BULLETIN 62, October 2011
Journal of Sport Science and Physical Education

Feature:

Transgender Athletes

Bulletin 62

Publisher's Statement

Publisher`s Statement

Foreword

Editorial - English

Katrin Koenen

Editorial - French

Katrin Koenen

President`s Message - English

Margaret Talbot

President`s Message - French

Margaret Talbot

Welcome New Members

Feature

Transgender Athletes - Introduction

Darlene Kluka & Anneliese Goslin

Participation by Transsexual and Transgender Athletes: Ethical Dilemmas Needing Ethical Decision Making Skills

Meg Hancock & Mary A. Hums

Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport

Heather Sykes

NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes

Pat Griffin & Helen Carroll

On The Team

Pat Griffin & Helen J. Carroll

Managing Athletes with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSD)

Maaki Ramagole

Transgender Inclusion in Sport: The Role of the Applied Sport Psychology Consultant

Rebecca Saitz

Athletic Administrator Perspectives Hindering Transgender Inclusion in U. S. Collegiate Sports: A Queer-Feminist Analysis

Li Brookens

Resources on Transgender Issues

Current Issues

WHO Report on No Communicable Diseases

Victor Matsudo

Migration and the Protection of Minors, in particular children in sports

Speech for the Joint Meeting of the EPAS Governing Board and Consultative Committee, Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 7 June 2011)

ICSSPE News

Katrin Koenen

Resources

Book Information

Kari Kekskinen

Children`s Games

Mark Wertheim

Publisher's Statement

Publisher`s Statement
The Journal of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) is published twice a year. Its goal is to provide a forum for ICSSPE members and other contributors to share news and experiences, raise issues for discussion, develop international and external links and promote events. The featured articles and other contents are monitored by the ICSSPE Executive Office and the Editorial Board, with the aim of allowing for free and balanced dissemination of information consistent with ICSSPE`s aims and objectives. The views expressed within this publication are not necessarily those held by ICSSPE unless otherwise stated.
The Journal is published by
International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE)
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Tel.: +49 30 3641 8850
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Editor: Katrin Koenen
Text-Editor: Tamara Needham
Design: Astrid Lange
ICSSPE Editorial Board:
Prof. Kari Keskinen
Prof. Richard Bailey
Prof. Pedro Ferreira Guedes de Carvalho
Prof. Keith Gilbert
Prof. Anneliese Goslin
Prof. Rosa Lòpez de D`Amico
Prof. Abel L. Toriola
Prof. Alexander Woll
Prof. Walter Mengisen
Detlef Dumon
Katrin Koenen
© Copyright 2011, ICSSPE. For information about this work, please contact ICSSPE. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and distribute copies of this work for nonprofit educational purposes, provided that copies are distributed at or below cost, and that the author, source, and copyright notice are included on each copy.
The Executive Office is supported by the Senatsverwaltung für Inneres und Sport, Berlin and by the Bundesministerium des Innern, Germany, based on a decision of the Deutsche Bundestag.

Foreword

Editorial - English
Katrin Koenen

Welcome to issue No. 62 of ICSSPE`s Bulletin, where we present a special feature on `Transgender Athletes`. This topic, edited by Prof. Dr. Darlene Kluka (Dean, School of Human Performance & Leisure Sciences Barry University) and Prof. Dr. Anneliese Goslin (Department of Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences at the University of Pretoria) seeks to provide some clarification about basic gender/sex terms; to provide insight into medical information concerning transgender athlete sport participation; to investigate policies related to inclusion of transgender athletes in sport programs; and to share perspectives on appropriate practices for those involved in sport. We have a wide range of different and very interesting articles on this topic including `Participation by Transsexual and Transgender Athletes: Ethical Dilemmas Needing Ethical Decision Making Skills`; `Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport`; `NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes`; and `Managing Athletes with Disorders of Sexual Development`.
I am happy to inform you, that our conference ‘Sport as a Mediator between Cultures‘ successfully took place from 15-17 September, 2011, at Wingate Institute of Physical Activity and Sport, Israel, and with delegates from over 30 countries and representation from politicians, academics, professionals and students, it was an event filled with discussion and idea exchange. Please find more information in the Current Issue section under ICSSPE News.
In addition, I am excited to be able to announce that the programme for the international seminar `Communities and Crisis – Inclusive Development through Sport`, which will take place 21 – 26 November in Rheinsberg, Germany, is now available on the ICSSPE website. Further information can also be found in the Current Issue section.
Last but not least, I would like to remind you that contributions for the Bulletin are always welcome, whether you’d like to report on a meeting or conference, or introduce a new research project or University programme. Feedback on the format, or any aspect of the Bulletin, is always gratefully received. Please email me at kkoenen@icsspe.org.
I look forward to hearing from you and working with you!
Katrin Koenen
Publication and Scientific Affairs Manager
Editorial - French
Katrin Koenen
Nous vous souhaitons la bienvenue pour la 62ème édition du Bulletin du CIEPSS. Nous vous présentons une publication spéciale sur le thème des athlètes transgenres (“Transgender Athletes”). Ce sujet est présenté par la Professeur Darlene Kluka (Doyenne de l’Ecole de Performance humaine et des Sciences de Loisir à l’Université de Barry) et la Professeur Anneliese Goslin (Université de Prétoria, au Département de biokinétique, Sport et Sciences de Loisir). Elles cherchent à fournir des clarifications de base en ce qui concerne le genre et le sexe dans le domaine du sport, afin de donner un aperçu, en matière d’information médicale, en ce qui concerne la participation sportive d’athlètes transgenres, et afin de mener des recherche dans les politiques liées à l’inclusion d’athlètes de ce type aux programmes sportifs, et de partager les perspectives de pratiques appropriées pour les transgenres déjà engagés dans un sport. Nous possédons un vaste éventail d’articles variés et intéressants sur ce sujet incluant ‘Participation by Transsexual and Transgender Athletes: Ethical Dilemmas Needing Ethical Decision Making Skills’; ‘Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport’; ‘NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes’; ainsi que ‘Managing Athletes with Disorders of Sexual Development’
Je suis contente de vous informer, que notre conférence à l’institut d’activité physique et du sport de Wingate, en Israël, du 15 au 17 septembre, ‘Sport as a Mediator between Cultures‘ a connu un franc succès. Des délégués de plus de 30 pays ont pris part à cette conférence ainsi que des représentants du monde politique, académique et professionnel, de même que des étudiants. Ce fut un événement riche en discussions et en échanges d’idées. Vous trouverez de plus amples informations à ce sujet dans l’édition de ce jour sous la rubrique «News du CIEPSS».
Je suis également ravie de vous annoncer que le programme pour le séminaire international ‘Communities and Crisis – Inclusive Development through Sport’, qui aura lieu du 21 au 26 novembre à Rheinsberg, en Allemagne est maintenant disponible sur le site internet du CIEPSS. Il vous est ainsi possible de trouver plus d’information sous la rubrique, "Current Issue".
Je voudrais encore vous rappeler combien vos contributions comptent et sont toujours les bienvenues, qu’il s’agisse de nous informer d’une réunion ou d’une conférence ou d’introduire un nouveau projet de recherche ou un programme universitaire inédit. Vos commentaires en matière d’édition, à propos du format ou de tout autre aspect du Bulletin, sont toujours reçus avec grande reconnaissance. N’hésitez donc pas à m’envoyer vos mails à kkoenen@icsspe.org!
D’avance, je me réjouis de recevoir de vos nouvelles et de travailler avec vous!
Katrin Koenen
Responsable des publications et des affaires scientifiques
President`s Message - English
Margaret Talbot

As ICSSPE prepares for next month`s seminar “Communities and Crisis: Inclusive Development Through Sport”, which focuses on the uses of sport in managing trauma following disasters, our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues in Eastern Turkey, as the region deals with the aftermath of another earthquake. ICSSPE was first requested to become involved in this work, after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Since then, successive seminars have been held to build capacity and share skills among organisations and agencies which respond to natural disasters. This year, there appear to have been so many such disasters. It is very clear that in the immediate aftermath, survival and management of basic services are the priority. But during the recovery process, skilful use of physical activities has been shown to aid victims in dealing with the trauma they have faced, and will continue to face. This month, I will be Chairing a workshop during the Peace and Sport Summit, with a panel of experts who have very different experience of working with the processes of recovery, from major reconstruction through hosting major sporting events, through physical and mental rehabilitation of injured victims, and measurement of the impact of trauma management using physical activities. It is clear that there is growing interest in developing the expertise for trauma treatment – and this is perhaps one of the most surprising applications of our primary business – sport science and physical education.
Next month, I shall be speaking at TAFISA`s 22nd World Congress on Sport For All, on building bridges between sport sciences and sport for all practice and policy. This seems a particularly appropriate topic, given ICSSPE`s role as a global umbrella organisation which covers the whole range of expertise and practice across sport science and physical education. During 2011, many of our partners and members have recognised the wealth of knowledge and expertise which, collectively and separately, ICSSPE member organisations can offer; and we have been able to respond positively to the many requests for information, speakers or sources of evidence or information. Some of our elected officers have supported the Berlin office staff and the President`s Committee, in representing ICSSPE at international events and conferences – and they tell us how much they have gained from these experiences. It is positive, too, that their hosts tell us how helpful this international representation is, in raising the profile of organisations and events, within the host country; and in providing personal and institutional support for the organisations which sponsor events. ICSSPE patronage, in these cases, is more than symbolic.
In September, ICSSPE was hosted for its annual statutory meetings by the Wingate Institute, Israel. We are very grateful for the wonderful welcome, hospitality and excellent facilities which our Israeli colleagues offered us. The Conference which followed the ICSSPE meetings is reported elsewhere in this Bulletin, but I highlight here, the leadership of ICSSPE in managing cross-border relationships, securing inter-governmental and UN agency support, and in identifying both practitioners with experience of working across cultural and political divides, and scientists from the area of sport-as-development, who offered robust critique of policy and practice. This event, too, demonstrated ICSSPE`s unique capacity to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, and also the value of ensuring that practice and research inform each other; and that in turn, both influence policy.
This ICSSPE recipe is also evident as we prepare for the 2nd International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport (ICSEMIS) in Glasgow, to be held immediately prior to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. There is already a rich array of keynote presentations, workshops and seminars which show the value of multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to the complex challenges and problems facing sport and physical education. The four organisations which comprise the International Coordinating Committee have collaborated with the Local Organising and Scientific Committees, to ensure one of the most exciting opportunities for researchers and scholars of sport science and physical education, ever seen in one place. We look forward to seeing you in Glasgow!

Professor Margaret Talbot, PhD OBE FRSA

President, ICSSPE

President`s Message - French
Margaret Talbot
Le CIEPSS se prépare pour le séminaire du mois prochain, du nom de “Communities and Crisis: Inclusive Development Through Sport“, et se concentre sur les utilisations du sport en matière de gestion des traumatismes, suite à des catastrophes naturelles. A présent, nos pensées et prières s’adressent tout particulièrement à nos collègues de la Turquie orientale, qui doivent faire face aux conséquences d’un nouveau tremblement de terre. En 2004, pour la première fois, l’implication du CIEPSS fut réclamée dans ce domaine, suite au tsunami dévastateur dans l’océan indien. Depuis, de nombreux séminaires ont eu lieu pour élaborer une capacité commune et partager des compétences en matière de catastrophes naturelles, au sein d’organisations et d’agences spécialisées en la matière. Cette année fut particulièrement touchée par ce genre de désastres. Il est évident que la priorité, suite à ces catastrophes naturelles, se porte immédiatement sur la question de la survie et la gestion des services indispensables au quotidien. Toutefois, dans le processus de guérison, l’utilisation habile d’activités physiques a été démontrée. Ces activités aident les victimes à se relever de traumatismes qu’ils ont dus et doivent encore affronter.
Ce mois-ci, je présiderai un atelier, durant le sommet sur la paix et le sport, en compagnie de nombreux experts, qui ont eu des expériences de travail variées sur les processus de rétablissement suite à une reconstruction majeure due à l’accueil d’importants événements sportifs, la réhabilitation physique et mentale de victimes blessées, et la mesure de l’impact de l’usage du sport, dans la gestion de traumatismes. Il est clair que l’intérêt grandit dans le domaine du développement d’une spécialisation dans le traitement de traumatismes – et ceci est peut-être l’une des applications les plus surprenantes de notre activité principale – la science du sport et l’éducation physique.
Le mois prochain, je m’exprimerai, lors du 22ème Congrès de l’Association pour le Sport pour Tous international (TAFISA), sur la construction de liens entre les sciences du sport, la politique et la pratique du sport pour tous. Ce sujet semble particulièrement adapté à notre rôle. En effet, le CIEPSS est une organisation faîtière mondiale, qui couvre une vaste palette d’expertises et de pratiques en matière de science du sport et d’éducation physique. Durant l’année 2011, beaucoup de nos partenaires et membres ont reconnu la richesse des connaissances et de l’expertise, que collectivement et séparément, le CIEPSS peut offrir aux organisations membres. Nous avons pu répondre de nombreuses fois à des demandes d’informations, que ce soit pour des orateurs, des besoins de preuves ou pour une information simple. Certains de nos dirigeants élus ont soutenu le personnel du bureau de Berlin et le Comité du Président, en représentant le CIEPSS dans des événements et des conférences d’envergure internationale– ils nous expriment ensuite combien ces expériences les ont enrichis. En contrepartie, le retour donné par leurs hôtes est réjouissant. Ils nous disent combien cette représentation internationale aide à rehausser le profil d’organisations et d’événements dans le pays d’accueil, et à fournir un soutien personnel et institutionnel aux organisations qui parrainent des événements. Dans ce cas, le parrainage du CIEPSS devient plus que symbolique.
En septembre, le CIEPSS était reçu pour sa rencontre statutaire annuelle par l’institut Wingate, en Israël. Nous sommes très reconnaissants à nos collègues israéliens de leur merveilleux accueil, de leur hospitalité et des excellentes infrastructures mises à notre disposition, à cette occasion. La conférence, qui suivit la réunion du CIEPSS, sera présentée plus loin dans ce Bulletin. En revanche, je mets en évidence, l’aptitude du CIEPSS à bien mener les relations inter-frontalières, la garantie de l’assistance intergouvernementale et du support de l’ONU, et sa capacité à identifier des praticiens expérimentés dans le travail en milieux politiquement et culturellement divisés. Le contrôle du CIEPSS s’étend également aux scientifiques issus du domaine du sport, en tant que développement, qui ont amené de solides critiques en matière de politique et de pratique. Cet événement a également démontré l’unique capacité du CIEPSS à rassembler chercheurs, praticiens et politiciens, ainsi que l’importance de s’assurer que la pratique et la recherche s’informent mutuellement, et qu’en retour, les deux influencent la politique.
Cette capacité unique du CIEPSS apparaît aussi de manière évidente dans notre préparation de la deuxième Convention scientifique internationale d’Education physique et de Médecine du sport (ISCEMIS), à Glasgow, qui sera tenue juste avant les Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2012. Il y a déjà une riche palette de présentations clés, d’ateliers et de séminaires qui montre la valeur des approches tant pluridisciplinaires qu’interdisciplinaires en matière de défis complexes et de problèmes qui confrontent le sport et l’éducation physique. Les quatre organisations qui comprennent le Comité international de coordination ont collaboré avec les comités d’organisation locale et scientifique, afin d’assurer, aux chercheurs et universitaires de la science du sport et de l’éducation physique, l’une des plus extraordinaires opportunités jamais vue réunie en un seul lieu. Nous nous réjouissons de vous voir à Glasgow !
Professeur Margaret Talbot, PhD OBE FRSA
Présidente du CIEPSS
Welcome New Members
Since July, ICSSPE has received the following new membership applications which will be ratified at the 73nd Executive Board Meeting:
C033-2
Sacrena Community Soccer and Education Academy
Kenya
30 June 2011

