not in choosing sides, but in crafting frameworks that safeguard dignity, opportunity, and equity for all athletes’, cisgender and transgender alike.

Authored by - Rahul Rao Pawar, He is a student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur

Edited by - Ojasi Gopikrishna and Manush Dadlani