See our detailed position here.
Women and girls have earned sex-based sports rights due to immutable differences between the sexes.
Female sports must be female-only because boys and men in all age groups and at all levels of competition are on average bigger, stronger, and faster – and in at least 31 sports, girls and women play with smaller, lighter, or lower, or other equipment designed for female bodies.
Women and girls deserve female-only locker rooms, restrooms, healthcare, women’s shelters, rape-crisis centers, prisons, and other intimate spaces due to our rights to privacy and due to our need for safety from male violence, including sex crimes such as exposure, voyeurism, and rape.
People who identify as transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming should be respected; afforded all the same human rights as other citizens; and protected from discrimination – so long as no sex-based rights are compromised. In situations when sex matters, women’s sex-based rights must take precedence over gender-based identities.
But the males who identify as women: If they’re not allowed to play against women, where can they play? They can play on male teams. But won’t that be psychologically unbearable to them? No. We know this because female athletes who identify as transgender do this all the time. They compete in the women’s category precisely because of immutable sex differences that would result in poor performances (or failure to even qualify) if they competed against males. The fact that female athletes who identify as trans routinely compete against other females — rather than needing to affirm their identities by competing against men — offers a telling counterpoint to claims that male athletes who identify as trans must compete against women.
Male athletes who nevertheless find it intolerable to compete against or undress in front of other males should compete in coed leagues; use single-stall restrooms; volunteer as male practice players for women’s teams that offer such options (a common policy in some sports since male advantages in height, strength, and speed can help the best women improve; coaches require certain restrictions to limit male advantage and thus safeguard women from injury); or make other arrangements so long as those arrangements do not diminish females’ opportunities, scholarships, or prize money, nor females’ right to fair, safe, separate sports experiences and changing facilities. We also encourage male athletes and coaches to welcome gender-nonconforming males into their midst and institute safeguards against bullying and harassment.