Feature

Transgender Athletes - Introduction
Darlene Kluka & Anneliese Goslin
The topic of transgender athletes is one that has created much controversy, particularly in recent years. The questions of what constitutes a transgender athlete, whether someone is or is not female or male, how we define sex difference, and how we might make space in the world for people who do not neatly fit into categories of sex and gender continue to be asked.
This ICSSPE Bulletin feature seeks to provide some clarification about basic gender/sex terms; to provide insight into medical information concerning transgender athlete sport participation; to investigate policies related to inclusion of transgender athletes in sport programs; and to share perspectives on appropriate practices for those involved in sport. Because this topic will continue to be one of interest, particularly for younger generations who are athletes, coaches, administrators, managers, sport scientists, and physical educationists, articles written by established professionals as well as emerging professionals have been included in this feature.
The inclusion of transgender athletes is one of the challenges sport governing organisations face throughout the world. Prior to 2003, no sport governing body had policy relative to transgender athlete participation. The 1968 IOC policy of sex verification of women focused on the prevention of male athletes competing in women`s events. Unable to successfully develop medically-based tests, the policy was abandoned in 1999. The IOC was the first large-scale sport governing body to permit transgender athletes in the Olympic Games. The Stockholm Consensus was put in place for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The IOC Medical Commission included three criteria that had to be met in order for transgender athletes to compete. Transgender athletes must have undergone hormone replacement therapy for at least two years, be legally recognised as the sex in which they want to compete, and have had sex reassignment surgery to compete in their authentic genders.
Since the initiation of the IOC policy, the Ladies Golf Union in Great Britain, the Ladies European Golf Tour, Women`s Golf Australia, the United States Golf Association, USA Track and Field, IAAF, Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association, and the NCAA have also seen fit to establish transgender athletic competition in their events. Several more have adopted the IOC policies or have created their own. Women`s Sports Foundation in the United States and in the United Kingdom also established position papers supporting the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport.
Hancock and Hums present challenges to decision makers involving the ethics needed when dealing with participation by transsexual and transgender athletes. They posit that ethical dilemmas occur when significant value conflicts among differing interests, alternatives that are equally justifiable, and significant consequences to stakeholders intersect.
Sykes postulates that localised sport contexts must seek to develop inclusive gender policies while acknowledging that gender minorities have multiple and sometimes contradictory investments in stabilising or destabilising sex and gender categories. She also discusses the notion that mainstream, competitive sport has repeatedly sought to be exempt from the legal recognition and protection of transgender and transsexual rights.
From a Queer-Feminist perceptive, the article by Brookens explores issues of power and control in sport to examine the extent of access and equality for transgender athletes in the United States. The discourse is related to gender injustice because it reinforces societal expectations that people should align their gender identities and/or expressions with either their male or female birth assignment. A qualitative study of athletic administrators was conducted, based on queer-feminist theory content analysis. Brookens, from her findings, states that the creation of a non-discrimination policy does not eradicate transphobia, but may assist in decreasing the invisibility of transgender student-athletes.
One of the most cited reports published on the topic was written by Griffin and Carroll (2010). In On the Team, sponsored by several LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) and women`s rights organisations, transgender young people have the same right to participate and benefit from the positive aspects of athletics as other students do. Portions of this seminal report are shared in this feature, entitled Excerpts from `On the Team`. Griffin and Carroll present a straight-forward approach to the topic. School athletic leaders, in response to this interest, must identify effective and fair policies to ensure that transgender students have equal opportunities to participate on school sports teams. The authors develop the case that many trans girls take hormone blockers that prevent them from going through male puberty, meaning they do not develop the growth in long bones, muscle mass and strength that may give them an edge in sports. They also note that taking estrogen can neutralise any competitive advantage of being born male. It is also important to know that any athletic advantages a transgender girl or woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about a year of estrogen therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender girl or woman competing on a women`s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence. As one survey of existing research concludes, the data available do not appear to suggest that transitioned athletes would compete at an advantage or disadvantage as compared with physically born men and women.
The most recognised national organisation in the world that deals with university-related sport is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), headquartered in the United States of America. In August, 2011, the organisation published policy involving the inclusion of transgender athletes. Part of the NCAA`s inclusion report is reprinted. The report is destined to become a seminal document on the issue.
Ramagole, a sports medicine physician, discusses medical views on disorders of sexual development as medical conditions that have profound physical and psychological effects on individuals and their families. Challenges in the medical management of those conditions are presented as well as the background of sex and gender verification testing, guidelines on how to approach the issue with confidentiality, and suggestions for ways forward for sports participation.
Saitz, in a unique approach to the topic, presents the role of the applied sport psychology consultant relative to the inclusion of transgender athletes. She also suggests that additional research is vital to better understand the psychosocial impact of transgender participation in sport as well as establishing best practices for sport psychology service delivery to transgender athletes.
Also important to this discussion is the use of appropriate terms. Words that are used in explanation must be precise in order to focus and shape perceptions associated with sex and gender. The following terms can be considered as working definitions to aid in understanding as the reader delves into this feature`s topic (Sobrante, 2011):
Biological/anatomical sex – the physical structure of one`s reproductive organs that is used to assign sex at birth. Biological sex is determined by chromosomes (XX for females; XY for males); hormones (estrogen/progesterone for females, testosterone for males); and internal and external genitalia (vulva, clitoris, vagina for assigned females; penis and testicles for assigned males). Given the potential variation in all of these, biological sex must be seen as a spectrum or range of possibilities rather than a binary set of two options.
FtM (Female to Male) – a child or adult who was born anatomically female but has a male gender identity.
Gender – a socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people. Gender characteristics can change over time and are different between cultures. Gender is often used synonymously with sex, but this is inaccurate because sex refers to physical/biological characteristics and gender refers to social and emotional attributes.
Gender dysphoria – the intense and continuous discomfort a person feels when sex and gender identity are not aligned. Not all people experiencing gender dysphoria seek treatment. Before medical treatment is considered, most people will show signs of thinking and behaving in ways more usual to the other sex. Because of social pressures, many people enter a period of denial in their late teens, in which they try to suppress any thoughts or feelings to do with their gender identity.
Gender identity – innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One`s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
Gender role – this is the set of roles, activities, expectations and behavior assigned to females and males by society. Some cultures recognise two basic gender roles: masculine (having the qualities attributed to males) and feminine (having the qualities attributed to females). People who step out of their socially assigned gender roles are sometimes referred to as transgender. Other cultures recognise three or more gender roles.
Intersex – About 1% of children are born with chromosomes, hormones, genitalia and/or other sex characteristics that are not exclusively male or female as defined by the medical establishment in society. In most cases, these children are at no medical risk, but most are assigned a biological sex (male or female) by their doctors and/or families.
MtF (Male to Female) – A child or adult who was born anatomically male but has a female gender identity.
Sexual orientation – term that refers to being romantically or sexually attracted to people of a specific gender. Out sexual orientation and our gender identity are separate, distinct parts of overall identity. Although a child may not yet be award of their sexual orientation, they usually have a strong sense of gender identity.
Transgender – Occasionally used as an umbrella term to describe anyone whose identity or behavior falls outside of stereotypical gender norms. More narrowly defined, it refers to an individual whose gender identity does not match their assigned birth gender. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation (attraction to people of a specific gender). Therefore, transgender people may additionally identify as straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual.
Transition – The process by which a transgender individual strives to have physical presentation more closely align with identity. Transition can occur in three ways: social transition through non-permanent changes in clothing, hairstyle, name and/or pronouns; medical transition through the use of medicines such as hormone “blockers” or cross hormones to promote sex-based body changes; and/or surgical transition in which an individual`s body is complicated, multi-step process that may take years and may include, but is not limited to, sex reassignment surgery.
Transsexuals – individuals who do not identify with their birth-assigned sex and physically alter their bodies surgically and/or hormonally. This physical transition is a complicated, multi-step process that may take years and may include, but is not limited to, sex reassignment surgery.
Transphobia – Fear or hatred of transgender people; transphobia is manifested in a number of ways, including violence, harassment, and discrimination.
ICSSPE is committed to diversity, inclusion, and gender equity through sport and physical activity worldwide. By presenting this feature on the transgender athlete, it is hoped that diversity, inclusion and gender equity will improve sport learning environments and enhance excellence for all those who participate.
References
Sobrante, C. (2011). A word about words…Gender Spectrum. info@genderspectrum.org
Contact
Darlene A. Kluka, Ph. D., D Phil
Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences
Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida – USA
Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Email: dkluka@mail.barry.edu
Anneliese Goslin, D Phil, MBA
Department of Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South Africa
Visiting Professor, Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida, USA
Email: goslin@sport.up.ac.za
Participation by Transsexual and Transgender Athletes: Ethical Dilemmas Needing Ethical Decision Making Skills
Meg Hancock & Mary A. Hums
“What rules, indeed what ethic, should govern the ability of transsexual athletes to participate in competitive sport?” (Reeser, 2005, p. 698)
Introduction
Sport has long been recognised for its physical, psychological, social, and educational benefits. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) crafted the International Charter on Physical Education and Sport, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stated that access to physical education and sport should be assured and guaranteed for all human beings (UNESCO, 1978). The Charter implored national and international governing bodies to encourage universal participation in physical activity and sport with the belief that sport, as a common language, has the potential to promote peace, respect, and friendship. UNESCO also underscored the utility of sport in achieving high levels of “physical, intellectual, and moral powers” (UNESCO, 1978, para. 5), which contribute to the development of individuals and societies.
Yet, throughout history, educational institutions, national sport governing bodies, and international sport federations have developed policies, which preclude individuals from participation and competition (Reeser, 2005; Sykes, 2006). Thus, individuals excluded from participation are less likely to benefit from the positive physical, psychological, and intellectual development acquired through sport. Sport organisations argue, however, that such policies were adopted to ensure fair competition and a level playing field (Reeser, 2005) regardless of their (intended or unintended) exclusionary consequences. In other words, policies were adopted to address people and practices perceived as threats to fair competition.
Historically, gender has often been at the root of exclusionary practices and policies in sport (Reeser, 2005; Sykes, 2006). Sport as an institution perpetuates the gender binary through the continued regulation of sex-segregated activities (Sykes). In addition, gender identity – more specifically, athletes who identify as transgender – has become an important topic of conversation for national and international sport organisations. Much of the controversy surrounding transgender athletes in competition at any level is grounded in maintaining a level playing field (Coggon, Hammond, Holm, 2008; Reeser, 2005; Sykes, 2006; Teetzel, 2006).
Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe individuals whose gender identity does not match their assigned birth gender (Griffin & Carroll, 2011). The concern for sport organisations is not necessarily transgender athletes per se, but more so with athletes who identify as transsexual. By definition, a transsexual individual is likely to alter his/her body surgically and/or hormonally to match his/her gender identity (Griffin & Carroll, p. 3). For example, a male-to-female (MTF) transsexual is a person born with characteristics defined as biologically and anatomically male, but may identify as female. The individual may elect to engage in hormone therapy or undergo surgical procedures to change her body to reflect her gender identity. Reeser (2005), however, contended that we cannot fault the athlete for identifying as transsexual as it is recognised medical condition. Several scholars suggested the benefits of transgender participation in sport for the transathlete and his/her teammates (Barber & Crane, 2007; Griffin & Carroll, 2011; van Ingen, 2011). Is it fair, then, to exclude the athlete from the benefits of athletic participation?
This paper explores the juxtaposition between the ethic of fair play and access and inclusion for transgender athletes, including those identified as transsexual. We begin with a brief overview of the evolution of transgender policies in sport. We also address ethical dilemmas faced by sport organisations as they pertain to fair competition and inclusion and access. Finally, we suggest an ethical decision-making model for sport organisations exploring the creation and implementation of policies designed for transathletes, but with the understanding that such policies affect all athletes.
Transgender Policies in Sport
Administrators working in sport organisations at every level from youth to elite must now reconsider conceptualisations and regulation pertaining to gender in order to address ethics of fair play and access and inclusion (Sykes, 2006). This section explores examples of transgender participation policies at international, collegiate and university, and youth sport levels.
International Olympic Committee. Between 1968 and 2000, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) required female athletes submit to gender verification testing to ensure eligibility for competition. In other words, the IOC used gender verification testing to ensure that women competing in Olympic events were, in fact, women. The implementation of gender verification testing was the result of speculation that some countries competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games had men pose as female athletes to gain not only a competitive edge, but also political power (Reeser, 2005). The IOC suspended gender verification testing just before the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games after 29 other international sport federations determined that scientific methods for verifying an athlete`s sex were unreliable (Reeser, 2005; Ritchie, 2003). While the international sport community no longer routinely engages in gender verification testing, concern about the integration and participation of transsexual athletes remains (Reeser, 2005).
Identifying as transgender would not preclude any athlete from participation on a team. However, identifying as a transsexual and undergoing hormone therapy or surgical procedures to bring the physical body in line with the gender identity poses issues for sport governing bodies. More specifically, a transsexual male (female-to-male) may have a competitive advantage over other women when he begins taking hormones such as testosterone. Conversely, a transsexual female (male-to-female) may be viewed as having a competitive advantage because she is perceived to have physiological characteristics (e.g., height, weight, strength) that are male.
In 2004, the IOC introduced the Stockholm Consensus, which defined the transsexual athlete as someone who has undergone sex reassignment surgery and is being treated with sex hormones to adopt the physiology of the opposite sex (IOC, 2003). More specifically, the IOC stipulated that a transsexual athlete can only participate in Olympic competition when he/she meets the following requirements:

- Surgical anatomical changes have been completed, including external genitalia changes and gonadectomy
- Legal recognition of their assigned sex has been conferred by the appropriate official authorities
- Hormonal therapy appropriate for the assigned sex has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimise gender-related advantages in sport competitions. (IOC, 2003, para. 4)

The IOC also requires that male-to-female transsexuals wait two years following a gonadectomy even though medical science indicates levels of testosterone drop to minimal levels within one year of surgery (Goorin & Bunck, 2004).
The Stockholm Consensus has become a template for international sport organisations interested in developing policies to regulate the participation of transsexual athletes in an effort to maintain an ethic of fair play. However, the Consensus appears to single out male-to-female transsexuals as the threat to a level playing field. According to Reeser (2005), there is little evidence to suggest that female-to-male transsexual athletes “pose a significant competitive threat to male athletes in most sports” (p. 699). In its attempt to include transsexual athletes in Olympic competition, is the Stockholm Consensus discriminatory?
National Collegiate Athletic Association. In the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) adopted a new policy regarding the participation of transgender athletes in intercollegiate sport competition (Lawrence, 2011). The policy allows transgender student-athletes the opportunity to compete “in accordance with their gender identity while maintaining the relative balance of competitive equity among sports teams” (Lawrence, 2011, para. 2). The following policies specify requirements for transgender student-athlete participation (Griffin & Carroll, 2011, p. 13):

- A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or transsexualism, for purposes of NCAA competition may compete on a man`s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women`s team without changing that team status to mixed team.
- A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition, may continue to compete on a man`s team but may not compete on a woman`s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.

Similar to the IOC, the NCAA policy appears to single out the male-to-female transsexual student-athlete as a greater threat to the integrity of fair competition. Additionally, FTM student athletes who are not taking testosterone may choose to participate on a men`s or women`s team. A MTF transathlete, however, cannot compete on a women`s team when she is not taking hormone treatments because the athlete is perceived to have a competitive physiological advantage. Is it fair, then, to allow a FTM transathlete to compete on a team that is more aligned with his gender identity when a MTF not engaging in hormone is prohibited from doing so? Many transgender people choose not to undergo hormone therapy or surgery. Are we then forcing student-athletes to make decisions about participation because policies are too broad?
Youth Sport
Studies on youth have shown that participation in sport and physical activity promotes physical health and reduces stress, anxiety, and depression (Allender, Cowburn, & Foster, 2006; Seefeldt & Ewing, 1997). Additionally, physical activity and sport improves confidence, enhances self-esteem, improves body image (Allender, Cowburn, & Foster, 2006; Bailey, Wellard, & Dismore, 2004; Seefeldt & Ewing, 1997) and lowers rates of depression (Boone & Leadbetter, 2006). It also provides opportunities for peer-to-peer social interaction beyond family networks (Brady, 1998; Meier, 2005; United Nations, 2003).
While studies on the effects of sport and physical activity are encouraging, studies on transgender youth found that physical education classes and athletic events are unsafe environments (Kosciw, Greytak, Diaz, & Bartkiewicz, 2010). Moreover, little research has been conducted on transgender children and youth involvement in sport. However, research on transgender youth has shown that 33.2% of transgender youth have attempted suicide (Clements-Nolle, Marx, & Katz, 2006) and 74% reported being sexually harassed (GLSEN, 2001).
Barber and Krane (2007) suggested that teachers and coaches have the opportunity to champion inclusion of all students, but many are ill-equipped to do so, particularly when talking about gender identity and expression. Furthermore, early childhood educators may consider gender identity and expression moral issues better suited for discussion at home than at school. As a result, schools often lack inclusion policies, particularly those geared toward transgender students. For example, if a boy wants to participate on the softball team because he identifies as a female but has not transitioned, would school administrators allow his participation? IOC and NCAA guidelines would prohibit participation, but a study by the Women`s Sports Foundation (n. d.) suggested there are no physiological differences between boys and girls before puberty. In other words, there is no competitive advantage for a boy playing on a girls` team.
The aforementioned example presents an ethical dilemma. A dilemma that, in one context has a clear solution, but when presented in another context becomes more difficult to solve. Ethical decisions are, then, context specific (Jones, 1991). Therefore, adopting an ethical decision-making framework may help sport administrators embrace their specific value orientations, while also providing individuals with a more rational and reasoned explanation of policy creation and its implementation (Bartlett, 2003).
Ethical Decision Making
Sport administrators are challenged to solve complex questions on a daily basis. When making decisions, a good sport administrator knows that it is necessary to use a logical process to come to a conclusion. This tenet is true whether the decision is a business decision, a personnel decision, or an ethical decision. It may hold even more true when being faced with an ethical dilemma.
A topic such as the one at hand in this paper is underpinned with ethical dilemmas. An ethical dilemma occurs when there are, “(a) significant value conflicts among differing interests, (b) real alternatives that are equally justifiable, and (c) significant consequences to stakeholders” (McNamara, n.d., Ethics Tools section). Clearly, these conditions exist when discussing the issue of sport participation by transgender and transsexual athletes.
Making a decision about the eligibility of transgender and transsexual athletes may seem to differ depending on the context. Are we talking about recreational level sport, youth sport, or elite level sport? Yet while these sporting contexts may differ, the sport administrators dealing with the issue still need an organised process by which to come to a decision. We would like to suggest that sport administrators keep in mind the following generally applicable ethical decision making model as a guide in these situations (Hums, Barr, & Gullion, 1999, p. 64; Zinn, 1993):

1. Gather all available info – Decision makers rarely have all the information they truly desire to make a decision. However, they must try and assess the information they can aggregate in a timely fashion to address the issue at hand. For example, gather the most relevant medical and legal information available.
2. Examine personal beliefs – It is good to hold to one`s personal beliefs, and people often hold strong beliefs about issues related to sexual identity. However, one must also be cognisant of when holding to those beliefs becomes an impediment to solving the dilemma.
3. Consult with your peers – It is likely that someone else in another sport organisation has been confronted by a similar question about transsexual or transgender athlete participation. Discuss the issue with your trusted peers, but remember to keep information confidential about the athlete in question.
4. List your options – It is always good to have options and put as many solutions as possible on the table for discussion. It helps to put them in writing to be able to compare and contrast them. With this issue, a range of decision outcomes are possible.
5. Look for a win/win solution – Try to find a solution that will be the most fair to all parties involved - the athlete, opponents, sport governing bodies. While this is not always possible, it should be the “end goal.”
6. Sleep on it – These types of decisions take time. Decision makers must avoid the temptation to make a hasty decision. Take time to really see all sides of the issue and how all parties will be impacted.
7. Make your best decision – After weighing all the options and considering all sides of the issue as thoughtfully as possible, this is the best anyone can ask. People will have strong opinions regarding transsexual and transgender athletes, but if an administrator takes care to make the best decision, many questions can be addressed.
8. Evaluate – Too often sport administrators overlook this step. What impact did the decision have? In retrospect, was it the right decision? If not, how can one make the appropriate adjustments to come to a fair and equitable outcome? Over time, new information and knowledge about transsexual and transgender athletes will emerge. A decision made now will need to be evaluated to see if it stands the test of time.

Is it easy to apply this model? Not always, but it does give sport administrators some structure when deliberating on this topic.
Conclusion
Transgender young people have the same right to participate and benefit from the positive aspects of athletics as other students do. School athletic leaders, in response to this interest, must identify effective and fair policies to ensure that transgender students have an equal opportunity to participate on school sports teams (Griffin & Carroll, 2010, p. 6).
As sport administrators/managers, we are charged with developing and cultivating inclusive and safe environments for current and prospective athletes – youth to elite. Our decisions will not be easy, particularly as they pertain to participation by transgender and transsexual athletes. We must grapple with the ethic of fair play and opportunities for access and inclusion. Medical science offers new information on the effects of hormone therapy and surgical procedures almost daily. In recent years, lawmakers in several countries have passed legislation intended to stop discrimination and abuse of transgender people. Socially, communities may embrace myriad forms of gender identity and expression, while others will reject it, leaving transgender individuals isolated.
Understanding the transgender athlete and the issues he/she may encounter in competition, in medicine, and in society can help us think more critically about policy and implementation. Using an ethical decision making model can help us ensure fair competition, while also being more cognisant of consequences for all athletes. Sykes (2006) contended that future sport policies on gender require an “ethical vulnerability to …hybrid bodies” (p. 12) which “requires a capacity to live with instability rather than break down in the face of transitions; to seek out the most expansive rather than familiar forms of gender/sex legislation in sport” (p. 12). Therefore, as sport administrators, we must be innovative, forward-thinking, and ground breaking. Our athletes have done it, why can`t we?
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Contact
Prof. Dr. Mary A. Hums
University of Louisville
Louisville, USA
Email: mhums@louisville.edu
Dr. Meg Hancock
University of Louisville
Louisville, USA
Email: mghanc01@louisville.edu

Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport
Heather Sykes
Reprinted with permission from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance/National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, Spring, 2006.
The Uneven History of Gender Policies in Sport
The ways in which sport policies conceptualise, and therefore regulate, gender has undergone significant changes. At the Olympic Games, from 1968 until 2000, the IOC used sex testing to verify that athletes competing in women`s events were “women.” In the United States, Title IX was introduced in 1972 to increase opportunities for “women” in college sport. During the 1990s the Gay Games developed a gender policy about “men, women, transgender and intersex” athletes. In 2004, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced the Stockholm Consensus to allow “transsexual” athletes to compete at the Olympics. These gender policies have an uneven history and do not reflect a universal increase in acceptance of gender variance in the world of sport. There continues to be tremendous resistance to any changes to the normative gender binary in many different sporting communities including many women`s sports, the Gay Games, and the Olympics. In this article I argue that this resistance indicates a pervasive anxiety about the instability of gender categories in various sporting contexts. Queer theorist Diana Fuss (1991) explains how an excluded outside is always needed in order to stabilise a sense of identity, since identity is relational, defined in relation to “another.” This excluded outside, or absent presence, has the potential to reveal a radical instability within the self. A key point here is that the “other” is needed, is never fully outside, and that whatever marginalised position we advocate for will produce another excluded outside. Here I argue that a normalising anxiety about gender variance in sport has caused ongoing problems in the pursuit of gender rights in women`s sport, in gay sports, and at the Olympics. In this article I examine these underlying psychic anxieties that occur at the limits of binary gender categories “man” and “woman”; specifically, when gender categories in sport policies become less essentialist, less intelligible, and less amenable to policies of liberal inclusion. I argue that gender inclusive policies, because they attempt to be universal, are necessarily limiting due to the multiple ways of inhabiting gender categories and the contradictory interests of diverse gender minorities. Drawing on queer, postmodern ideas of generosity (Diprose, 2002) and vulnerability (Schildrick, 2002), I contend that this requires us to reflect on our capacity to live with gendered instability and think differently about our political responses to otherness.
The politics surrounding gender rights in sport is being shaped from multiple locations with conflicting histories and investments. Mainstream sport organisations are slowly responding to pressure from transgender activist groups starting with The Transsexual Menace who directly affected the 1994 Gay Games policies and, more recently, CHANGE, the Transgender Law Centre, and the online magazine TransHealth have influenced the policies of some mainstream sport organisations. High profile male to female (mtf) transsexual athletes such as tennis player Reneé Richards, golfer Mianne Baggar, cyclist Michele Dumaresq, and kick boxer Parinya Charoenphol have issued major challenges to who has access to professional and elite levels of women`s sport. Within popular culture, films such as Beautiful Boxer and Iron Ladies I & II have brought narratives of Thai kathoeys (male to female transsexuals) in competitive volleyball and professional kickboxing to a mass, global audience. To date, there are extremely few high-profile cases of female to male (ftm) athletes in elite levels of men`s sport, although anecdotal accounts are gradually starting to reveal the experiences of transsexual men in localised sporting contexts.
This New Gender Politics (Butler, 2004) is being forged in alliances between antihomophobia, antiracist, feminist, trans, and intersex activists.1 One of the tensions such coalitions must confront is conflicting attachments to stable sex assignments and identity categories. Rather than trying to adjudicate the degrees of transphobia in policies that promise transsexual inclusion in sport, the task is to apprehend and be transformed by these conflicting gender assignments and policies. Butler (2004) proposes a political route to supercede queer theory`s suspicion towards stable identity, that risks erasing the importance of stable sex embodiment for transsexual and intersexed subjects with a coalitional opposition “to the unwanted legislation of identity” (p.7). She argues that it doesn`t follow that queer theory opposed all forms of stable gender assignment; rather it is opposed to universalising sexuality and gender through categorisation. Within the United States national context, Title IX has the potential to protect and open new doors for certain groups of transsexual-identified people.
Undoubtedly, male-to-female transsexual athletes have greater access to high school and college sports as a result of the hard won protections of the Title IX non-discrimination policy. However, the same policy also carries the risk of being “unwanted legislation” for other gender ambiguous and intersex students who remain unintelligible within the gender categories protected under Title IX. In the international sporting arena, the IOC policy on sex reassignment serves a similar ambivalent process. Such is the nature of universalising human rights discourses. So at the same time as pushing for inclusive transsexual policies, the excluded outside must be acknowledged and engaged.
This leads me to reflect upon Rosalyn Diprose`s (2002) ethical call for “dominant bodies” in sporting contexts not merely to become aware of, but to be transformed by, gender differences. Poststructuralism, according to cultural theorist Margrit Schildrick (2002), grants the analytic tools to theorise instability and vulnerability whereas Gloria Anzaldúa`s (1988) work also provides entradas into the borderlands where normalcy may be deconstructed. If we think of gender as an achievement (Schildrick, 2002) and as a “kind of doing, an incessant activity performed, in part, without one`s knowing and without one`s willing” (Butler, 2004, p. 1), developing inclusive gender policies and politics in sport becomes an ongoing project based on imaginary, mutable and yet deeply invested racialised gender categories.
While existing gender equity and non-discrimination policies may hold important lessons for sporting communities to learn, they are not to be found in analysing what Katherine Jamieson (2005) critiques as a “liberated woman” narrative that “specifically refers to a utopian womanhood founded on the notion that the post-colonial is here, and that its best form is the athletic, slightly muscled, individually disciplined and (flexibly) white, female body” (p. 44).
Jamieson reveals how analysing the extent to which gender equity discourses that rely on such “liberated women” not only erase the unequal structural consequences of race, social class, and sexuality but also install an essentialist notion of “liberated woman” into our collective imagination. For instance, despite tremendous increases in women`s participation in U.S. college sport, female athletes of colour continue to be underrepresented at a higher rate than white women which is, in turn, linked to the disproportionate representation of persons of colour in lower socio-economic populations (Women`s Sport Foundation, 2003). We also need to analyse how the “liberated woman” category has frequently resisted incorporating transsexual women, transgender, and intersex people. Alongside the critique initiated by Jamieson, this requires an analysis of psychic and discursive forces animating what Butler (2004) terms the New Gender Politics beyond the universalising, neoliberal narratives of women`s gains and men`s losses in sport:
Transgender Rights in the U.S.
The history of gender activism in sport has, until recently, been largely disconnected from the very different histories of transsexual, queer, intersex, and trans-gender movements. To illustrate, the following section reviews the disparate histories of transgender social movements and transgender issues in sport within the context. Transgender activists were at the center of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City which is often claimed as a pivotal moment in the emergence of the modern U.S. gay rights movement. When police raided the Stonewall bar for the second time in one week, the bar`s patrons had had enough. Transgender activist Sylvia Rivera is often attributed with sparking a riot that lasted three days (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2005). Despite the pivotal role played by trans activists in the formation of early gay rights organisations immediately following Stonewall, there was significant backlash against transgender issues in gay, lesbian, and feminist movements during the 1970s. Rivera herself became greatly disillusioned with the desire of many early gay and lesbian activists to distance the gay movement from transvestites, drag queens, and other gender variant people (Scarpinato & Moore, 2002). Sport was also to play a pivotal, if temporary, role in transgender history at this time. In 1976 transsexual Reneé Richards applied to play in the women`s tennis U.S. Open.
The United States Tennis Association countered by requiring all women entrants to take a sex chromosome test (Kennedy, 1976). Reneé Richards` went on to compete in the tournament after winning her legal battle in which a New York court ruled that the sex test was being used unfairly and violated Richards` human rights (Richards v. U. S. Tennis Assn.). This court decision was crucial in establishing legal recognition of transsexual people after sex reassignment surgery (SRS) although it did little to bring about widespread protection for trans-athletes in the wider sporting context (Brown, 1998). In fact, a decade later the United States Golf Association responded to increasing success of transsexual golfer Charlotte Ann Woods by adding the overtly transphobic eligibility requirement that “entries are open to amateurs who were female at birth” (Higdon, 1992, p. 56). Transsexual, transgender, and intersex activism became increasingly organised during the 1990`s. The early 1990s saw the formation of the Intersex Society of North America, the Transsexual Menace, the Camp Trans protests outside Michigan Womyn`s Music Festival and more recently GenderPAC (Wilchins, 2004).
In the United States there are varying degrees of legislation protecting people from gender-based discrimination and harassment at the federal, state and local levels. In education, U.S. Federal law protects transgender students under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and Title IX. The Equal Protection Clause means that schools have a duty to protect transgender students from harassment on an equal basis with all other students. The Flores and Nabozny cases showed that school officials have an obligation to respond to harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation (Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District; Nabozny v. Podlesny). In the Nabozny case, the court ruled that public schools, and school officials as individuals, may be financially liable if they fail to address homophobic abuse of a student by other students. In 2004, during the Flores case, the court again ruled that if a school knows anti-gay harassment is taking place, it is obligated to take meaningful steps to end it and to protect students. Moreover the settlement of the Flores case included a mandatory anti-homophobia training programme for all administrators, staff, and students within the school district. The Transgender Law and Policy Institute contend that the same rationale would likely be applied if a school failed to protect a transgender student from harassment or discrimination. A transgender student must also be treated similarly to other students of the same gender identity. For instance, if a school imposes a dress code on a male-to-female transsexual that is different than the dress code that is applied to biological females, then the school is applying rules in a sex discriminatory way (Doe v. Yunits). Discrimination on the basis of gender non-conformity is one of the forms of prohibited conduct under Title IX. Hence if a boy is called girls` names because he is perceived to be effeminate, failure to take steps to stop that harassment may violate Title IX (Miles v. New York University). Thus, trans people excluded from collegiate and extracurricular athletics who decide to issue a legal challenge are likely to seek recourse under Title IX on the basis of sex discrimination (Pilgrim, Martin & Binder, 2002-2003). Revised Title IX Guidelines state that gender-based harassment is also a form of sex discrimination to which a school must respond (National Center for Lesbian Rights, 2004). These non-discrimination school policies demonstrate how transgender identity is being brought into existence, through policy discourses at the education system and state levels. As one reviewer of this manuscript insight-fully noted, there is a constant negotiation of these state-interpellated genders by individual students whose self-identified gender identities may reflect, but also resist and re-signify, the gender subject positions articulated in these policies.
At the state level, Florida, Louisiana, New York, and Texas have introduced Safe School Bills that address issues of gender identity. In Florida the safe schools bill was blocked; in Louisiana the bill was withdrawn after references to gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation were taken out; and the New York safe school bill died over disagreements over gender expression (Transgender Law and Policy Institute, 2003). Schools in California are required to protect students from discrimination and harassment on the basis of actual and perceived gender identity and the law defines “gender “ very broadly: “as a person`s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person`s gender identity and gender related appearance and behaviour whether or not stereo-typically associated with the person `s assigned sex at birth” (Transgender Law and Policy Institute, 2003).
At the level of school boards, the San Francisco Unified School District policy on transgender students includes a specific clause about sports and physical education class, which states that trans students cannot be denied physical education or forced to do it outside class time (Cho, Laub, Wall, & Joslin, 2004). This progressive policy states that students should (generally) be allowed to do sex-segregated classes according to their self-identified gender identity, so long as it is “exclusively and consistently asserted at school” (Transgender Law and Policy Institute, 2003); however participation in competitive athletics and contact sports are resolved on a case by case basis. This “case by case” caveat reveals the ongoing anxiety that non-mainstream gender identities produce when participation in school sports is at stake. Similar anxieties about diverse gender identities in school sports are also evident at the level of sport governing bodies.
The next section outlines how sport governing bodies tend to seek exemptions from gender inclusive legislation at the regional and federal levels. These legislative manoeuvres indicate that sport is one of the cultural practices most apprehensive about changes in the categories “woman” and “man.” Thus, Title IX has provided a legal mechanism to expand the category of “woman” to potentially include transsexual and gender variant women. It has undoubtedly provided more opportunities for ftm transsexuals to participate in U.S. collegiate sport (although still presumably in racialised and ethnicised ways). Yet this inclusion continues to construct mtf transsexual women as exceptional, as a sporting crisis, subject to case-by-case evaluation and shrouded in suspicion. Transsexual`s entry into the intelligibility of sex within Title IX still requires application, and adjudication, and carries with it an eminent threat of repeal or expulsion from the category “woman.” Trans inclusion still needs to be struggled for through the often expensive coalition of gender queer subjectivities with legislative and advocacy systems.
Mainstream Sport Seeks Exemption from Transgender Rights Mariah Burton Nelson (1994) stated that “the stronger women get, the more men love football.” Nelson`s slogan could now be reworked into “the stronger transgender rights get, the more sports seek legal exemptions.” The greater the impact transsexual rights have on sport, the greater the anxiety for mainstream sport organisations. Intersex, transsexual, and gender queer competitors threaten the “imagined bodies” (Gatens, 1996) that populate deep-seated cultural fantasies about competitive sport. Non-transsexual women have, on occasion, been vocal in opposing transsexuals` rights to compete. For example, Karen Pickering, a British Commonwealth freestyle champion, is reported to have said she would feel comfortable competing against a transsexual but only if it could be proved she didn`t have an unfair advantage. I contend that normative and hierarchical cultural attachments to the binary structure of women`s and men`s competition intensify the anxieties about non-binary gender or gender transition. This anxiety has often led sporting communities to segregate from, if not oppose, transgender people and politics. A group of women cyclists protested mtf Canadian mountain biker, Michele Dumaresq`s inclusion in the women`s national mountain biking championships.
Mainstream, competitive sport has repeatedly sought to be exempt from the legal recognition and protection of transgender and transsexual rights. In 2002 the European Court of Human Rights found the United Kingdom had breached the rights of two transsexual people to marry (Goodwin v. The United Kingdom). Under international law, the United Kingdom government was obliged to implement the court`s decisions as soon as possible, which gave rise to a the Gender Recognition Act (United Kingdom Government, 2004) designed to protect transsexuals` civil rights. UK Sport immediately requested to be exempt from this Gender Recognition Act so that individual sporting organisations could ignore the intent of the legislation and continue to make their own decisions about whether transsexual people may compete. This exemption was granted and the far-reaching implications are evident in a government document designed to give guidance to sporting organisations when implementing the Gender Recognition Act (United Kingdom Government, 2005). Both competitive and recreational sport organisations are instructed that the legislation does “not give transsexual people the automatic right to participate in competitive sport alongside other people of their acquired gender” (p. 5). `Specifically, the policy document states that transsexual people may be restricted or prohibited in competing in “gender-affected sports” where “the physical strength, stamina, or physique of average persons of one gender would put them at a disadvantage to average persons of the other gender” (p. 7).
Sport is also exempt from the 1996 Transgender Bill in New South Wales according to the Australian Sports Commission (2005). These legal exemptions are justified by manifest discourses about the fairness of competition and the safety of “other” non-transsexual competitors. The rationale for sport to be exempt from transgender legislation relies heavily upon morphological and endocrinological discourses about an “unfair advantage.” The unfair advantage thesis suggests that male to female transsexual athletes are likely to have muscular strength advantage since they “have been under the influence of hormones under their former gender during their puberty” (IOC, 2004). It is important to note that policy and scientific discourses rarely, if ever, refer to unfair situations created by female to male transsexual athletes competing in men`s sports, indicating a belief in the superiority of hegemonic masculinity whether it be biologically and culturally ascribed. The United Kingdom Women`s Sports Foundation (2002) countered concerns about mtf athletes` unfair advantage in sport by pointing out that people born with other genetic advantages for sport should similarly be prohibited. Helen Donohoe of the United Kingdom Women`s Sports Foundation (2002) elucidates how the unfair advantage discourse relies on beliefs that male to female athletes who transition after puberty benefit from:

- Previous muscular development
- Higher testosterone levels
- Greater muscle to fat ratio
- Greater heart and lung capacity
- Tendency to greater aptitude in motor skills.

However, male-to-female transitioning involves massive doses of estrogen therapy which decreases strength. Male-to-female Canadian cyclist Michelle Dumaresq reported that in response to female hormone therapy, she lost 20 pounds and has a blood testosterone level of two nanomoles per liter, which is well inside the range for an average woman (Pilgrim, Martin, & Binder, 2002-2003). Moreover, according to Donohoe, this unfair advantage discourse assumes:

- Anyone exposed to testosterone before puberty will be a good athlete
- All males are better athletes than all females
- Males will change gender in order to reap the benefits of women`s sport that they are unable to achieve in men`s sport.

Testosterone usage by fit athletes does not necessarily produce the imagined, predictable gains in strength and athleticism. Female to male cyclist Kevin O`Malley reported that testosterone didn`t change the shape of his body sufficiently, which he described as hourglass-shaped before transition, so he started weight lifting: “for me it was this awful, terrifying, out of control feeling…My body was out of whack” (Cascio, 2002, p. 4). Cascio also notes that Kevin also went through a bloating phase where he gained three to four inches around his waist.
The unfair advantage discourse can be countered on its own terms, using contradictory scientific findings and deconstructive biological approaches, exemplified in the work of Ann Fausto-Sterling (1992) and Myra Hird (2004). The underlying cultural investments in this discourse also need interrogating. Sheila Cavanagh and I have examined the psychic dynamics driving the unfair advantage discourse that surrounds male to female transsexual athletes. We argue that, while transsexual and Olympic bodies have different histories and unique experiences in the social and political realms, transsexual and Olympic bodies evoke anxiety about bodies that undergo transition, particularly changes in muscularity. In the Western, heteronormativity imaginary, such changes in muscularity provoke anxieties about bodily deterioration and, ultimately, mortality. The unfair advantage discourse serves to preserve the cultural fantasy of binary gender categories and, therefore, the apparent logic of women`s and men`s sport by disavowing that gender identities are an ongoing, unstable achievements that are not always intelligible within stable, binary categories (Cavanagh & Sykes, in press).
The Gay Games Rather than develop a policy about transsexual/transgender athletes, The Gay Games has struggled to develop an inclusive gender policy for “men, women, transgender and intersex” athletes (Chicago Games, 2005; The Gender Centre Inc., 2002) as a result of ongoing protests and pressure from trans activists. In 1994 Transsexual Menace protested the restrictive rules of the New York Gay Games, with banners that read “Gay Games to transgendered: DROP DEAD!!!” because they were being asked to prove they had undergone surgery or lived for two years with hormones in their gender of identity (Brown, 1998). The gender policy was altered slightly as a result.
To participate in the 1998 Gay Games in Amsterdam, transgender participants had to document they were undergoing hormonal treatment and had their local or international (passport) documents changed. Female-to-male Loren Cameron withdrew from the bodybuilding competition in Amsterdam because he felt the requirement to document his gender was intrusive (Johnson, 1998, p. 5). Trans activist groups rightly pointed out how documentation perpetuated a stereotype that transsexual people are inherently untrustworthy and deceptive by suggesting that they are likely to deceive the organisers about their “true” gender (GenderPAC, 1998). Thus the Gay Games revealed suspicion and anxiety towards gender change and non-binary gender in athletes` lives. When it comes to sport, even gay sport, the anxiety about gender variation is fossilised due to ongoing psychic attachments to the binary gender structure of “women`s and men`s events” as the de facto structure for organising competitions.
Nevertheless, the Gay Games have been one of the few organisations that has addressed racial and ethnic differences in transgender identities within their gender policy. Differences between indigenous, racialised, de-colonial histories of gender variance and gender/sex subject positions are usually subsumed beneath the inevitable universalising of rights and policy discourses. Policy discourses underpinned by nationalism, as in Title IX, or internationalism, as in the Stockholm Consensus swiftly erase any differential histories and constructions of transgender across and within national borders. In most transsexual rights discourses, transsexual people are considered as a “distinct” category of people who deserve fair treatment under the law. Yet because of such “nationalised gender,” as transsexual theorist Vivienne Namaste (2000) points out, transsexuals are not citizens of the nation, but can only represent its crisis. Thus far, the Gay Games have been the only sporting organisation to address this erasure within their gender policy. As a result of pressure from inter-sex and transsexual advocates, Gay Games Gender Policies have taken into account regional, racialised variations in gender identities of athletes. For the 2002 Sydney Gay Games for which 158 trans athletes from 28 countries registered, Suganthi Chandramohan reported that organisers attempted to make the transgender athlete policy inclusive for Indigenous people and people from the Asian and Pacific region who identified as transgender. This gender policy was rare in its recognition of ethno-local and indigenous traditional identities including Indigenous Australian Sistergirls, Indonesian Waria, Thai Kathoey, South Asian Hijra, and Samoan Faafafine (The Gender Centre Inc., 2002). In a postcolonial sporting context, it is crucial to recognise the need for differing political strategies and policies according to the racialised positioning of trans athletes. Katrina Roen (2001) notes how some gender liminal Maori people maintain cultural traditions by not identifying with a Westernized medical discourses about bodily transition while others pursue sex reassignment surgery. Thus, localised cultural and racial traditions mean that some transsexual athletes have no access to, or intention to seek, surgical or hormonal intervention (Lamas, 2002).
The Sydney Gay Games policy included athletes who were pre-operative and had not had their papers changed (Lamas, 2002). If an athlete`s identity documents did not coincide with the athlete`s self-identified gender, documentation was required to confirm the athlete had received hormonal treatment and lived as the self-identified gender for two years prior. Documentation included legal proof such as a driver`s license, bank accounts, personal letters, or testimonials. For example, testimony from indigenous community workers and organisations was “acceptable in relation to the Transgender/Sistergirl status of Australian Indigenous persons” (Gay Games Board, 2002). The Gay Games VII in Chicago also acknowledge “the difficulty involved in changing legal documents in some countries, the accreditation officials may exercise discretion when evaluating the adequacy of the type of documentation provided for proof an individual`s gender” (Chicago Games, 2005). Despite the gender-inclusiveness and attention to regional differences, even the Gay Games continues to be invested in the need for a gender policy, continues to be driven by the assumption that gender needs to be policed through policy in order to maintain the fairness of sporting competition.
Exactly one decade after restrictive criteria of full sex reassignment surgery had been protested and rescinded at the 1994 Gay Games, the IOC adopted the same criteria. Objections put forward by the Transsexual Menace have been thoroughly excluded from discourses about transsexuality at the level of the Olympics. Even more disturbingly, the First World Outgames (which will take place in Montreal in addition to the Chicago Gay Games during 2006) just adopted the IOC`s Stockholm Consensus (1st World Outgames, 2004). At best, this can be interpreted as a frightening amnesia about the previous history of trans politics within organised gay sport. It is certainly another instance of overt transphobia in the organisation of a major sporting event at the level of gender policy. It is reversals such as this, even within progressive sport movements, that make it necessary to examine the cultural anxieties that underpin the intransigent transphobia in sport.
The Olympics and the Stockholm Consensus
This section details the context in which the IOC developed their policy about athletes who had undergone sex reassignment surgery, now widely referred to as the Stockholm Consensus. In light of rulings made by the European Court of Human Rights about transsexual rights in 2002, the IOC responded rapidly to consider its own position. The IOC has long been preoccupied with regulating sex categories in sport, subjecting all female Olympic athletes to sex testing from 1968 to 1998. In 2000 the IOC succumbed to pressure from other international sport federations to suspend gender verification or “sex testing.” Three decades of unsuccessfully attempting to develop a definitive test for female sex has given the IOC Medical Commission an intimate scientific knowledge about variations in chromosomal, hormonal, and morphological sex. This elaborate knowledge about sex produced an anxious realisation about the myth of dimorphic sex in sport within the Medical Commission. Yet even after publicly conceding the impossibility of sex testing, Olympic scientists continued to use Foucaultian strategies of power/knowledge by becoming further enmeshed within an “incitement to discourse, the formation of special knowledge, [and] the strengthening of controls and resistances” (Foucault, 1978, p. 106) about sex. Medical experts within the Olympic movement, such as IOC Medical Commission Chair Arne Ljungqvist, were bizarrely aware of increased medico-surgical availability and sophistication of sex reassignment techniques and, importantly, increased international and national legislation with respect to sex reassignment (IOC, 2004). Olympic officials focused on athletes who had undergone sex reassignment in response to new and highly visible court rulings about transsexual civil rights.
There is little evidence that trans activists had any direct input into the Stockholm Consensus, whereas transgender advocates have significantly altered policies at different Gay Games. Feminist advocacy regarding transgender issues at the Olympic level appears to have been contradictory if not paradoxical. On one hand, women`s sport delegates have either been oblivious to, or objected to, the presence of male-to-female trans athletes competing in women`s events. Many European delegates at the IOC Third Women and Sport World Conference in Marrakech expressed little awareness about, or involvement in, transsexual issues in sport (Fasting, 2004). On the other hand, a small number of feminist advocates may have worked alongside or as trans activists to dispel transphobic myths about mtf muscular and genetic advantage in women`s sport, although again, there is little evidence to suggest that they have directly influenced deliberations about inclusive gender rights within the Olympic movement.
In May 2004 the IOC published the “Statement of the Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sport,” which laid out recommendations to govern the participation of athletes who have undergone sex reassignment. In order to compete at the Olympics, transsexual competitors must now prove they have completed sex reassignment surgery (SRS), obtained legal recognition, and have had hormonal therapy for sufficient time to “minimise gender-related advantages in sports competitions” (IOC, 2004). The consensus also states that eligibility should start no sooner than two years after gonadectomy and a confidential case by case evaluation will occur.
The Stockholm Consensus uses the most conservative, medicalised criteria to determine access for transsexual athletes into Olympic competition and, in effect, continues to exclude many transgender and intersex competitors. In addition, due to the transnational reach of the IOC, the Stockholm Consensus yet again erases all local, economic, cultural, and racial differences in how transsexual athletes have access to sex reassignment surgeries or hormone usage. These differences are immensely and particularly significant when considering which transsexual individuals have economic and cultural access to full SRS. Consider the vastly differing circumstances in which tennis player Reneé Richards and the transsexual activist Sylvia Rivera, who instigated the Stonewall Riots, gained access to sex change surgery. As a white, upper-middle class woman with a medical degree, Reneé Richards had the cultural and economic recourses to play a sport before and after her transition and also to draw on a professional career to provide funds for surgeries and medical costs. The harsh realities of Sylvia Rivera`s life were starkly different. Like many trans people of colour in North America, Rivera was economically and culturally disenfranchised from mainstream U.S. culture, including sport and medical services. She left school at the age of 11, was homeless for periods of her life and, out of passion and necessity, was committed to trans, Latina/o, homeless and peace activism. The Stockholm Consensus does not even attempt to address how these economic differences, structured locally and globally through racialised and colonial legacies, affect which transsexual communities and athletes can meet the universalised, medicalised criteria.
The Stockholm Consensus is a transnational policy and is poised to become the template for all other international and many national sport governing bodies. Elizabeth Riley (2004), Coordinator of NSW Gender Centre, claimed the IOC`s decision will bring into effect what trans communities have been campaigning for since sport was exempted from coverage under the transgender provisions of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act in 1996. She anticipates it will increase the “opportunity for transsexual people to participate in sporting activities at the local level where the benefits will include improved fitness, social inclusion and enjoyment of one`s chosen sport/s. Importantly, it will also bring about the gradual breaking down of those barriers, generated by prejudice and ignorance, that have effectively contributed to the marginalisation of our community both in the sporting context and beyond” (p.1).
As mentioned above, the First World Outgames (2004) to be held in 2006 in Montreal have directly adopted the Stockholm consensus. The gulf between transgender rights and gender policy in sport threatens to become wider yet again.
Ethical Responses to Gender Variance in Sport
My main argument is that localised sport contexts must seek to develop inclusive gender policies while acknowledging that gender minorities have multiple and sometimes contradictory investments in stabilising or destabilising sex and gender categories. Butler (2004) suggests we need a process of cultural translation which constantly rebuilds the notion of the human. This means subjecting our fundamental categories to critical scrutiny, to see when they hold up, need breaking down, or reach the limits of intelligibility. This does not, she makes clear, require taking on or assimilating unfamiliar notions of humanness or gender into ourselves through some radical, oppositional incorporation. Rather, cultural “translation will compel each language to change in order to apprehend the other” (p. 38). This apprehension will occur at the limit of the familiar, mundane, the known. It will involve a loss, disorientation, and a transformation. Yet it produces a moment “in which the human stands a chance of coming into being anew” (p. 39).
This is an ethical call for corporeal generosity. Feminist philosopher Rosalyn Diprose (2002) proposes that corporeal generosity, an openness to others, is critical to fostering sexual, cultural and stylistic difference. For Diprose, generosity is not the giving of a gift or the giving of one`s possessions. Instead, she thinks of generosity as “the dispossession of oneself, the being-given to others that undercuts any self-contained ego that undercuts self-possession” (p. 4). She looks towards generosity as a means of generating rather than closing off sexual, cultural, and stylistic differences. She called for “dominant bodies remaining open to alterity” (p. 172). She ponders what is a generous response to cultural difference that contests one`s own culture. How community and social relations may be formed out of the “production and transformation of differences rather than on assumptions of commonness” (p. 13). Diprose lays down a gauntlet for a new gender politics in women`s sport whereby “generosity is born not so much with the combining of bodies whose capacities and powers agree but with the possibility of those dominant bodies remaining open to and transformed by alterity” (p. 172). Diprose`s view of social justice is to respond with openness to difference, at the level of corporeality, while not forgetting who has benefited from the forgotten gifts of the marginalised. This does mean guarding against assimilation into gender stability or another politically evacuated version of “liberated woman” that repeats the exclusions of our pasts.2 I think there is a more fundamental, embodied, and unsettling generosity at stake.
Both the ethnicised gender policies of the Gay Games and the highly conservative universalism of the International Olympic Committee policy on Sex Reassignment Surgery need to be scrutinised for which gender categories and lived realities are excluded. Too frequently it is the voices outside sport that remind us of the logic of the boundary and the meagreness of identity rights inside sport. What is required in the future development of sport gender policies is an ethical vulnerability to border-dwellers and hybrid bodies (Anzaldúa, 1998; Schildrick, 2002) that can critically assess the inevitable limitations of women, men, transsexual, and intersexual rights in sporting structures and anti-discrimination policies. This requires a capacity to live with instability rather than break down in the face of transitions; to seek out the most expansive rather than familiar forms of gender/sex legislation in sport, if legislation is sought at all.
References
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Anzaldúa, G. (1998). To(o) queer the writer — Loca, escritora y chicana. In Trujullo, C (Ed.), Living Chicana Theory (pp. 263-276). Berkley, CA: Third Woman Press.
Australian Sports Commission. (2005). Transgender in sport. Retrieved April 29, 2005.
Brown, K. (1998). TransHistory: Individuals: Reneé Richards. Retrieved April 29, 2005 from www.transhistory.org/history/index.html.
Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.
Cavanagh, S., & Sykes, H. (in press). Transsexual bodies at the Olympics. Body and Society.
Cascio, J. (2002). Biking for a cure. Trans-Health.com,. Retrieved November 15, 2005 from www.trans-health.com/displayarticle.php?aid=60.
Chicago Games. (2005). Federation of Gay Games gender policy. Retrieved November 25, 2005.
Cho, S., Laub, C., Wall, S., & Joslin, C. (2004). Beyond the binary: A tool kit for gender identity activism in schools. Gay-Straight Alliance Network/Tides Center, Transgender Law Center, and National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Diprose, R. (2002). Corporeal generosity: On giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
Fasting, K. (2004). Personal communication. Toronto, Ontario.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (1992). Myths of gender: Biological theories about women and men. New York: Basic Books.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality translated by R. Hurley
(p. 102). Penguin Books.
Fuss, D. (1991). Inside/out. In Fuss, D. (Ed.), Inside/out: Lesbian theories, gay theories (pp.1-10). New York: Routledge.
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GenderPAC. (1998). Gay, lesbian and transgender groups protest Gay Games policy for trans-athletes. Retrieved November 25, 2005.
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Hird, M. (2004). Sex, gender and science. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
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Jamieson, K. (2005). Interrogating the post-Title IX liberated woman narrative, or why are all the `Title IX Babies` white? Paper presented at the Women and Sport Symposium: Before, During and After Title IX. Bowling Green State University, Ohio, February 2-6.
Johnson, K. (1998). Event founded to fight bias is accused of it [Electronic Version]. New York Times, August 1.
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Lamas, J. A. (2002). Summer games down under: TG policy almost there. Trans-Health: The Online Magazine of Health and Fitness for Transsexual and Transgendered People. Retrieved April 29, 2005 from http://www.trans-health.com.
Namaste, V. K. (2000). Invisible lives: The erasure of transsexual and transgendered people. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
National Center for Lesbian Rights. (2004). Harassment and discrimination: A legal overview. San Francisco, CA: NCLR.
Nelson, M. B. (1994). The stronger women get, the more men love football: Sexism and the American culture of sports. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co.
Pilgrim, J., Martin, D., & Binder, W. (2002-2003). Far from the finish line: Transsexualism and athletic competition. Fordham Intellectual Property Media and Entertainment Law Journal, 13, (495-550).
Riley, E. (2004). Elizabeth`s report: Anyone for tennis. Polare 58, July. Petersham, NSW: The Gender Centre Inc. Retrieved April 29, 2005 from www.gendercentre.org.au/58article1.htm.
Roen, K. (2001). Transgender theory and embodiment: The risk of racial marginalization. Journal of Gender Studies, 10, 253-263.
Scarpinato, B., & Moore, R. (2002). Mourning the loss of Sylvia Rivera, NYC-based activist. Retrieved April 28, 2005 from www.ifge.org/news/2002/feb/SylviaRivera.html.
Schildrick, M. (2002). Embodying the monster: Encounters with the vulnerable self. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
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Transgender Law and Policy Institute. (2003). Transgender and gender non-conforming youth: Recommendations for schools. Retrieved November 25, 2005 from www.transgenderlaw.org/college/sfusdpolicy.htm.
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Wilchins, R. (2004). Queer theory, gender theory: An instant primer. Los Angeles, CA: Alyson Books.
Women`s Sports Foundation United Kingdom. (2002). Transsexuality and sport: Response to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Retrieved April 29, 2005.
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Contact
Dr. Heather Sykes
University of Toronto
Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning
Toronto, Canada
Email: hsykes@oise.utoronto.ca

NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes
Pat Griffin & Helen Carroll
Reprinted with permission of Dr. Bernard Franklin, Executive Vice President, Chief Inclusion Officer, National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Printed in August, 2011. (www.ncaa.org)
As a core value, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), headquartered in the United States of America, believes in and is committed to diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators. We seek to establish and maintain an inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds. Diversity and inclusion improve the learning environment for all student-athletes and enhance excellence within the Association.
The purpose of this resource is to provide guidance to NCAA athletic programmes about how to ensure trans-gender student-athletes fair, respectful, and legal access to collegiate sports teams based on current medical and legal knowledge. It provides best practice and policy recommendations for intercollegiate athletic programmes to provide transgender student-athletes with fair and equal opportunities to participate. In addition to specific policy recommendations for college athletics, the resource provides guidance for implementing these policies to ensure the safety, privacy, and dignity of transgender student-athletes as well as their teammates. Specific best practice recommendations are provided for athletic administrators, coaches, student-athletes and the media.
Providing medical advice and understanding of the complexities of the transitioning student-athlete are: Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Human Genetics, Pediatrics and Urology, Director of the Center for Gender-Based Biology and Chief of Medical Genetics in the UCLA Department of Pediatrics, member of the International Olympic Committee medical advisory board; R. Nick Gorton, M.D., Emergency Medicine Physician, Sutter Davis Hospital, Primary Care Provider, Lyon- Martin Women`s Health Services–San Francisco, Medical-Legal Consultant for transgender health care for Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center, the Northwest Justice Project, the New York Legal Aid Society, National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project; Lori Kohler, M.D., Medical Director of the Family Health Center at San Francisco General Hospital.
Providing review related to the legal rights of transgender student-athletes in the context of the broader legal status of transgender rights in the United States: Lambda Legal; American Civil Liberties Union; Transgender Law Center; National Center for Transgender Equality; Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders; National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Providing expertise regarding National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, regulations and procedures related to drug testing, eligibility requirements, and gender equity: Karen Morrison, Director for Gender Inclusion Initiatives; Mary Wilfert, Associate Director, Health and Safety.
Providing a voice and sharing the experience of being a transgender student-athlete: Keelin Godsey, Track and Field, Rugby, Bates College, 2006, Northeastern College, 2010; Morgan Dickens, Basketball and Rugby, Cornell University, 2008, Ithaca College, 2009; Kye Allums, Women`s Basketball, George Washington University, Class of 2012.
What Does Transgender Mean?
“Transgender” describes an individual whose gender identity (one`s internal psychological identification as a boy/man or girl/woman) does not match the person`s sex at birth. For example, a male-to-female (MTF) transgender person is someone who was born with a male body, but who identifies as a girl or a woman. A female-to-male (FTM) transgender person is someone who was born with a female body, but who identifies as a boy or a man.
It is important that all people recognise and respect the transgender person`s identification as a man or a woman. In order to feel comfortable and to express their gender identity, transgender people may take a variety of steps: changing their names and self-referencing pronouns to better match their gender identity; choosing clothes, hairstyles, or other aspects of self-presentation that reflect their gender identity; and gen-erally living, and presenting themselves to others, consistently with their gender identity. Some, but not all, transgender people take hormones or undergo surgical procedures to change their bodies to better reflect their gender identity.
Some people are confused by the difference between transgender people and people who have intersex conditions. The key feature of being transgender is having a psychological identification as a man or a woman that differs from the person`s sex at birth. Apart from having a gender identity that is different than their bodies, transgender people are not born with physical characteristics that distinguish them from others. In contrast, people with intersex conditions (which may also be called a “Disorders of Sex Development”), are born with physically mixed or atypical bodies with respect to sexual characteristics such as chromosomes, internal reproductive organs and genitalia, and external genitalia.
An increasing number of high school- and college-aged young people are identifying as transgender (or trans), meaning that their internal sense of their gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth. These students challenge educators to rethink an understanding of gender as universally fixed at birth. Educators must be open to this challenge to create educational institutions that value and meet the needs of all students. Once we recognise that transgender young people are part of school communities across the United States, educational leaders have a responsibility to ensure that these students have access to equal opportunities in all academic and extracurricular activities in a safe and respectful school environment.
Athletics programmes are widely accepted as integral parts of the college experience. The benefits of athletics participation include many positive effects on physical, social, and emotional well-being. Playing sports can provide student-athletes with important lessons about self-discipline, teamwork, success, and failure—as well as the joy and shared excitement that being a member of a sports team can bring.
For some students, playing on collegiate sports teams leads to future careers in athletics as competitors, coaches, administrators, and athletic trainers. All students, including those who are transgender, deserve access to these benefits.
Though the needs of transgender college students have received some attention in recent years, this issue has not been adequately addressed in the context of athletics. Few collegiate athletics programmes, ad-ministrators, or coaches have been prepared to fairly, systematically, and effectively address a transgender student`s interest in participating in athletics. The majority of intercollegiate athletics programmes have no policy governing the inclusion of transgender student-athletes, and most coaches have not received any direction for accommodating a transgender student who wants to play on a sports team. In fact, most intercollegiate athletics programmes have not received the information to address even basic accommodations such as knowing what pronouns or names to use when referring to a transgender student, where a transgender student should change clothes for practice or competition, or what bathroom or shower that student should use.
The best practices and recommended policies within this resource will provide athletics administrators and others involved in intercollegiate athletics with the information and tools to support participation of trans-gender student-athletes and create environments that respect students from all backgrounds.
Overview
This section provides an overview of issues related to providing participation opportunities for transgender student-athletes by addressing the following questions:

- Why must we address transgender issues in athletics?
- Why focus on college athletics?
- Should the participation of transgender student-athletes raise concerns about competitive equity?
- What are the benefits of adopting fair and inclusive policies?

Why Must We Address Transgender Issues in Collegiate Athletics Programmes?
Educators must address transgender issues in athletics for several reasons. First and foremost, core values of equal opportunity and inclusion demand that educational leaders adopt thoughtful and effective policies that enable all students to participate fully in intercollegiate athletics programmes. Over the course of many years, schools have learned and continue to appreciate the value and necessity of accommodating the sport participation interests of students of color, women, students with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual students. These are all issues of basic fairness and equity that demand the expansion of our thinking about equal opportunity in sports. The right of transgender students to participate in sports calls for similar considerations of fairness and equal access.
Additionally, as more states, localities, and schools add gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies, and as more courts hold that sex discrimination laws protect transgender people, trans-gender students and their parents are increasingly empowered to insist that athletics programmes accommodate transgender students (see Part Four: Appendix C for a compilation of state and federal laws, regulations, and legal decisions prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity/expression). To avoid decision-making that perpetuates discrimination, school leaders must be proactive in adopting policies that are consistent with school non-discrimination policies and state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression (see Appendix A for definitions of gender identity and gender expression).
Though the number of transgender students is small, research indicates that their number is growing. As the number of people who come out as transgender as teenagers and children increases, so too do the numbers of parents who support their transgender children and advocate for their rights to safety and fair treatment. In response to these demands, college leaders must be prepared to accommodate the educational needs and protect the rights of transgender students.
To respond to these realities, athletics conferences and individual universities/colleges are well advised to proactively adopt policies and best practices that provide equal opportunities for transgender students to participate on sports teams. Moreover, in the spirit of encouraging sports participation for all, it is the right thing to do.
In order to design effective policies, educators must understand that gender is a core part of everyone`s identity and that gender is more complex than our society generally acknowledges. Learning about the experi-ence of transgender people can help us to see more clearly how gender affects all of our lives, and to put that knowledge into practice in order to better serve all students.
Addressing the needs of transgender students is an important emerging equal opportunity issue that must be taken seriously by school leaders. Because a more complex understanding of gender may be new and challenging for some people, there is a danger that misinformation and stereotypes rather than accurate and up-to-date information will guide policy decisions. Campus and athletics administrators who are charged with policy development need guidance to avoid including misconceptions and misinformation in policies that, ulti-mately, create more problems than they solve.
Why Focus on College Athletics?
Providing equal opportunities in all aspects of school programming is a core value in education. As an integral part of higher educational institutions, college athletics programmes are responsible and accountable for reflecting the goals and values of the educational institutions of which they are a part. It follows that athletics programmes must reflect the value of equal opportunity in all policies and practices.
A core purpose of college is to teach students how to participate and be good citizens in an increasingly diverse society and how to interact respectfully with others. In addition, college athletics programmes impose limits on how many years a student-athlete can compete that do not exist in adult sporting competitions, where athletes can compete as long as their performances are viable or, in the case of most amateur sports, as long as they wish to. Intercollegiate athletics provides a unique opportunity to provide participation opportunities for all students regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender expression.
Should the Participation of Transgender Student-Athletes Raise Concerns About Competitive Equity?
Concern about creating an “unfair competitive advantage” on sex-separated teams is one of the most often cited reasons for resistance to the participation of transgender student-athletes. This concern is cited most often in discussions about transgender women competing on a women`s team. Some advocates for gender equality in college sports are concerned that allowing transgender women—that is, male-to-female transgender athletes who were born male, but who identify as female—to compete on women`s teams will take away opportunities for women, or that transgender women will have a competitive advantage over other women competitors.
These concerns are based on three assumptions: one, that transgender women are not “real” women and therefore not deserving of an equal competitive opportunity; two, that being born with a male body auto-matically gives a transgender woman an unfair advantage when competing against non-transgender women; and three, that men might be tempted to pretend to be transgender in order to compete in competition with women.
These assumptions are not well founded. First, the decision to transition from one gender to the other—to align one`s external gender presentation with one`s internal sense of gender identity—is a deeply significant and difficult choice that is made only after careful consideration and for the most compelling of reasons. Gender identity is a core aspect of a person`s identity, and it is just as deep seated, authentic, and real for a transgender person as for others. Male-to-female transgender women fully identify and live their lives as women, and female-to-male transgender men fully identify and live their lives as men.
Second, some people fear that transgender women will have an unfair advantage over non-transgender women. It is important to place that fear in context.
Transgender girls who medically transition at an early age do not go through a male puberty, and therefore their participation in athletics as girls does not raise the same equity concerns that arise when transgender women transition after puberty.
Transgender women display a great deal of physical variation, just as there is a great deal of natural variation in physical size and ability among non-transgender women and men. Many people may have a stereotype that all transgender women are unusually tall and have large bones and muscles. But that is not true. A male-to-female transgender woman may be small and slight, even if she is not on hormone blockers or taking estrogen. It is important not to overgeneralise. The assumption that all male-bodied people are taller, stronger, and more highly skilled in a sport than all female-bodied people is not accurate.
It is also important to know that any strength and endurance advantages a transgender woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about one year of estrogen or testosterone-suppression therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender woman competing on a women`s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence.
Finally, fears that men will pretend to be female to compete on a women`s team are unwarranted given that in the entire 40 year history of “sex verification” procedures in international sport competitions, no instances of such “fraud” have been revealed.5 Instead, rather than identifying men who are trying to fraudulently compete as women, “sex verification” tests have been misused to humiliate and unfairly exclude women with intersex conditions.6 The apparent failure of such tests to serve their stated purpose of deterring fraud— and the terrible damage they have caused to individual women athletes—should be taken into account when developing policies for the inclusion of transgender athletes.
Educators in collegiate athletics programmes must develop thoughtful and informed practices that provide opportunities for all students, including transgender students, to participate in sports. These practices must be based on sound medical science, which shows that male-to-female transgender athletes do not have any au-tomatic advantage over other women . These practices must also be based on the educational values of sport and the reasons why sport is included as a vital component of the educational environment: promoting the physical and psychological well-being of all students, and teaching students the values of equal opportunity, participation, inclusion, teamwork, discipline, and respect for diversity.
What Are the Benefits of Adopting Inclusive Practices Regarding Transgender Student-Athletes?
All stakeholders in NCAA athletics programmes will benefit from adopting fair and inclusive practices enabling transgender student-athletes to participate on school sports teams. School-based sports, even at the most competitive levels, remain an integral part of the process of education and development of young people, especially emerging leaders in our society. Adopting fair and inclusive participation practices will allow school and athletics leaders to fulfill their commitment to create an environment in which all students can thrive, develop their full potential, and learn how to interact with persons from diverse groups.
Many schools and athletics departments identify diversity as a strength and have included sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in their non-discrimination policies. Athletics departments and personnel are responsible for creating and maintaining an inclusive and non- discriminatory climate in the areas they oversee. Adopting inclusive participation practices provides school athletics administrators with a concrete opportunity to fulfill that mandate and demonstrate their commitment to fair play and inclusion.
Moreover, when all participants in athletics are committed to fair play, inclusion, and respect, student-athletes are free to focus on performing their best in athletic competition and in the classroom. This climate promotes the well-being and achievement potential of all student-athletes. Every student-athlete and coach will benefit from meeting the challenge of overcoming fear and prejudice about social groups of which they are not members. This respect for difference will be invaluable to all student-athletes as they graduate and enter an increasingly diverse workforce in which knowing how to work effectively across differences is a professional and personal asset.
The benefits of school sports participation include many positive effects on physical, social, and emotional well-being. All students, including those who are transgender, deserve access to these benefits.7 When athletics departments adopt inclusive policies, they are living up to the educational values of equality that join them with the broad institutional and societal ideal of inclusion and respect for differences.
Recommendations for Including
Transgender Student-Athletes
This section of the resource includes:

- Guiding Principles
- Recommended Policy for College Athletics
- Additional Guidelines for Transgender Student-Athlete Inclusion

Guiding Principles
Policies governing the participation of transgender student-athletes should be informed by the following principles, and be included in the institution`s transgender student-athlete policy statement:

1. Participation in intercollegiate athletics is a valuable part of the education experience for all students.
2. Transgender student-athletes should have equal opportunity to participate in sports.
3. The integrity of women`s sports should be preserved.
4. Policies governing sports should be based on sound medical knowledge and scientific validity.
5. Policies governing sports should be objective, workable, and practicable; they should also be written, available and equitably enforced.
6. Policies governing the participation of transgender students in sports should be fair in light of the tremendous variation among individuals in strength, size, musculature, and ability.
7. The legitimate privacy interests of all student-athletes should be protected.
8. The medical privacy of transgender students should be preserved.
9. Athletics administrators, staff, parents of athletes, and student-athletes should have access to sound and effective educational resources and training related to the participation of transgender and gender-variant students in athletics.
10. Policies governing the participation of transgender students in athletics should comply with state and federal laws protecting students from discrimination based on sex, disability, and gender identity and expression.

Policy Recommendations for Collegiate Athletics
Policy development governing the inclusion of transgender student-athletes is an emerging endeavor. As new research on the participation of transgender athletes and the physiological effects of gender transition on athletic performance becomes available, policies may need to be re-evaluated to ensure that they reflect the most current research-based information.
NCAA Bylaws Related to Hormonal Treatment and Mixed Teams
Two areas of NCAA regulations can be impacted by transgender student-athlete participation: use of banned substances and mixed team status.
A mixed team is a varsity intercollegiate sports team on which at least one individual of each gender competes. (Revised: 5/8/06). NCAA Bylaw 18.02.2 for purposes of meeting the required minimums set forth in Bylaws 18.2.3 and 18.2.4, a mixed team shall be counted as one team. A mixed team shall count toward the minimum sponsorship percentage for men`s championships.

- NCAA rules state that a male participating in competition on a female team makes the team a “mixed team.” The mixed team can be used for sports sponsorship numbers (provided other conditions, such as being an acceptable NCAA sport, outlined in Bylaw 20.9 (Division I), 20.10 (Division II) and 20.11 (Division III) are met) and counts toward the mixed/men`s team minimums within the membership sports-sponsorship requirements. Such a team is ineligible for a women`s NCAA championship but is eligible for a men`s NCAA championship.
- A female on a men`s team does not impact sports sponsorship in the application of the rule-the team still counts toward the mixed/men`s numbers. Such a team is eligible for a men`s NCAA championship.
- Once a team is classified as a mixed team, it retains that status through the remainder of the academic year without exception.

