Why States are Sending Transgender Athletes to the Sidelines

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

American politicians cannot stop talking about young transgender athletes. Eight states now have laws or policies on the books restricting transgender athletes' access to youth sports, with seven states enacting them in 2021 alone. And nearly three dozen states have introduced similar bills. As a new school year begins and youth sports regain a foothold after pandemic precautions, these proposals have transgender kids stuck in the middle of the ongoing and often ugly battle over science and assumption, sex and gender identity, politics and policy. Katie Barnes covers transgender issues for ESPN and joins the show to explain the contours of the debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	Katie Barnes, can you tell me a little bit about Becky Pepper Jackson?
0:05.6	Becky is an 11-year-old girl who loves to run with her family.
0:12.4	My favorite sport is cross-country, and the reason why I love it so much,
0:16.6	is because my whole family have always done it.
0:22.8	Most nights, especially in the summer, they go out and run a mile together,
0:28.2	you know, through the rolling hills of the West Virginia countryside.
0:31.5	Do you remember the first time you ever ran for a long time?
0:35.6	I went running with my mom when she was on the stroller.
0:38.4	When I was in the stroller, yeah, when she was in the stroller, I was a baby and I was walking my mom.
0:45.1	And Becky's just like every other kid.
0:49.8	Except she's transgender.
0:55.5	Heading into sixth grades, the first time she'd be able to run cross-country for her school.
1:00.0	She really wanted to join the team.
1:03.7	But West Virginia passed a law that would have made it impossible for her to do so.
1:08.7	A bill moving through the West Virginia House would place new restrictions on transgender student
1:14.3	athletes.
1:15.1	The bill supporters believe transgender athletes have an unfair advantage over non-transgender
1:19.9	athletes.
1:20.9	And so her mom and Becky sued in order to get the right for her to run cross country
1:26.2	with her peers.
1:27.9	This is all stemming from a transgender student here in Harrison County that wanted to run
1:33.1	on her middle school cross-country team. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on her
	...

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