NCAA Bylaw 31.2.3 identifies testosterone as a banned substance, and provides for a medical exception review for demonstrated need for use of a banned medication. It is the responsibility of the NCAA institution to submit the request for a medical exception (see www.ncaa.org/drugtesting) for testosterone treatment prior to the student-athlete competing while undergoing treatment. In the case of testosterone suppression, the institution must submit written documentation to the NCAA of the year of treatment and ongoing monitoring of testosterone suppression.
NCAA Policy on Transgender Student-Athlete Participation
The following policies clarify participation of transgender student-athletes undergoing hormonal treatment for gender transition:

1. A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testoster-one for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for purposes of NCAA competition may compete on a men`s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women`s team without changing that team status to a mixed team.
2. A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men`s team but may not compete on a women`s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.

Any transgender student-athlete who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender transition may par-ticipate in sex-separated sports activities in accordance with his or her assigned birth gender.
A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who is not taking testosterone related to gender transition may participate on a men`s or women`s team.
A trans female (MTF) transgender student-athlete who is not taking hormone treatments related to gender transition may not compete on a women`s team.
Additional Considerations
The student`s responsibilities:

1. In order to avoid challenges to a transgender student`s participation during a sport season, a student-athlete who has completed, plans to initiate, or is in the process of taking hormones as part of a gender transition should submit the request to participate on a sports team in writing to the director of athletics upon matriculation or when the decision to undergo hormonal treatment is made.
2. The request should include a letter from the student`s physician documenting the student-athlete`s intention to transition or the student`s transition status if the process has already been initiated. This letter should identify the prescribed hormonal treatment for the student`s gender transition and docu-mentation of the student`s testosterone levels, if relevant.

The school`s responsibilities:

1. The director of athletics should meet with the student to review eligibility requirements and procedure for approval of transgender participation.
2. If hormone treatment is involved in the student-athlete`s transition, the director of athletics should notify the NCAA of the student`s request to participate with a medical exception request.
3. To assist in educating and in development of institutional policy and practice, a Transgender Participa-tion Committee should be established. Members of the committee should represent a cross section of the institutional staff with student well-being interests, and include representation from the following departments: office of general counsel, health and counseling, faculty/academic affairs, and athletics.
4. All discussions among involved parties and required written supporting documentation should be kept confidential, unless the student-athlete makes a specific request otherwise. All information about an individual student`s transgender identity and medical information, including physician`s information provided pursuant to this policy, shall be maintained confidentially.

Best Practices and Guidelines for Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes
What are the actions that coaches, administrators and student-athletes can take to assure the inclusion of transgender student-athletes? Although these practices specifically address transgender student-athletes, they can be used to address discrimination based on other factors as well, such as race, religion, class, and sexual orientation.
The first part of this section describes general best practices for everyone. The next sections identify best practices recommended specifically to athletics administrators, coaches, student-athletes, and athletics staff who interact with the media.
Overall Best Practices

1. Provide Equal Opportunity — Colleges and universities often have legal obligations to provide equal opportunity to student-athletes and to personnel, including coaches. All those involved in athletics should be aware of these obligations, and treat them as core values, guiding policies and practices. Transgender discrimination may be a part of a systemic problem where the broader environment is unfriendly or discriminatory toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. This can negatively affect all men and women who participate in athletic competition. If discrimination is accepted as part of the common practices of an athletics department, this will undermine the core principle of equal opportunity.
2. Value Diversity — In creating guidelines or best practices for including transgender student-athletes, it is important to place this conversation in the context of the athletics department`s broad commitments to safety, fairness, and respect for all participants. It helps when athletics department leadership, including coaches, value all aspects of diversity. Collegiate athletics provides an opportunity for students to compete with and against others who come from different races, cultures, religions, sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, and social classes, but all of whom share the common goal of achieving athletic excellence. Valuing this common ground enhances the social and competitive experience for all. Athletics administrators should make their commitment to valuing diversity explicit in media interviews and other public speaking opportunities as well as in meetings with athletics department staff. That diversity-valuing approach then shapes and informs activities throughout the athletics department and is conveyed to coaches and student-athletes. Everyone should also understand how these core values are important to team success and to individual team member development. Teams that value each member`s contribution to the unit, while respecting individual differences, provide a foundation for the whole team and each member of the team to focus on achieving their athletic and academic goals.
3. Establish policy — When diversity values are explicit, athletics departments, institutions, state, and national governing organisations are in a position to develop specific policy statements that reflect a commitment to these values. These policy statements, if followed, protect schools, administrators, student-athletes, and coaches from litigation and other negative consequences. Coaches should know that they may have a transgender student-athlete on their teams and should be equipped to make that experience a positive one for the athlete and teammates. Parents should communicate the importance of these values in meetings with prospective coaches and athletics administrators. Student-athletes can discuss these values with new team members and in public speaking opportunities.

Best Practices for Athletics Administrators
Best practices for athletics administrators focus on policy development, discrimination prevention, education, enforcement procedures, and consequences. These best practices will be helpful to a wide range of athletics administrators in organisations including colleges and universities, collegiate sport-governing organisations, coaches associations, and athletics conferences.

1. If the school does not have an inclusive non-discrimination and harassment policy, work with other school administrators to adopt a policy that includes gender identity and expression.
2. Respect the right to privacy of all student-athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.
3. Become knowledgeable about collegiate non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gen-der identity and expression.
4. Include gender identity and expression in departmental non-discrimination statements on all official department documents and web sites.
5. Become aware of state and federal non-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination based on gen-der identity and expression.
6. Adopt an effective and fair athletics departmental policy addressing the participation of transgender student-athletes that is consistent with school policy and state or federal non-discrimination laws.
7. Educate all members of the athletics department community (including staff, student-athletes, and par-ents) about departmental and school policy regarding the participation of transgender student-athletes in athletics.
8. Educate yourself about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and current scientific perspectives on the participation of transgender student-athletes on men`s and women`s sports teams.
9. Work with athletics conferences of which your school is a member to adopt fair and effective policies governing the participation of transgender student-athletes.
10. Recommend that your athletics conference sponsor educational programmes for coaches and student-athletes on the inclusion of transgender student-athletes, preferred terminology, and understanding transgender identity.
11. Recommend that professional associations for athletics administrators sponsor educational programmes on the inclusion of transgender student-athletes, preferred terminology, understanding transgender identity, and adopting fair and effective policies.
12. Educate all members of the sports information department about transgender identity, preferred ter-minology, department policies governing the participation of transgender student-athletes, and confi-dentiality requirements when discussing transgender student-athlete participation with the media.

Best Practices for Coaches
Best practices for coaches focus on acquiring knowledge about transgender student-athletes, understanding legal and ethical obligations, maintaining professional conduct, and ensuring that those with whom coaches work are also educated and aware of these issues.

1. Become knowledgeable about school non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gender identity and expression.
2. Become knowledgeable about departmental and school policy regarding the participation of transgen-der student-athletes in athletics.
3. If your department does not have a policy addressing the participation of transgender student-athletes, ask your athletic director to adopt one.
4. Educate student-athletes on your team about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and depart-mental/school policies regarding the participation of transgender student-athletes on sports teams.
5. Be prepared to talk with parents of student-athletes about transgender student-athletes` participation on school teams.
6. Use respectful and preferred language and terminology when discussing transgender student-athlete participation or interacting with a transgender student-athlete.
7. Anticipate and address transgender student-athlete access issues proactively and in accordance with departmental policy regarding locker room use, toilet and shower availability, hotel room assignment, uniforms and dress codes.
8. Recommend that coaches associations to which you belong adopt fair and effective policy statements addressing the participation of transgender student-athletes.
9. Recommend that coaches associations to which you belong sponsor educational programmes addressing the participation of transgender student-athletes.
10. If you are aware of discriminatory or harassing behavior from opposing teams or spectators based on the perceived or actual gender identity or expression of a student-athlete, talk to the opposing coach and ask your director of athletics to talk with the opposing school`s athletic director.
11. Respect the right to privacy of all student-athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.

Best Practices for Student-Athletes
Best practices for student-athletes who have transgender teammates focus on respectful behavior, safety, and valuing diversity.

1. Use respectful and preferred language and terminology when discussing transgender student-athlete participation or interacting with a transgender teammate.
2. Become familiar with departmental and school policy governing the participation of transgender student-athletes in athletics.
3. Learn about school non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gender identity and ex-pression.
4. Encourage other student-athletes to use respectful language when discussing transgender issues in sports or interacting with a transgender student-athlete.
5. Respect the right to privacy of all student-athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression.
6. Ask your coach and director of athletics for team and departmental educational training concerning transgender student-athlete participation.
7. If taunting or harassment from spectators or opponents occurs during competition, take the approach that these actions are never acceptable for any reason including taunting or harassment based on gen-der identity or expression. Make your coaches aware of discriminatory or harassing behavior and ask them to arrange a meeting with the opposing school`s director of athletics to address this behavior.

Ask your student-athlete advisory committee to plan an activity that focuses on the participation of transgender athletes in sports and frame the issue as one of equal opportunity in sports and fair treatment for all.
Best Practices for Athletics Staff Interacting With Media about Transgender Student-Athlete Issues
Best practices for interacting with the media focus on the importance of understanding basic information about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and respecting confidentiality of student-athletes.

1. The school or athletics department should provide training to all athletics staff who may interact with the media.
2. Respect the confidentiality of all student-athletes when discussing transgender issues with the media and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.
3. Use appropriate language in media interviews or presentations and insist that this terminology be used in media reports on transgender issues in athletics.
4. Focus on the importance of providing equal opportunities for all students to participate in athletics.
5. Describe how departmental policies provide equal opportunities for all students to participate in athletics.

Additional Guidelines for Transgender Student-Athlete Inclusion
The following additional guidelines will assist colleges, athletics departments, coaches, teams, and student-athletes in creating an environment in which all student-athletes are safe and fairly treated.
Facilities Access

1. Changing Areas, Toilets, Showers — Transgender student-athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet facilities in accordance with the student`s gender identity. Every locker room should have some private, enclosed changing areas, showers, and toilets for use by any athlete who desires them. When requested by a transgender student-athlete, schools should provide private, separate changing, showering, and toilet facilities for the student`s use, but transgender students should not be required to use separate facilities.
2. Competition at Another School — If a transgender student-athlete requires a particular accommodation to ensure access to appropriate changing, showering, or bathroom facilities, school leaders, athletic directors, and coaches, in consultation with the transgender student-athlete, should notify their counterparts at other schools prior to competitions to ensure that the student has access to facilities that are comfortable and safe. This notification should maintain the student`s confidentiality. Under no circumstances should a student-athlete`s identity as a transgender person be disclosed without the student`s express permission.
3. Hotel Rooms — Transgender student-athletes generally should be assigned to share hotel rooms based on their gender identity, with recognition that any student who needs extra privacy should be accom-modated whenever possible.

Language

1. Preferred Names — In all cases, teammates, coaches and all others in the school should refer to trans-gender student-athletes by a student`s preferred name.
2. Pronouns — Similarly, in all cases, pronoun references to transgender student-athletes should reflect the student`s gender and pronoun preferences.

Dress Codes and Team Uniforms
Dress Codes—Transgender student- athletes should be permitted to dress consistently with their gender identities. That is, a female-to-male transgender athlete should be permitted to dress as a male. A male-to-female should be permitted to dress as a female. For reasons unrelated to trans-inclusion, schools should evaluate the necessity of gendered dress codes and recognise that they tend to marginalise a range of students who may not feel comfortable with them. Dress codes for athletic teams when traveling or during a game day at school should be gender-neutral. Instead of requiring a girls` or women`s team to wear dresses or skirts, for example, ask that team members wear dresses or slacks that are clean, neat, well cared for and appropriately “dressy” for representing their school and team. Uniforms — All team members should have access to uniforms that are appropriate for their sport and that they feel comfortable wearing. No student should be required to wear a gendered uniform that conflicts with the student`s gender identity.
Education

1. Institutions — All members of the university community should receive information and education about transgender identities, institutional and conference non-discrimination policies, the use of preferred names and pronouns, and expectations for creating a respectful team and school climate for all students, including transgender and gender-variant students.
2. Athletics Conference Personnel — Athletics conference leaders should be educated about the need for policies governing the participation of transgender student-athletes, develop such policies, and ensure that all schools in the conference understand and adopt the policies.
3. Opposing Teams/Universities — Without violating a transgender student`s confidentiality or privacy, school leaders, athletic directors, and coaches should communicate with their counterparts at other schools prior to competitions in which a transgender athlete is participating about expectations for treatment of transgender student-athletes on and off the field. This does not require “outing” or oth-erwise identifying a particular student-athlete as transgender, but rather establishing general expecta-tions for the treatment of all student-athletes, including those who may be transgender.

Media

1. Training — All school or athletics representatives (conference leaders, sports information departments and personnel, school leaders, athletics administrators, team members, and coaches) who are autho-rised to speak with the media should receive information about appropriate terminology, use of names and pronouns, and school and athletics conference policies regarding the participation of transgender student-athletes on school sports teams.
2. Confidentiality — Protecting the privacy of transgender student-athletes must be a top priority for all athletics department and affiliated school personnel, particularly when in the presence of the media. All medical information shall be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.

Enforcement and non-Retaliation

1. Enforcement — Any member of an athletics department who has been found to have violated this policy by threatening to withhold athletic opportunity or harassing any student on the basis of their gender identity or expression, or by breaching medical confidentiality, will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge or expulsion from the school. The athletics department should take appropriate remedial action to correct the situation. Any member of the athletics department who be-comes aware of conduct that violates this policy should report the conduct to the appropriate official such as the director of athletics.
2. Retaliation — Retaliation is specifically forbidden against anyone who complains about discrimination based on gender identity or expression, even if the person was in error. Athletics departments should take steps to prevent any retaliation against any person who makes such a complaint.

References for this article are included in the references section of this feature. Please see this section.
Contact
Pat Griffin
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, USA
Email: griffin@educ.umass.edu
Helen Carroll
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Sports Project
USA
Email: hcarroll@nclrights.org

On The Team
Pat Griffin & Helen J. Carroll
Portions of this document have been reprinted with permission of the authors. For additional information about United States legal issues, please see the complete document at www.womenssportsfoundation.org or www.nclr.org.
Introduction
An increasing number of high school- and college-aged young people are identifying as transgender (or trans), meaning that their internal sense of their gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth.[1] These students challenge many parents and educators to rethink our understanding of gender as universally fixed at birth. Educators and parents must be open to this challenge if we are to create educational institutions that value and meet the needs of all students. Once we recognise that transgender young people are part of school communities across the United States, educational leaders have a responsibility to ensure that these students have access to equal opportunities in all academic and extracurricular activities in a safe and respectful school environment.
Some transgender students, like their non-transgender peers, enjoy athletic competition and want to be part of a school sports team. Transgender young people have the same right to participate and benefit from the positive aspects of athletics as other students do. School athletic leaders, in response to this interest, must identify effective and fair policies to ensure that transgender students have an equal opportunity to participate on school sports teams.
School athletic programmes are widely accepted as integral parts of the high school and college experience. The benefits of school athletic participation include many positive effects on physical, social, and emotional well-being. Playing sports can provide student athletes with important lessons about self-discipline, teamwork, success, and failure - as well as the joy and shared excitement that being a member of a sports team can bring.
Additionally, participation in high school athletics shows that a student is well-rounded and can improve a student`s chances of acceptance into college. For some students, playing on high school teams leads to future careers in athletics as competitors, coaches, administrators, and athletic trainers. All students, including those who are transgender, deserve access to these benefits.
Though the needs of transgender students in high school and college have received some attention in recent years, this issue has not been adequately addressed in the context of athletics. Few high school or collegiate athletic programmes, administrators, or coaches are prepared to fairly, systematically, and effectively address a transgender student`s interest in participating in athletics. The majority of school athletic programmes have no policy governing the inclusion of transgender student athletes, and most coaches are unprepared to accommodate a transgender student who wants to play on a sports team. In fact, most school athletic programmes are unprepared to address even basic accommodations such as knowing what pronouns or names to use when referring to a transgender student, where a transgender student should change clothes for practice or competition, or what bathroom or shower that student should use.
In response to this need, the National Center for Lesbian Rights Sports Project and the Women`s Sports Foundation initiative `It Takes a Team!` convened a national think tank in October 2009 entitled “Equal Opportunities for Transgender student athletes.” Think tank participants included leaders from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National High School Federation, transgender student athletes, and an impressive array of experts on transgender issues from a range of disciplines—law, medicine, advocacy, and athletics.
Think tank participants were committed to a set of guiding principles based on the core values of inclusion, fairness, and equal opportunity in sport. The think tank goals were to develop model policies and identify best practices for high school and collegiate athletic programmes to ensure the full inclusion of transgender student athletes.
Think tank participants were also keenly aware of the advantages of adopting uniform national policies for the participation of high school and college transgender athletes. By adopting a single national policy for all high schools and a single national policy for intercollegiate athletics, educators can ensure that student athletes and teams will not run into problems due to inconsistent rules for state eligibility, conference and tournament eligibility, and national competitive tournaments. The adoption of a single national standard for high schools and a single national standard for colleges would also enable an easier transition for high school transgender student athletes moving to another state, or for transgender student athletes in college to transfer to a programme in another state.
This report reflects the best thinking of the think tank participants, based on current medical knowledge and legal protections for transgender people, about how to ensure equal opportunities for transgender student athletes. The purpose of this report is to provide leaders in education and athletics with the information they need to make effective policy decisions about the participation of transgender student athletes in high school and college athletic programmes. This report is intended for everyone involved with high school or collegiate athletics including college presidents, school board members, high school state athletic association leaders, school principals and district superintendents, intercollegiate athletic conference commissioners, and sport governing organisation leaders. It is also intended for individual athletic directors, coaches, student athletes, and parents.
Part one: Overview
This section of the report provides an overview of issues related to providing equal opportunities for transgender student athletes by addressing the following questions:

- What Does Transgender Mean?
- Why Must We Address Transgender Issues in Athletics? Why Focus on High School and College Athletics?
- Should the Participation of Transgender Student Athletes Raise Concerns About Competitive Equity?
- What Are the benefits of Adopting Fair and Inclusive Policies?
- What Are Harmful Effects of Failing to Adopt Fair and Inclusive Policies?

What Does Transgender Mean?
“Transgender” describes an individual whose gender identity (one`s internal psychological identification as a boy/man or girl/woman) does not match the person`s sex at birth. For example, a male-to-female (mTF) transgender person is someone who was born with a male body, but who identifies as a girl or a woman. A female-to-male (FTm) transgender person is someone who was born with a female body, but who identifies as a boy or a man.[2]
Some transgender people choose to share the fact that they are transgender with others. Other transgender people prefer to keep the fact that they transgender private.
It is important that other people recognise and respect the transgender person`s identification as a man or a woman. In order to feel comfortable and to express their gender identity to other people, transgender people may take a variety of steps: changing their names and self-referencing pronouns to better match their gender identity; choosing clothes, hairstyles, or other aspects of self-presentation that reflect their gender identity; and generally living, and presenting themselves to others, consistently with their gender identity. Some, but not all, transgender people take hormones or undergo surgical procedures to change their bodies to better reflect their gender identity.
Some people are confused by the difference between transgender people and people who have intersex conditions. The key feature of being transgender is having a psychological identification as a man or a woman that differs from the person`s sex at birth. Apart from having a gender identity that is different than their bodies, transgender people are not born with physical characteristics that distinguish them from others. In contrast, people with intersex conditions (which may also be called a “Differences of Sex Development”), are born with physically mixed or atypical bodies with respect to sexual characteristics such as chromosomes, internal reproductive organs and genitalia, and external genitalia.[3] An estimated one in 2,000 people are born with an anatomy or chromosome pattern that doesn`t seem to fit typical definitions of male or female. The conditions that cause these variations are sometimes grouped under the terms “intersex” or “DSD” (Differences of Sex Development).[4]
Most people with intersex conditions clearly identify as male or female and do not have any confusion or ambiguity about their gender identities. In fact, most intersex conditions are not visible, and many intersex people are unaware of having an intersex condition unless it is discovered during medical procedures. Though there may be some similar issues related to sports participation between transgender and intersex individuals, there are also significant differences. This report will focus on the participation of transgender people in sports.
Why Must We Address Transgender Issues in School Athletic Programmes?
Educators must address transgender issues in athletics for several reasons. First and foremost, core values of equal opportunity and inclusion demand that educational leaders adopt thoughtful and effective policies that enable all students to participate fully in school athletic programmes. Over the course of many years, schools have learned and continue to appreciate the value and necessity of accommodating the sport participation interests of students of colour, girls and women, students with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual students. These are all issues of basic fairness and equity that demand the expansion of our thinking about equal opportunity in sports. The right of transgender students to participate in sports calls for similar considerations of fairness and equal access.
Additionally, as more states, localities, and schools add gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies, and as more courts hold that sex discrimination laws protect transgender people, transgender students and their parents are increasingly empowered to insist that athletic programmes accommodate transgender students.
To avoid decision-making that perpetuates discrimination, school leaders must be proactive in adopting policies that are consistent with school non-discrimination policies and state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression (see Appendix A for definitions of gender identity and gender expression).
Though the number of transgender students is small, research indicates that their number is growing.[5] As the number of people who come out as transgender as teenagers and children increases, so too do the numbers of parents who support their transgender children and advocate for their rights to safety and fair treatment in schools. In response to these demands, K-12 school and college leaders must be prepared to accommodate the educational needs and protect the rights of trans-identified students.
To respond to these realities, sport governing organisations and individual schools are well advised to proactively adopt policies that provide equal opportunities for transgender students to participate on school sports teams. Moreover, in the spirit of encouraging sports participation for all, it is the right thing to do.
In order to design effective policies, educators must understand that gender is a core part of everyone`s identity and that gender is more complex than our society generally acknowledges. Learning about the experience of transgender people can help us to see more clearly how gender affects all of our lives, and to put that knowledge into practice in order to better serve all students.
Addressing the needs of transgender students is an important emerging equal opportunity issue that must be taken seriously by school leaders. Because a more complex understanding of gender may be new and challenging for some people, there is a danger that misinformation and stereotypes will guide policy decisions rather than accurate and up-to-date information. Athletic leaders who are charged with policy development need guidance to avoid inscribing misconceptions and misinformation in policies that, ultimately, create more problems than they solve.
Why Focus on High School and College Athletics?
Providing equal opportunities in all aspects of school programming is a core value in education. As an integral part of educational institutions, high school and college athletic programmes are responsible and accountable for reflecting the goals and values of the educational institutions of which they are a part. It follows that school athletic programmes must reflect the value of equal opportunity in all policies and practices.
Athletic programmes affiliated with educational institutions have a responsibility, beyond those of adult amateur or professional sports programmes, to look beyond the value of competition to promote broader educational goals of participation, inclusion, and equal opportunity. Because high schools and colleges must be committed to those broader educational goals, they should not unthinkingly adopt policies developed for adult Olympic and professional athletes. Recognising the need to address the participation of transgender athletes, a few leading international and professional sport governing organisations have developed policies based on overly stringent, invasive, and rigid medical requirements. These policies are not workable or advisable for high school and college athletes for a number of reasons.
For example, in 2004 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) developed a policy addressing the eligibility of transgender athletes to compete in IOC sanctioned events.[6] While the IOC deserves credit for its pioneering effort to address the inclusion of transgender athletes, medical experts have identified serious flaws in the IOC policy, especially its requirement of genital reconstructive surgery, which lacks a well-founded medical or policy basis. most transgender people—even as adults—do not have genital reconstructive surgery.[7] In addition, whether a transgender person has genital reconstructive surgery has no bearing on their athletic ability. The IOC policy also fails to provide sufficient protections for the privacy and dignity of transgender athletes. Because of these serious flaws, high schools and colleges should not adopt or look to the IOC policy as a model.[8]
There are additional reasons for high schools and colleges to create their own policies rather than adopt policies developed for adults. High school- and college-aged student athletes have developmental needs that differ from those of adults. For example, a core purpose of high school and college is to teach students how to participate and be good citizens in an increasingly diverse society and how to interact respectfully with others. In addition, high school and college athletic programmes impose limits on how many years a student athlete can compete that do not exist in adult sporting competitions, where athletes can compete as long as their performances are viable or, in the case of most amateur sports, as long as they wish to.
It is also advisable that high school athletic programmes adopt a different policy for including transgender student athletes than college athletic programmes. Specifically, this report recommends that high schools permit transgender athletes to play on teams consistent with the student`s gender identity, without regard to whether the student has undertaken any medical treatment. In contrast, the report recommends a more nuanced policy for collegiate athletics that is based, in part, upon whether a student athlete is undergoing hormone therapy.
The need for distinct high school and collegiate policies is based on several considerations. First, in high school settings, students are guaranteed the availability of a high school education and a corresponding opportunity to participate equally in all high school programmes and activities. At the high school level, the focus should be on full participation in athletics for all students, within the limits of school resources to provide participation opportunities.
Second, intercollegiate sports are governed differently than high school sports. Intercollegiate athletics are regulated nationally by governing bodies that sponsor national competitions and oversee such functions as the random testing of student athletes for the use of banned substances thought to enhance athletic performance. Because testosterone is a banned substance under the current rules for intercollegiate competition, the inclusion of transgender student athletes in college sports must be consistent with those rules.
Third, high school student athletes are still growing and developing physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Because high school-aged students are still growing and maturing, they present a broader range of physical characteristics than collegiate student athletes do, and these differences should be taken into account in developing a policy for high school students.
Finally, high school-aged and younger transgender students are subject to different medical protocols than adults because of their age and physical and psychological development.[9] The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has established guiding medical protocols for transitioning—the process by which a transgender person lives consistently with their gender identity—which may include treatments to have the person`s physical presentation more closely align with their identity. Those protocols vary based on the age and psychological readiness of the young person.[10] For children and youth, transition typically consists entirely of permitting the child to dress, live, and function socially consistently with the child`s gender identity. For youth who are approaching puberty, hormone blockers may be prescribed to delay puberty in order to prevent the youth from going through the traumatic experience of acquiring secondary sex characteristics that conflict with his or her core gender identity. For older youth, cross-gender hormones or even some sex-reassignment surgeries may be prescribed.
All of these factors point to the need to develop policies for the inclusion of transgender student athletes in high school and college programmes that take the relevant differences between the two settings into account. In the high school and college policies recommended below, we have attempted to take account of these differences.
Should the Participation of Transgender Student Athletes on School Teams Raise Concerns About Competitive Equity?
Concern about creating an “unfair competitive advantage” on sex-separated teams is one of the most often cited reasons for resistance to the participation of transgender student athletes. This concern is cited most often in discussions about transgender women or girls competing on a women`s or girls` team. Some advocates for gender equality in high school and college sports are concerned that allowing transgender girls or women—that is, male-to-female transgender athletes who were born male, but who identify as female—to compete on women`s teams will take away opportunities for other girls and women, or that transgender girls or women will have a competitive advantage over other nontransgender competitors.
These concerns are based on three assumptions: one, that transgender girls and women are not “real” girls or women and therefore not deserving of an equal competitive opportunity; two, that being born with a male body automatically gives a transgender girl or woman an unfair advantage when competing against non-transgender girls and women; and three, that boys or men might be tempted to pretend to be transgender in order to compete in competition with girls or women.
These assumptions are not well founded. First, the decision to transition from one gender to the other—to align one`s external gender presentation with one`s internal sense of gender identity—is a deeply significant and difficult choice that is made only after careful consideration and for the most compelling of reasons. Gender identity is a core aspect of a person`s identity, and it is just as deep seated, authentic, and real for a transgender person as for others. male-to-female transgender women fully identify and live their lives as women, and female-to-male transgender men fully identify and live their lives as men. For many transgender people, gender transition is a psychological and social necessity. It is essential that educators in and out of athletics understand this.
Second, while some people fear that transgender women will have an unfair advantage over non-transgender women, it is important to place that fear in context. When examined carefully, the realities underlying this issue are more complex than they may seem at first blush. The basis of this concern is that transgender girls or women who have gone through male puberty may have an unfair advantage due to the growth in long bones, muscle mass, and strength that is triggered by testosterone. However, a growing number of transgender youth are undergoing medically guided hormonal treatment prior to puberty, thus effectively neutralising this concern. Increasingly, doctors who specialise in treating transgender people are prescribing hormone blockers to protect children who clearly identify as the other gender from the trauma of undergoing puberty in the wrong gender and acquiring unwanted secondary sex characteristics. When the youth is old enough to make an informed decision, he or she can make the choice of whether to begin cross-gender hormones. Transgender girls who transition in this way do not go through a male puberty, and therefore their participation in athletics as girls does not raise the same equity concerns that might otherwise be present.
In addition, even transgender girls who do not access hormone blockers or cross-gender hormones display a great deal of physical variation, just as there is a great deal of natural variation in physical size and ability among non-transgender girls and boys. Many people may have a stereotype that all transgender girls and women are unusually tall and have large bones and muscles. But that is not true. A male-to-female transgender girl may be small and slight, even if she is not on hormone blockers or taking estrogens. It is important not to over generalise. The assumption that all male-bodied people are taller, stronger, and more highly skilled in a sport than all female-bodied people is not accurate.[11] This assumption is especially inaccurate when applied to youth who are still developing physically and who therefore display a significantly broader range of variation in size, strength, and skill than older youth and adults.[12]
It is also important to know that any athletic advantages a transgender girl or woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about one year of estrogen therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender girl or woman competing on a women`s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence.[13] As one survey of the existing research concludes, “the data available does not appear to suggest that transitioned athletes would compete at an advantage or disadvantage as compared with physically born men and women.”[14]
Finally, fears that boys or men will pretend to be female to compete on a girls` or women`s team are unwarranted given that in the entire 40 year history of “sex verification” procedures in international sport competitions, no instances of such “fraud” have been revealed.[15] Instead, rather than identifying men who are trying to fraudulently compete as women, “sex verification” tests have been misused to humiliate and unfairly exclude women with intersex conditions.[16] The apparent failure of such tests to serve their stated purpose of deterring fraud—and the terrible damage they have caused to individual women athletes—should be taken into account when developing policies for the inclusion of transgender athletes.
Rather than repeating the mistakes of the past, educators in high school and collegiate athletics programmes must develop thoughtful and informed policies that provide opportunities for all students, including transgender students, to participate in sports. These policies must be based on sound medical science, which shows that male-to-female transgender athletes do not have any automatic advantage over other women and girls. These policies must also be based on the educational values of sport and the reasons why sport is included as a vital component of the educational environment: promoting the physical and psychological well-being of all students, and teaching students the values of equality, participation, inclusion, teamwork, discipline, and respect for diversity.
What Are the Benefits of Adopting Inclusive Policies and Practices Regarding Transgender Student Athletes?
All stakeholders in high school and collegiate athletics will benefit from adopting fair and inclusive policies enabling transgender student athletes to participate on school sports teams. School-based sports, even at the most competitive levels, remain an integral part of the process of education and development of young people, especially emerging leaders in our society. Adopting fair and inclusive participation policies will allow school and athletic leaders to fulfil their commitment to create an environment in which all students can thrive, develop their full potential, and learn how to interact with persons from diverse groups.
Many schools and athletic departments identify diversity as strength and have included sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in their non-discrimination policies. Athletic departments and personnel are responsible for creating and maintaining an inclusive and non-discriminatory climate in the areas they oversee. Adopting inclusive participation policies provides school athletic leaders with a concrete opportunity to fulfil that mandate and demonstrate their commitment to fair play and inclusion.
Moreover, when all participants in athletics are committed to fair play, inclusion, and respect, student athletes are free to focus on performing their best in athletic competition and in the classroom. This climate promotes the well-being and achievement potential of all student athletes. Every student athlete and coach will benefit from meeting the challenge of overcoming fear and prejudice about social groups of which they are not members. This respect for difference will be invaluable to all student athletes as they graduate and enter an increasingly diverse workforce in which knowing how to work effectively across differences is a professional and personal asset.
What Are Harmful Potential Consequences of Failure to Adopt Transgender-Inclusive Policies and Practices?
When schools fail to adopt inclusive participation policies, they are not living up to the educational ideals of equality and inclusion, and may reinforce the image of athletics as a privileged activity not accountable to broad institutional and societal ideals of inclusion and respect for difference. moreover, this failure puts schools, athletic conferences, and sport governing organisations at risk of costly discrimination lawsuits and negative media attention.
Failing to adopt transgender-inclusive participation policies is hurtful to and discriminates against transgender students because they may be denied the opportunity to participate in school sports. School sports programmes are integral parts of a well-rounded education experience. The benefits of school sports participation include many positive effects on physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. All students, including those who are transgender, deserve access to these benefits.[17]
Failure to adopt inclusive participation policies also hurt non-transgender students by conveying a message that the values of non-discrimination and inclusion are less important than values based on competition and winning. Schools must model and educate about non-discrimination values in all aspects of school programming, not only for students, but for parents and community members as well.
Last but not least, failure to adopt policies that ensure equal opportunities for transgender student athletes may also result in costly and divisive litigation. As described in Appendix B, a growing number of states and localities are adopting specific legal protections for transgender students. In addition, state and federal courts are increasingly applying sex discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination against transgender people.
Several studies show that schools are often hostile places for transgender students and other students who do not conform to stereotypical gender expectations.[18] These students are frequently subjected to peer harassment and bullying which stigmatises and isolates them. This mistreatment can lead to feelings of hopelessness, depression, and low self-esteem. When a school or athletic organisation denies transgender students the ability to participate in sports because of their gender identity or expression that condones, reinforces and affirms their social status as outsiders or misfits who deserve the hostility they experience from peers.
Finally, the absence of transgender-inclusive policies and practices reinforces stereotypes and fears about gender diversity. When transgender students are stigmatised and excluded, even no transgender students may experience pressure to conform to gender-role stereotypes as a way to avoid being bullied or harassed themselves.
Policy Recommendations
We recommend that policies governing the participation of transgender student athletes be informed by the following principles, which provided a philosophical foundation for the think tank participants.
Think Tank participants were committed to these guiding principles based on the belief that athletic participation is an integral part of the educational experience. This report recommends that, in addition to an organisation`s stated values, the following principles be included in the transgender student athlete policy statement:

1. Participation in interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics is a valuable part of the education experience for all students.
2. Transgender student athletes should have equal opportunity to participate in sports.
3. The integrity of women`s sports should be preserved.
4. Policies governing sports should be based on sound medical knowledge and scientific validity.
5. Policies governing sports should be objective, workable, and practicable; they should also be written, available and equitably enforced.
6. Policies governing the participation of transgender students in sports should be fair in light of the tremendous variation among individuals in strength, size, musculature, and ability.
7. The legitimate privacy interests of all student athletes should be protected.
8. The medical privacy of transgender students should be preserved.
9. Athletic administrators, staff, parents of athletes, and student athletes should have access to sound and effective educational resources and training related to the participation of transgender and gender-variant students in athletics.
10. Policies governing the participation of transgender students in athletics should comply with state and federal laws protecting students from discrimination based on sex, disability, and gender identity and expression.

General Recommendations

1. Schools should adopt transgender student athlete inclusive policies proactively, rather than waiting for a transgender student to express an interest in sports participation. Proactive adoption of such a policy enables school and athletic administrators to educate staff, students and parents about the policy and increases the likelihood that inclusion of transgender students on school teams will occur in a timely, fair and effective manner. The adoption of comprehensive, consistent policies, and the institution of training concerning participation of transgender student athletes before the instance of a transgender student asking to participate also prevent situations in which a student may be subject to harassment or other unwanted or undue attention.
2. Policies governing the participation of transgender student athletes should be adopted by national and state athletic associations and implemented within individual school districts at the individual school level. The advantage of adopting a single national policy for all high schools and a single national policy for intercollegiate athletics is that it provides consistency for state eligibility rules, conference and tournament eligibility, and national competitive tournaments. This consistency reduces the likelihood of student athletes being held to different eligibility requirements in different states.
3. The adoption of a single national standard for high schools and a single national standard for colleges would also enable an easier transition for high school transgender student athletes moving to another state, or for transgender student athletes in college to transfer to a programme in another state. Policy consistency eliminates confusion and ensures that transgender student athletes will be afforded an opportunity to compete in every state at both the high school and collegiate levels. Add or amend school non-discrimination policies to include “gender identity and expression.”
4. Policies should focus on maximising inclusiveness, rather than restricting students` opportunities to participate based on their gender identity or expression.
5. Policies should reflect the educational values of the organisation adopting them and include procedures for implementation, protection of student confidentiality, and appeal.
6. Policies should enable all student athletes, regardless of their gender identity or expression, to compete in a safe, competitive, and respectful environment free of discrimination.
7. Policies should use clear and consistent language that reflects understanding of the concepts of transgender, gender identity, and gender expression.
8. Policies should be in written form and included in all school organisational rulebooks, eligibility guidelines, and student athlete handbooks and should be made readily available to all stakeholders including administrators, coaches, students, and parents.
9. Educational resources should be made available to all national, state and local athletic associations and conferences, school athletic staff, parents, and student athletes, including:
   - Information about gender identity and expression
   - State and federal non-discrimination and anti-harassment laws pertaining to transgender students
   - Best practices for including transgender student athletes on teams, and
   - Information about the transgender student athlete participation policy in the student athlete handbook.

Policy Recommendations for High School and Collegiate Athletics
The following policy recommendations are for high school and collegiate athletic programmes and should not be assumed appropriate for younger age groups. We recommend that policies for younger athletes should be adopted specifically for that age group and should follow the general guidelines developed by the Transgender Law and Policy Institute and endorsed by Gender Spectrum which states that prepubescent young people should be able to commit in recreational and school sports according to their gender identity.[19]We urge readers to keep in mind that policy development governing the inclusion of transgender student athletes is an emerging endeavor. As new research on the participation of transgender athletes and the physiological effects of gender transition on athletic performance becomes available, policies may need to be reevaluated to ensure that they reflect the most current research-based information.
Recommended Policy for High School Athletics
A transgender student athlete at the high school level shall be allowed to participate in a sports activity in accordance with his or her gender identity irrespective of the gender listed on the student`s birth certificate or other student records, and regardless of whether the student has undergone any medical treatment. This policy shall not prevent a transgender student athlete from electing to participate in a sports activity according to his or her assigned birth gender.
Recommended implementation procedures

1. Notice to the School: The student and/or parents shall contact the school administrator or athletic director indicating that the student has a consistent gender identity different than the gender listed on the student`s school registration records or state birth record, and that the student desires to participate in activities in a manner consistent with his/her gender identity.
2. Notice to the State Interscholastic Athletic Association (SIAA): The athletic director shall notify the SIAA of the student`s interest in participating.
3. Once the athletic director grants the student eligibility to participate in the sport consistent with his/her gender identity, the eligibility is granted for the duration of the student`s participation and does not need to be renewed every sports season or school year. All discussion and documentation will be kept confidential, and the proceedings will be sealed unless the student and family make these records available.
4. All communications among involved parties and required supporting documentation shall be kept confidential and all records of proceedings sealed unless the student and family make a specific request otherwise. All medical information provided pursuant to this policy shall be kept strictly confidential as is consistent with medical privacy law.
5. Should any questions arise about whether a student`s request to participate in a sports activity consistent with his or her gender identity is bona fide, a student may seek review of his or her eligibility for participation through the procedure set forth below:

A. First Level of Appeal: The student will be scheduled for an appeal hearing before an SIAA eligibility committee specifically established to hear gender identity appeals. The SIAA shall schedule a hearing as expeditiously as possible, but in no case later than five (5) school business days of the student`s school prior to the first full interscholastic contest that is the subject of the petition, or within a reasonable time thereafter in cases of emergency, including, but not limited to, any unforeseeable late student enrollment. The Gender Identity Eligibility Committee will be comprised of a minimum of three of the following persons, at least one of whom must be from the physician or mental health professional categories:

- Physician with experience in transgender health care and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care
- Psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed mental health professional familiar with the WPATH Standards of Care
- School administrator from a non-appealing school
- SIAA staff member
- Advocate familiar with issues of gender identity and expression

B. Documentation: The appealing student should provide the Eligibility Committee with the following documentation and information:

- Current transcript and school registration information
- Documentation of the student`s consistent gender identification (e.g., written statements from the student and/or parent/guardian and/or health care provider)
- Any other pertinent documentation or information

C. Committee Decision Process: The student`s appeal should be granted upon the committee`s receipt of the documentation noted above.
D. Second Level of Appeal: If the Gender Identity Eligibility Committee denies the student`s request to participate, the student can file a notice of appeal with the Executive Director of the SIAA on or before the tenth (10th) school business day following the date of receipt of the written decision of the Gender Identity Eligibility Committee denying the petition. An appeal to the SIAA Executive Director shall require the Executive Director to schedule a hearing to commence on or before the tenth (10th) school business day following the date of receipt of the written notice of appeal. Written notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be delivered to the appealing student in person or by certified mail, with return receipt requested, no later than five (5) school business days of the student`s school prior to the date of the hearing.
E. When there is confirmation of a student`s consistent gender identity, the Eligibility Committee/SIAA Executive Director will affirm the student`s eligibility to participate in SIAA activities consistent with the student`s gender identification.
Our think tank report recommendation for interscholastic athletics is based on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Gender Identity/Expression policy adopted in 2008. The WIAA adopted this non-discrimination policy permitting transgender student athletes to participate according to their gender identity. This policy and specific procedural steps that students and schools are required to follow are described in the WIAA Official Handbook. WIAA officials report that this policy is working as planned in providing equal opportunity for currently participating transgender student athletes. The WIAA policy is, as of 2010, the best working policy governing the participation of transgender student athletes in high school sports and is consistent with contemporary medical knowledge and practice and with the principles of inclusion and non-discrimination, as well as with laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender persons.
As a final note, it is important to recognise that some high school transgender athletes will have undergone hormonal treatments or even surgeries, and others will not. This recommended policy— which requires inclusion regardless of whether a transgender student has undergone any medical treatment—recognises that regulating access to high school sports based on medical treatment would be unfair and too complicated for this level of competition. However, high schools should ensure that transgender student athletes are aware of any policies that may affect their ability to compete at the collegiate level so that they can make informed choices about how medical transition may affect their eligibility to participate in collegiate athletics.
Recommended Policy for College Athletics
A transgender student athlete at the college level should be allowed to participate in any sports activity so long as that athlete`s use of hormone therapy, if any, is consistent with the National Governing Body`s (NGB) existing policies on banned medications. Specifically, a transgender student athlete should be allowed to participate in sex-separated sports activities under the following conditions:
I Participation in Sex-Separated Sport Teams
A. Transgender student athletes who are undergoing hormone treatment

1. A male-to-female (mTF) transgender student athlete who is taking medically prescribed hormone treatment related to gender transition may participate on a men`s team at any time, but must complete one year of hormone treatment related to gender transition before competing on a women`s team.[20]
2. A female-to-male (FTm) transgender student athlete who is taking medically prescribed testosterone related to gender transition may not participate on a women`s team after beginning hormone treatment, and must request a medical exception from the National Governing Body (NGB) prior to competing on a men`s team because testosterone is a banned substance.
3. A female-to-male (FTm) transgender student athlete who is taking medically prescribed testosterone for the purposes of gender transition may compete on a men`s team.
4. In any case where a student athlete is taking hormone treatment related to gender transition, that treatment must be monitored by a physician, and the NGB must receive regular reports about the athlete`s eligibility according to these guidelines.

B. Transgender student athletes who are NOT undergoing hormone treatment

1. Any transgender student athlete who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender transition may participate in sex-separated sports activities in accordance with his or her assigned birth gender.
2. A female-to-male transgender student athlete who is not taking testosterone related to gender transition may participate on a men`s or women`s team.
3. A male-to-female transgender student athlete who is not taking hormone treatments related to gender transition may not compete on a women`s team.

II Participation in Mixed Sport Teams
A mixed team has both female and male participants and may be restricted in championship play according to specific national governing body rules.
A. Transgender student athletes who are undergoing hormone treatment

1. For purposes of mixed gender team classification, a male-to-female (mTF) transgender student athlete who is taking medically prescribed hormone treatment related to gender transition shall be counted as a male participant until the athlete has completed one year of hormone treatment at which time the athlete shall be counted as a female participant.
2. For purposes of mixed gender team classification, a female-to-male (FTm) transgender student athlete who is taking medically prescribed testosterone related to gender transition shall be counted as a male participant and must request a medical exception from the National Governing Body (NGB) prior to competing because testosterone is a banned substance.

B. Transgender student athletes who are NOT undergoing hormone treatment

1. For purposes of mixed gender team classification, a female-to-male (FTm) transgender student athlete who is not taking testosterone related to gender transition may be counted as either a male or female.
2. For purposes of mixed gender team classification, a female-to-male (FTm) transgender student athlete who is not taking testosterone related to gender transition participating on a women`s team shall not make that team a mixed gender team.
3. For purposes of mixed gender team classification, a male-to-female (mTF) transgender student athlete who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender transition shall count as a male.

Recommended Implementation Process
A. The student`s responsibility

1. In order to avoid challenges to a transgender student`s participation during a sport season, a student athlete who has completed, plans to initiate, or is in the process of taking hormones as part of a gender transition shall submit the request to participate on a sports team in writing to the athletic director upon matriculation or when the decision to undergo hormonal treatment is made.
2. The student shall submit her or his request to the athletic director. The request shall include a letter from the student`s physician documenting the student athlete`s intention to transition or the student`s transition status if the process has already been initiated. This letter shall identify the prescribed hormonal treatment for the student`s gender transition and documentation of the student`s testosterone levels, if relevant.

B. Individual School and National Governing Body Responsibilities

1. The athletic director shall meet with the student to review eligibility requirements and procedure for approval of transgender participation.
2. The athletic director shall notify the NGB of the student`s request to participate. The NGB will assign a facilitator to assist the athletic director in responding to the request.
3. If a student athlete`s request is denied by the athletic director, the decision must be automatically reviewed by a Transgender Participation Committee to be established by a school administrator. This committee shall be convened and its decision reported to the athletic director and school administrator in a timely fashion. This committee should include:
   - A health care professional, e.g. physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or other licensed health professional with experience in transgender health care and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care. The student athlete`s physician can serve in this role.
   - A faculty athletic representative; and
   - A representative assigned by the institution`s president with expertise in institutional anti-discrimination policy, such as someone from the institution`s human resources, ombuds office, or Americans with Disabilities compliance office.
4. The athletic director will notify the NGB of the appeal outcome.
5. The NGB will confirm that the treatment requirement has been met.
6. Transgender student athletes subject to a one-year transition period should receive an extension of their eligibility at the end of their transition period, upon timely review and approval by the NGB.
7. An opposing team or school may only challenge a transgender student athlete`s approved eligibility through the accepted formal appeal process of the NGB.
8. All discussions among involved parties and required written supporting documentation should be kept confidential, unless the student athlete makes a specific request otherwise. All information about an individual student`s transgender identity and medical information, including physician`s information provided pursuant to this policy, shall be maintained confidentially.*

[*The NGB should provide a model confidentiality policy for member institutions, including information about medical waivers.]
Additional Guidelines for Transgender Student Athlete Inclusion
In addition to overall eligibility policy, we recommend that the following additional guidelines be adopted by individual schools at both the high school and college level. These guidelines will assist schools, athletic departments, coaches, teams, and student athletes in creating an environment in which all student athletes are safe and fairly treated.
Facilities Access

1. Changing Areas, Toilets, Showers—Transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet facilities in accordance with the student`s gender identity. Every locker room should have some private, enclosed changing areas, showers, and toilets for use by any athlete who desires them. When requested by a transgender student athlete, schools should provide private, separate changing, showering, and toilet facilities for the student`s use, but transgender students should not be required to use separate facilities.
2. Competition at Another School—If a transgender student athlete requires a particular accommodation to ensure access to appropriate changing, showering, or bathroom facilities, school leaders, athletic directors, and coaches, in consultation with the transgender student athlete, should notify their counterparts at other schools prior to competitions to ensure that the student has access to facilities that are comfortable and safe. This notification should maintain the student`s confidentiality. Under no circumstances should a student athlete`s identity as a transgender person be disclosed without the student`s express permission.
3. Hotel Rooms—Transgender student athletes generally should be assigned to share hotel rooms based on their gender identity, with a recognition that any student who needs extra privacy should be accommodated whenever possible.

Language

1. Preferred Names—In all cases, teammates, coaches and all others in the school should refer to transgender student athletes by a student`s preferred name.
2. Pronouns—Similarly, in all cases, pronoun references to transgender student athletes should reflect the student`s gender and pronoun preferences.

Dress Codes and Team Uniforms

1. Dress Codes—Transgender athletes should be permitted to dress consistently with their gender identities. That is, a female-to-male transgender athlete should be permitted to dress as a male. A male-to-female should be permitted to dress as a female. For reasons unrelated to trans-inclusion, schools should evaluate the necessity of gendered dress codes and recognise that they tend to marginalise a range of students who may not feel comfortable with them. Dress codes for athletic teams when traveling or during a game day at school should be gender-neutral. Instead of requiring a girls` or women`s team to wear dresses or skirts, for example, ask that team members wear dresses or slacks that are clean, neat, well cared for and appropriately “dressy” for representing their school and team.
2. Uniforms—All team members should have access to uniforms that are appropriate for their sport and that they feel comfortable wearing. No student should be required to wear a gendered uniform that conflicts with the student`s gender identity.

Education

1. In School—All members of the school community should receive information and education about transgender identities, school or district non-discrimination policies, the use of preferred names and pronouns, and expectations for creating a respectful team and school climate for all students, including transgender and gender-variant students.
2. Athletic Conference Personnel—Athletic conference leaders should be educated about the need for policies governing the participation of transgender student athletes, develop such policies, and ensure that all schools in the conference understand and adopt the policies.
3. Opposing Teams/Schools—Without violating a transgender student`s confidentiality or privacy, school leaders, athletic directors, and coaches should communicate with their counterparts at other schools prior to competitions in which a transgender athlete is participating about expectations for treatment of transgender student athletes on and off the field. This does not require “outing” or otherwise identifying a particular student athlete as transgender, but rather establishing general expectations for the treatment of all student athletes, including those who may be transgender.

Media

1. Training—All school or athletic representatives (conference and/or state leaders, sports information departments and personnel, school leaders, athletic administrators, team members, and coaches) who are authorised to speak with the media should receive information about appropriate terminology, use of preferred names and pronouns, and school and athletic conference policies regarding the participation of transgender student athletes on school sports teams.
2. Confidentiality—Protecting the privacy of transgender student athletes must be a top priority for all athletic department and affiliated school personnel, particularly when in the presence of the media. All medical information shall be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.

Enforcement and non-Retaliation

1. Enforcement—Any member of an athletics department who has been found to have violated this policy by threatening to withhold athletic opportunity or harassing any student on the basis of their gender identity or expression, or by breaching medical confidentiality will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge or expulsion from the school. The athletic department will also take appropriate remedial action to correct the situation. Any member of the athletic department who becomes aware of conduct that violates this policy should report the conduct to the appropriate official such as the athletic director.
2. Retaliation—Retaliation is specifically forbidden against anyone who complains about discrimination based on gender identity or expression, even if the person was in error. This athletic department will take steps to prevent any retaliation against any person who makes such a complaint.

Best Practices Recommendations for Implementing Transgender Student Athlete Inclusion Policies
Part Three describes best practices—the actions that coaches, administrators, student athletes, and parents of transgender student athletes can take to assure the inclusion of transgender student athletes. Although these practices specifically address transgender student athletes, they can be used to address discrimination based on other factors as well, such as race, religion, class, and sexual orientation.
The first part of this section describes general best practices for everyone. The next sections identify best practices we recommend specifically to athletic administrators, coaches, student athletes, and parents of student athletes, as well as athletic staff who interact with the media.
Overall Best Practices

1. Provide Equal Opportunity—Colleges and universities often have legal obligations to provide equal opportunity to student athletes and to personnel, including coaches. All those involved in athletics should be aware of these obligations, and treat them as core values guiding policies and practices. Transgender discrimination may be a part of a systemic problem where the broader environment is unfriendly or discriminatory toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. This will negatively affect all boys, girls, men, and women who participate in athletic competition. If discrimination is accepted as part of the common practices of an athletic department, this will undermine the core principle of equal opportunity.
2. Value Diversity—In creating guidelines or best practices for including transgender student athletes, it is important to place this conversation in the context of the athletic department`s broad commitments to safety, fairness, and respect for all participants. It helps when athletic department leadership, including coaches, value all aspects of diversity. Collegiate athletics provide an opportunity for students to compete with and against others who come from different races, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and social classes, but all of whom share the common goal of achieving athletic excellence. Valuing this common ground enhances the social and competitive experience for all. Athletic administrators should make their commitment to valuing diversity explicit in media interviews and other public speaking opportunities as well as in meetings with athletic department staff. That diversity-valuing approach then shapes and informs activities throughout the athletic department and is conveyed to coaches and student athletes. Everyone should also understand how these core values are important to team success and to individual team member development. Teams that value each member`s contribution to the unit, while respecting individual differences, provide a foundation for the whole team and each member of the team to focus on achieving their athletic and academic goals.
3. When diversity values are explicit, athletic departments, institutions, state, and national governing organisations are in a position to develop specific policy statements that reflect a commitment to these values. These policy statements, if followed, protect schools, administrators, student athletes, and coaches from litigation and other negative consequences. Coaches should know that they may have a transgender student athlete on their teams and should be equipped to make that experience a positive one for the athlete and their teammates. Parents should communicate the importance of these values in meetings with prospective coaches and athletic administrators. Student athletes can discuss these values with new team members and in public speaking opportunities.

Best Practices for Athletic Administrators
Best practices for athletic administrators focus on policy development, discrimination prevention, education, enforcement procedures, and consequences. These best practices will be helpful to a wide range of athletic administrators in organisations including colleges and universities, high schools, sport-governing organisations, coaches associations, and sports conferences.

1. If the school does not have an inclusive non-discrimination and harassment policy, work with other school administrators to adopt a policy that includes gender identity and expression.
2. Respect the right to privacy of all student athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.
3. Become knowledgeable about school non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gender identity and expression.
4. Include gender identity and expression in departmental non-discrimination statements on all official department documents and web sites.
5. Become aware of state and federal non-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression (see Part 5 Appendix B for a list of relevant federal and state laws).
6. Adopt an effective and fair athletic departmental policy addressing the participation of transgender student athletes that is consistent with school policy and state or federal nondiscrimination laws.
7. Educate all members of the athletic department community (including staff, student athletes, and parents) about departmental and school policy regarding the participation of transgender student athletes in athletics.
8. Educate yourself about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and current scientific perspectives on the participation of transgender student athletes on men`s and women`s sports teams.
9. Work with athletic conferences of which your school is a member to adopt fair and effective policies governing the participation of transgender student athletes.
10. Recommend that your athletic conference sponsor educational programmes for coaches and student athletes on the inclusion of transgender student athletes, preferred terminology, and understanding transgender identity.
11. Recommend that professional associations for athletic administrators sponsor educational programmes on the inclusion of transgender student athletes, preferred terminology, understanding transgender identity, and adopting fair and effective policies.
12. Educate all members of the sports information department about transgender identity, preferred terminology, department policies governing the participation of transgender student athletes, and confidentiality requirements when discussing transgender student athlete participation with the media.

Best Practices for Coaches
Best practices for coaches focus on acquiring knowledge about transgender student athletes, understanding legal and ethical obligations, maintaining professional conduct, and ensuring that those with whom coaches work are also educated and aware of these issues.

1. Become knowledgeable about school non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gender identity and expression
2. Become knowledgeable about departmental and school policy regarding the participation of transgender student athletes in athletics.
3. If your department does not have a policy addressing the participation of transgender student athletes, ask your athletic director to adopt one.
4. Educate student athletes on your team about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and departmental/school policies regarding the participation of transgender student athletes on sports teams.
5. Be prepared to talk with parents of student athletes about transgender student athletes` participation on school teams.
6. Use respectful and preferred language and terminology when discussing transgender student athlete participation or interacting with a transgender student athlete.
7. Anticipate and address transgender student athlete access issues proactively and in accordance with departmental policy regarding locker room use, toilet and shower availability, hotel room assignment, uniforms and dress codes.
8. Recommend that coaches associations to which you belong adopt fair and effective policy statements addressing the participation of transgender student athletes.
9. Recommend that coaches associations to which you belong sponsor educational programmes addressing the participation of transgender student athletes.
10. If you are aware of discriminatory or harassing behavior from opposing teams or spectators based on the perceived or actual gender identity or expression of a student athlete, talk to the opposing coach and ask your athletic director to talk with the opposing school`s athletic director.
11. Respect the right to privacy of all student athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.

Best Practices for Student Athletes
Best practices for student athletes who have transgender teammates focus on respectful behaviour, safety, and valuing diversity.

1. Use respectful and preferred language and terminology when discussing transgender student athlete participation or interacting with a transgender student athlete.
2. Become familiar with departmental and school policy governing the participation of transgender student athletes in athletics.
3. Learn about school non-discrimination and harassment policies that include gender identity and expression.
4. Encourage other student athletes to use respectful language when discussing transgender issues in sports or interacting with a transgender student athlete.
5. Respect the right to privacy of all student athletes with respect to personal information (including whether a student is transgender) when discussing gender identity and expression.
6. Ask your coach and athletic director for team and departmental educational training concerning transgender student athlete participation.
7. If taunting or harassment from spectators or opponents occurs during competition, take the approach that these actions are never acceptable for any reason including taunting or harassment based on gender identity or expression. Make your coaches aware of discriminatory or harassing behaviour and ask them to arrange a meeting with the opposing school`s athletic director to address this behaviour.
8. Ask the student athlete advisory council at your school to plan an activity that focuses on the participation of transgender athletes in sports and frame the issue as one of equal opportunity in sports and fair treatment for all.

Best Practices for Parents of Student Athletes
Best practices for parents of student athletes highlight the importance of the role of parents in monitoring athletic department policy and practice to encourage adherence to core principles of fairness for all student athletes.

1. If you are the parent of a transgender student, ask school officials and athletic administrators for their policy on the participation of transgender students in athletic programmes.
2. Encourage athletic administrators to educate coaches, other athletic staff, student athletes, and parents of student athletes about policies and preferred terminology relating to the participation of transgender student athletes on school teams.
3. Talk with your child about the importance of respecting the rights of transgender teammates and understanding transgender identity.
4. If your child is transgender, talk with them about actions to take if she or he is feeling unsafe or is treated disrespectfully.
5. Respect the right to privacy of all student athletes when discussing gender identity and expression and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.
6. If you become aware of discriminatory or harassing behaviour by spectators or participants based on perceived or actual gender identity or expression during competitions, report this behaviour to your school`s athletic director.

Best Practices for Athletic Staff Interacting With Media about Transgender Student Athlete Issues
Best practices for interacting with the media focus on the importance of understanding basic information about transgender identity, preferred terminology, and respecting confidentiality of student athletes.

1. The school or athletic department should provide training to all athletic staff who may interact with the media.
2. Respect the confidentiality of all student athletes when discussing transgender issues with the media and understand that all medical information must be kept confidential in accordance with applicable state, local, and federal privacy laws.
3. Use appropriate language in media interviews or presentations and insist that this terminology be used in media reports on transgender issues in athletics.
4. Focus on the importance of providing equal opportunities for all students to participate in athletics.
5. Describe how departmental policies provide equal opportunities for all students to participate in athletics.

Resources
Print Resources (Books, Articles, Reports)
AthletesCAN, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, Promising Practices: Working with Transitioned/Transitioning Athletes in Sport (2009).
Including Transitioning and Transitioned Athletes in Sport - Issues, Facts and Perspectives - SUMMARY. Brenda Wagman (February 12, 2009). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Summary_Transition_Discussion_Paper_FINAL1%20(2).pdf.
Including Transitioning and Transitioned Athletes in Sport - Issues, Facts and Perspectives - DISCUSSION PAPER. Brenda Wagman (February 12, 2009). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wagman_discussion_paper_THE_FINAL.pdf.
Working with Transitioning or Transitioned Athletes in Sport - EMERGING THEMES. Rachel Corbett (may 26, 2009). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wamsley_lit_review(2).pdf.
Social Science Literature on Sport and Transitioning/Transitioned Athletes - LITERATURE REVIEW. Kevin B. Wamsley (February 2008). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wamsley_lit_review(2).pdf.
Do Transitioned Athletes Compete at an Advantage or Disadvantage - LITERATURE REVIEW. Michaela C. Devries (may 18, 2008). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Devries_lit_review(2).pdf.
Brill, Stephanie, and Rachel Pepper, the Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals (San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2008).
California Safe Schools Coalition, Model School District Policy Regarding Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students (2009). Available online at http://www.casafeschools.org/csscmodelpolicy1209.pdf.
Currah, Paisley, Richard m. Juang and Shannon Price Minter, Transgender Rights (minneapolis, mN: University of minnesota Press, 2006).
Gay Straight Alliance Network, the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Beyond the Binary: A Tool Kit for Gender Activism in Schools (2004). Available online at http://transgenderlawcenter.org/pdf/beyond_the_binary.pdf.
Goorin, Louis, and Mathijs Bunck, Transsexuals and Competitive Sports, European Journal of Endocrinology 151 (2004): 425-429. Available online at http://www.eje.org/cgi/reprint/151/4/425.pdf.
Griffin, Pat, Inclusion of Transgender Athletes on Sports Teams, Women`s Sports Foundation (2007).
Greytak, Emily A., Joseph G. Kosciw, and Elizabeth m. Diaz, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in our Nation`s Schools (2009).
Lambda Legal, Bending the Mold: An Action Kit for Transgender Students (2009). Available online at http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/bending-the-mold/order-bending-the-mold.html.
Movement Advancement Project, Advancing Transgender Equality: A Guide for LGBT Organisations and Funders (2009). Available online at http://www.lgbtmap.org/advancing-transgender-equality.html.
National Center for Transgender Equality, Understanding Transgender: Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People (2009). Available online at http://transequality.org/Resources/NCTE_UnderstandingTrans.pdf.
Steinbach, Paul, Change Candidates, Athletic Business (August 2008). Available online at http://www.athleticbusiness.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=1817&zoneid=3.
Sykes, Heather, Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport, Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal 15:1 (2006): 3-13.
Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Guidelines for Creating Policies for Transgender Children in Recreational Sports (2009). Available online at http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/TLPI_GuidlinesforCreatingPoliciesforTransChildreninRecSports.pdf.
Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Gender Identity Policy Jim Meyerhoff, Assistant Executive Director 435 main Avenue South, Renton, WA 98057 Office Phone: 425-282-5234 Office E-mail: jmeyerho@wiaa.com
Women`s Sports Foundation, Participation of Transgender Athletes in Women`s Sports: a Women`s Sports Foundation Position Paper (2008).
Organisations/Websites
American Bar Association (ABA)—The ABA opposes discrimination against those who are transgender or gender non-conforming. In 2006, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a recommendation that all federal, state, local and territorial governments enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity or expression, in employment, housing and public accommodations. For more information visit: www.abanet.org/leadership/2006/annual/dailyjournal/hundredtwentytwob.doc.
Advocates for Informed Choice—legal advocacy organisation dedicated to promoting the civil rights of children with intersex conditions or disorders of sex development. www.aiclegal.org.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—The ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project fights discrimination and moves public opinion through the courts, legislatures and public education across five issue areas: Relationships, Youth & Schools, Parenting, Gender Identity and Expression and Discrimination in Employment, Housing and other areas. www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights.
American Medical Association (AMA)—The AmA is a medical professional association whose mission is to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health. The AmA has adopted a number of policies supporting the right of transgender and gendernon-conforming persons to be free from discrimination on the basis of their gender identity or expression. www.ama-assn.org.
American Psychological Association (APA)—In 2008, the APA Council of Representatives adopted a policy statement supporting “the passage of laws and policies protecting the rights, legal benefits, and privileges of people of all gender identities and expressions;” and as well as supporting “efforts to provide safe and secure educational environments, at all levels of education.” www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/transgender.aspx.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Transgender Rights Project—Through the Transgender Rights Project (TRP), Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders puts litigation, legislative, and educational assets to work in a focused way to establish clear legal protections for the transgender community. www.glad.org.
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network—The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. www.glsen.org.
Gender Spectrum—Gender Spectrum provides education, training and support to help create a gender sensitive and inclusive environment for all children and teens. www.genderspectrum.org.
It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport—A Women`s Sports Foundation initiative, It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Sport is an education project focused on eliminating homophobia as a barrier to all women and men participating in sport. www.ittakesateam.org.
Lambda Legal—Lambda Legal is a national organisation committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. www.lambdalegal.org.
National Center for Lesbian Rights—NCLR is a national legal organisation committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.nclrights.org.
National Center for Transgender Equality—The National Center for Transgender Equality is a social justice organisation dedicated to advancing the equality of transgender people through advocacy, collaboration and empowerment. www.transequality.org.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force—The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the LGBT community by training activists, equipping state and local organisations with the skills needed to organisatione broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organisational capacity of the movement. www.thetaskforce.org.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays-TNET - The purpose of this special affiliate of PFLAG is to promote the health and well-being of transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. PFLAG TNET focuses on support for transgender people and their parents, families, and friends; education on transgender facts and issues; and advocacy for equal rights for the transgender community at local and national levels. www.pflag.org/tnet.
Transgender Law Center—Transgender Law Center (TLC) connects transgender people and their families to culturally competent legal services, increases acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support California`s transgender communities, and works to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people. www.transgenderlawcenter.org.
Transgender Law and Policy Institute—Transgender Law and Policy Institute (TLPI) is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to engaging in effective advocacy for transgender people in our society. The TLPI brings experts and advocates together to work on law and policy initiatives designed to advance transgender equality. www.transgenderlaw.org.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)—WPATH is an international, interdisciplinary organisation of professionals from fields of psychiatry, endocrinology, surgery, law, psychology, sociology, and counseling. WPATH publishes the internationally recognized Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, an evolving consensus on best practice in the provision of medical treatments for individuals with Gender Identity Disorder. www.wpath.org.
Videos
Straightlaced: How Gender`s Got Us All Tied Up
Straightlaced: How Gender`s Got Us All Tied Up takes a powerful and intimate look at how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are shaping the lives of American teens. The film proudly showcases the diverse and unscripted voices of more than 50 high school students from a variety of different communities, all of whom speak with breathtaking honesty, insight, and humor about gender roles and their struggles to be who they really are. more information on the film is available at www.groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/straightlaced.
Contact
Dr. Pat Griffin
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, USA
Email: griffin@educ.umass.edu
Helen J. Carroll
Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Sports Project
USA
Email: hcarroll@nclrights.org

[1] For a more complete list of definitions and terms related to transgender people, refer to Appendix A.
[2] Gender Spectrum, “A Word About Words” available online at http://www.genderspectrum.org/images/stories/Resources/Family/A_Word_About_Words.pdf.
[3] Intersex Society of North America, “What`s the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition?” Available online at http://www.isna.org/faq/transgender.
[4] Advocates for Informed Choice, General Brochure, available online at http://aiclegal.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/aic-brochure.pdf.
[5] See, e.g., Emily A. Greytak, Joseph G. Kosciw, and Elizabeth m. Diaz, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, harsh realities: the experiences of transgender Youth in our nation`s Schools (2009). Available online at http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHmENTS/file/000/001/1375-1.pdf. Despite this evidence of growing numbers, the decision to provide equal opportunity should not be based on the number of transgender students who want to play sports. Even the smallest minority of students deserves the opportunity to participate in all school-sponsored programmes.
[6] International Olympic Committee, Statement of the Stockholm consensus on Sex reassignment in Sport (2003), http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_905.pdf.
[7] Lisa mottet, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute and National Center for Transgender Equality, “Preliminary Findings of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey” (2010).
[8] Alice Dreger, “Sex Typing for Sport,” Hastings Center Report (march-April 2010).
[9] Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper, the transgender child: a handbook for families and Professionals (San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2008).
[10] World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the harry Benjamin International Gender dysphoria association`s Standards of care for Gender Identity disorders, Sixth Version (2001). Available online at http://www.wpath.org/documents2/socv6.pdf.
[11] In addition, what counts as a competitive advantage may shift dramatically depending on the sport. What is an advantage in one context may be a disadvantage in another. For example, factors such as height, weight, reaction time, and proportion of fast twitch muscle fibers all affect competitive advantage depending on the sport. A female volleyball player may be very tall, and yet few people would consider that to be an unfair competitive advantage in her sport. Similarly, a male swimmer may have a naturally high hemoglobin count enabling him to take in more oxygen, but he is not barred from swimming for that reason. Sarah Teetzel, “On Transgendered Athletes, Fairness and Doping: An International Challenge,” Sport in Society: cultures, commerce, media, Politics, 1743-0445, Volume 9, Issue 2 (2006) Pages 227 – 251.
[12] Assuming that boys have an automatic advantage over girls is particularly false with respect to prepubescent children, where gender plays virtually no role in determining relative athletic ability. For that reason, we strongly recommend that school and recreational sports adopt the policy recommended by the Transgender Law and Policy Institute and endorsed by Gender Spectrum. Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Guidelines for creating Policies for transgender children in recreational Sports (2009).
[13] Brenda Wagman, Promising Practices: Working with Transitioning/Transitioned Athletes in Sport Project, AthletesCAN, Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport, and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Including transitioning and transitioned athletes in Sport: Issues, facts and Perspectives (2009). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wagman_discussion_paper_THE_FINAL.pdf.
[14] Michaela C. Devries, “Do Transitioned Athletes Compete at an Advantage or Disadvantage as compared with Physically Born men and Women: A review of the Scientific Literature” (may 18, 2008). Including Transitioning and Transitioned Athletes, supra note 13. Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wagman_discussion_paper_THE_FINAL.pdf.
[15] Erin Buzuvis, “Caster Semenya and the myth of the Level Playing Field.” Social Science research network (2009). Available online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1521674.
[16] Joe Leigh Simpson et al, “Gender Verification in the Olympics,” JAmA (2000); 284: 1568-1569; see also Sex Typing for Sport, supra note 8.
[17] Kirk mango, ”The Benefits of Competitive Athletic Sports Participation in Today`s Sports Climate,” Chicago now (February 16, 2010). Available online at http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/athletes-sports-experience/2010/02/the-benefits-of-competitive-athletic-sports-participation-in-todays-sports-climate.html.
[18] Harsh Realities, supra note 3.
[19] Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Guidelines for creating Policies for transgender children in recreational Sports (2009). Online at http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/TLPI_GuidlinesforCreatingPoliciesforTransChildreninRecSports.pdf; Gender Spectrum, “School Policies and the Law: School Sports,” available online at http://www.genderspectrum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=38.
[20] Recent research indicates that most salient physical changes likely to affect athletic performance occur during the first year of hormone treatment making a longer waiting period unnecessary. Goorin, Louis, and Mathijs Bunck, “Transsexuals and Competitive Sports,” European Journal of endocrinology 151 (2004): 425-429. Available online at http://www.eje.org/cgi/reprint/151/4/425.pdf 28

Managing Athletes with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSD)
Maaki Ramagole
South Africa, in particular, was dealt a blow when one of our star athletes was faced with the humiliating exposure to the world when her sex was questioned. This issue was handled very insensitively and many South Africans, not to mention others, do not understand the rationale behind this. This article will shed light on the so-called transgender athletes. The term used now for this disorder is “Disorders of Sex Differentiation”.
The purpose of this article is to assist individuals and groups who work with athletes to:

1. Understand the background to sex and gender verification tests as requested by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other sporting codes who will later implement gender verification;
2. Be able to identify individuals who might be requested to undergo sex verification tests;
3. Have guidelines on how to approach this issue with utmost sensitivity and confidentiality;
4. Follow the correct procedures in referring for further management to a qualified medical practitioner;
5. Provide optimum psychological and social support to the athlete.

Definition and Differentiation between Sex and Gender
Sex is the genetic composition of an individual. It is expected that all males should have 46 chromosomes, two of which are identified as X and Y. They are, therefore, called 46XY. Females are expected to have 46 chromosomes, two of which should be X and X. Females are, therefore, called 46 XX. The X and Y genes are the sex genes. There are, however, several deviations to this norm, with different combinations of the sex chromosomes to this norm, with different combinations of the sex chromosomes as will be detailed later.
Gender refers to the psychological identity of the individual. This is a multi-factorial identity that involves:

1. Social and cultural perceptions;
2. Chromosomal sex;
3. Gonadal sex;
4. Internal genital structures;
5. Morphological and secondary sexual characteristics; and
6. Hormonal sex.

In short, gender refers to what an individual perceives him or herself to be, and how (s)he was raised.
Sex or gender dysphonia refers to individuals of one sex who prefer to behave like the other sex, also referred to as “gender benders”. These individuals are physically and chromosomally normal in their morphological sex, but behave like the other sex.
A consensus statement from the International Intersex Consensus Conference recommends using the term “Disorders of Sex Development” (DSD) to encompass a myriad of variants seen in this condition (Lee and Houk, 2011).
It is important to understand how sex differentiation happens and what can go wrong to give rise to these disorders.
Typical Sex Differentiation
When an egg is fertilised, it is impregnated with either an X or Y chromosome from the sperm. This will be the genetic composition of the embryo. For the next six weeks there are no anatomical differences between a male and female foetus. They both have what is called the Mullerian duct system. At about six weeks the primitive gonad develops. These gonads will then develop into ovaries or testes depending on what happens next. Around eight weeks, the XY gonads develop into testes and start secreting testosterone. The Mullerian duct system then regresses due to the Mullerian duct-inhibiting hormone that is produced by the male foetus. Androgens then lead to development of the Wolffian duct system, which will develop into the normal male foetus.
Ovarian differentiation in the XX embryos does not occur until about twelve weeks of pregnancy. The Mullerian duct system then develops into the uterus, fallopian tubes and upper third of the vagina. After twelve weeks, then, there is a differentiation of the sexes.
Pathology
If any of the processes mentioned above is halted or interrupted at any stage, a variety of sex disorders can happen: formation of both sexes to different degrees and/or underdevelopment of a system. This can lead to different types of disorders of sexual development.
There are also disorders called mosaicism, where there are more or less than the normal two sex chromosomes (e.g., XXX, XXY, XXXY, XO). In the first three there is duplication of some chromosomes, possibly due to fusion of two embryos, and in the last there is absence of one chromosome. People with these conditions will have differences that may suggest to a professional that there needs to be further evaluation.
Background
When women started competing in the Olympic Games it became obvious that some countries included men in the female competitions in order to unfairly win medals. The main aim of sex testing was to exclude males masquerading as women from unfairly competing with women. Examples of events that led to the need for sex verification included:

- 1932 – the women`s 100m sprint champion, later killed in 1980 in cross-fire in a bank robbery, was found on autopsy to have testes;
- 1934 – the women`s 800m champion later had a sex change to become male;
- 1938 – the European women`s high jump champion was found to be intersexed;
- 1946 – two relay members in the European championships that came second, later had sex changes to become male
- 1964 – the runner who broke records in the women`s 400m and 800m events was male;
- 1966 – the women`s downhill ski champion who then retired in 1967 went for a sex change and fathered a child;
- The first `sex tests` were performed in 1966 in Budapest. Athletes had to parade naked in front of female physicians. Five world class athletes refused to go for the parade;
- 1966 – 1967 – a close-up manual examination of genitalia was introduced, and one gold medallist was disqualified;
- In 1967, the IOC adopted buccal smear testing;
- A woman sprinter passed a gynaecological examination in 1966 at the European Championships in Budapest. In 1967 when the sex chromatin test was introduced, she tested XXY. She was stripped of all medals;
- Many athletes withdrew when the sex chromatin tests were introduced.

This still raises questions about their true sex composition and whether the athletes knew that they might not pass the test. Were they masquerading and cheating deliberately?
Review
The buccal smear involves a swab of the mouth lining. It was introduced to identify genetic composition in 1967. The Barr body is a dark staining that is found in cells with an XX gene only, and this was discovered by Murray Barry in 1948. Presence of the Barr body qualified athletes as female and absence thereof as male. As indicated previously, it is expected that women should have a 46 XX genotype, and males should have 46 XY genotype. The Polish sprinted, Ewa Klobukowska, was the first athlete to fail this test. It was believed that she had XX/XXY mosaicism.
There are, however, many genetic aberrations of these genes. One in four hundred females failed this test in 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, but physical examination showed they were female. With technological advancement, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification was introduced in 1991. This test is also done on the buccal smear, and it analyses the SRY gene. It was believed that this gene was responsible for differentiation of the indifferent foetal gonads into male testes. We now know that there are other genes that are also responsible for sex differentiation (e.g., AF-1 on chromosome 9, WT-1 on chromosome 11, SOX-9 on chromosome 17, MIS on chromosome 19, DAX-1 on chromosome X. To complicate things even more, some 46XX females have been found to have testes but no SRY genes, implying that male differentiation can be induced by the other genes alone. It also became clear that not all individuals with a different genotypes or DSD were advantaged over other female athletes; therefore, the genes have to be analysed.
Examples of conditions that do not confer an advantage over female athletes with an XX genotype include:

1. Androgen insensitivity syndrome – these are 46 XY males who are insensitive to male hormones who, therefore, fail to develop male characteristics, but instead develop female characteristics;
2. Gonadal dysgenesis – these are 46 XY males with non-functional testes, who do not develop male secondary characteristics;
3. Turner`s syndrome – this is a 45 XO female who lacks the second X gene.

Athletes with the above-mentioned conditions will fail the buccal test as they do not fall within the stipulated XY or XX genotype. They are, however, not hormonally advantaged over female athletes. Some females with an XX genotype can have an advantage over other females and yet they will pass the buccal test. Here are examples of such:

1. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia – in this condition, the adrenal glands are overactive, and they secrete excess amounts of male hormones;
2. Females with androgen-producing tumours;
3. Polycystic ovarian syndrome;
4. Females taking anabolic steroids

The first three are medical conditions and can be treated, whereas the last would constitute a doping violation. Therefore, the buccal smear alone is not sufficient to exclude or include athletes in sex-specific competitions.
Another major challenge facing women in sport and the medical commissions that have to decide on exclusion criteria, is what was previously called Hermaphroditism. The correct term for these individuals is Intersex. There are numerous variations in intersexed individuals, and the terms pseudo- or true hermaphroditism were used.
Pseudo-hermaphroditism refers to individuals who have an external appearance opposite to their genetic composition. An example would be external female genitalia in an individual who has male gonads.
True hermaphroditism refers to individuals who have both male and female gonads. These individuals usually:

1. Have a wide spectrum of their anatomy ranging from male to female in different degrees;
2. Have ambiguous genitalia;
3. Have masculinisation at puberty with at puberty with deepening of the voice and physique changes;
4. Are infertile;
5. Are often raised as female.

The IAAF/IOC/Anti-Doping Agencies and other sporting bodies have the interest of all athletes at heart, and they have to ascertain that other athletes do not have unfair advantage over others in competition.
Challenges that face the IOC/IAAF decision on sex testing as cited by other countries include:

1. The practice is discriminatory against females because males are not subjected to this testing;
2. It is discriminatory as the individuals may not necessarily be advantaged over other females;
3. It is discriminatory as the athletes are approached at the peak of their careers and embarrassed worldwide;
4. The tests are an extreme invasion of one`s privacy;
5. The athlete is in no position to defend herself;
6. These individuals are usually under-age when the doubts about their sex start surfacing, and parental consent is needed to do any tests.

The largest tragedy with individuals with genetic sex abnormalities is that their true genetic identity surfaces at puberty when their gonadal activity takes effect, and they had already assumed the identity under which they were raise. The children are allocated a sex by the parents, and they are often raised as females. Parents are also usually discouraged from doing a sex allocation/surgical intervention in early childhood as the child has not also shown any preference. This preference is hormone-dependent and only manifests itself later in life.
One can imagine the confusion and turmoil in a young individual when at puberty they develop characteristics different from what they have been raised to believe they were. This poses immense psychological and emotional stress and, even worse, embarrassment and humiliation if they have to be singled out at international events. This is a sensitive issue and has to be addressed sensitively and as discreetly as possible to avoid harming the people concerned psychologically or otherwise.
In view of the ramifications of genetic sex aberrations that have been present through the years, it is clear that genotyping alone is not sufficient to exclude individuals from sport participation. As was the original purpose of sex testing, it has to be proven beyond doubt that the individuals have deliberately cheated, or are advantaged over others by illegally enhancing their performance. It has become increasingly clear to scientists and athletes that sex determination is not based solely on physical appearance, or for that matter, on one`s genotype.
The medical fraternity views disorders of sexual development (DSD) as a medical condition that has profound physical and psychological effects on not only the individuals affected, but also their families. Like any other disorder, this condition has to be managed with a view to offer the best outcomes for affected individuals. There has to be proper consultation and education of parents when a baby is born with stigmata suggesting DSD, which the attending physician should be able to identify.
Challenges
Many of these children are born at home in rural areas and subsequently do not get into formal medical structures where the DSD can be detected and managed. In this situation where the DSD is not detected the parents will decide on the sex; they usually assign a female sex. The traditional family does not discuss issues of sexuality until puberty which is when the different traits begin showing. There is limited knowledge of DSD in the population at large, and some individuals will only be diagnosed in adulthood when they encounter problems with sexuality or infertility. In sports, however, these individuals will stand out if they develop masculine features and were raised as girls.
Further participation in sports will be determined by diagnosis reached, management of the condition with informed consent from the individuals, and guidelines given by the sporting bodies. Strategies should be implemented to address DSD in athletes before they have a high profile and compete internationally. This approach will avoid humiliation and exposure of their intimate details to the public. The following strategy is recommended:

1. Education rollout at schools, sporting bodies, clinics and the public via media and/or formal education;
2. Nursing staff at clinics to be educated to observe and advise parents, and referral for proper opinion;
3. Coaches and teachers who are usually the first contact with talented athletic children, to be educated on the sensitivity of this challenge, and how to refer for proper management;
4. All athletes who start competitive international sports from U17 and IAAF level meets should have a medical and sexual health screening by a physician, preferably of the same sex. This should not be an invasive examination, but the physician should know what stigmata to look for. Any suspected cases of DSD can then be identified and examined more carefully;
5. Fully informed consent from athlete and parents/guardians in the underage athlete to be obtained;
6. Extensive psychological support to be given to the athletes and the family.

A concern with this approach is that athletes, who already suspect that they are different, might withdraw from competition to avoid the examination. It, therefore, has to be stressed that prior education on the rules of sporting bodies and confidentiality of all medical findings is important. The aim of this strategy is to identify and manage conditions so that the athlete can continue with sport participation.
SASMA views disorders of sexual development (DSD) as a medical condition that has profound physical and psychological effects on not only the individuals affected, but also their families. Like any other disorder, this condition has to be managed with a view to offer the best outcomes for affected individuals. When the attending physician identifies stigmata suggesting DSD in a newborn there should be proper consultation and education of parents. This policy was instituted in July, 2011 as a result of the Caster Semenya incident.
Challenges in managing DSD include the following:

1. Many of these children are born at home in rural areas and subsequently may not access formal medical structures where the DSD can be detected and managed;
2. In this situation where the DSD is not detected the parent/s will decide on the gender; they usually assign a female gender;
3. Issues of sexuality are often not discussed within families until puberty which is when the different traits start showing;
4. There is limited knowledge of DSD in the population, and some individuals will only be diagnosed in adulthood when they encounter problems with sexuality or infertility. In a sporting environment however, these individuals will stand out earlier, particularly if they were raised as girls and develop masculine features.

The South African Sports Medicine Association re-iterates the following ethical considerations for practitioners dealing with individuals with DSD:

- Adherence to strict confidentiality in any medical consultations;
- The necessity to obtain fully informed, written consent for any investigations;
- Cross-referral within a specialised team consisting of:
  - Gynaecologist/s;
  - Endocrinologist/s;
  - Urologist/s;
  - Psychologist/s;
  - Physician/s;
- Complete disclosure of information and education of the affected individual regarding the implications of both performing the tests and the findings thereof.

Further participation in sports will be determined by the diagnosis reached, management of the condition with informed consent from the individuals, and guidelines given by the sporting bodies.
Strategies should be implemented to address DSD in athletes before they achieve a high profile and compete internationally. This approach may help avoid humiliation and exposure of their intimate details to the public. The following strategy is recommended:

- Education rollout at schools, sporting bodies, clinics and the public via media and/or formal education
- Nursing staff at clinics to be educated to observe and advise parents, and refer for specialised opinion
- Coaches and teachers who are usually the first contact with talented athletic children, to be educated on the sensitivity of this problem, and how to refer for proper management.
- All athletes who start competitive international sports from U17 IAAF level meets should have a medical and sexual health screening by a physician (preferably of the same gender). This should not be an invasive examination, but the physician should know the stigmata to look for. Any suspected cases of DSD can then be identified and examined more thoroughly.
- Fully informed consent from athlete and parents/guardians in the underage athlete to be obtained.
- Extensive psychological support to be given to the athlete and his/her family.

A concern with this approach might be that athletes, who already suspect that they are different, may withdraw from competition to avoid the examination. In order to pre-empt and overcome this, prior education on the rules of sporting bodies and an emphasis on confidentiality of all medical findings is important. In particular it should be emphasised that the aim of the medical strategy is to identify and manage conditions so that the athlete can continue with sport.
SASMA, as the national umbrella body for sports medicine, commits itself within the bounds of medical ethics and sound clinical practice, to co-operate with other national representative sports bodies for the benefit of the health of South African athletes.
References
Doig, P., Lloyd-Smith, R., Prior, J., & Sinclair, D. (2005). Sex testing (gender verification) in sport. Position paper by the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine. Retrieved from www.casm-acms.org.
Ferris, E. (1992). Gender verification testing in sport. British Medicine Bulletin, 48(3), 683-697.
IAAF policy on gender verification. (2010). Prepared by the IAAF Medical and Anti-Doping Commission. Retrieved from www.iaaf.org.
Lee, P., & Houk, C. (2006). Consensus statement of management of intersex disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 118(2), 488-500.
Ljungqvist, A., Elsas, L., Ferguson-Smith, M. (2008). Genetic Medicine, 2(4), 249-254.
Ritchie, R., Reynard, J., & Lewis, T. (2008). Essay: Intersex and the Olympic Games. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 101, 395-399.
Women`s Sports Foundation. (2008). Position statement: Gender verification at elite sports competition. Retrieved from www.womenssportsfoundation.org.
Contact
Dr. Maaki Ramagole
South African Sports Medicine Association,
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South Africa
Email: maaki.ramagole@up.ac.za

Transgender Inclusion in Sport: The Role of the Applied Sport Psychology Consultant
Rebecca Saitz
Masculine, feminine: a dichotomy deeply ingrained within our respective cultures. Gender expectations may be applied from the moment a medical practitioner announces the sex (e.g., male or female) of a neonate. Globally, a male (but not female) may be wrapped in a blue blanket as an infant, allowed to engage in assertive play as a child, and encouraged to seek a female companion for a community-held event. However, modern science debunked the synonymous relationship between psychological gender and physical sex. The medical and sport science communities have used terms such as transgender, transsexual, gender nonconforming, and intersex, to describe individuals whom are not readily identifiable under the above binary classifications.
The American Psychological Association (APA, 2011) defined transgender as “an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behaviour does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.” Sexual reassignment surgery and hormone therapy are two medical interventions designed to bring about congruence among the psychological gender identity and physical sex. Not all transgender individuals, however, have the financial means, cultural acceptance, and/or desire to undergo the aforementioned treatments. Gender identity may also be expressed through mannerisms; speech patterns; and/or gender-preferred clothing, pronouns, and/or names.
Trans males (female to male) and trans females (male to female) have experienced marked discrimination and have been the recipients of violent acts according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC, 2009). The 1997 San Francisco Department of Public Health Study (as cited by Wamsley, 2008) found that over eighty percent of transgender respondents indicated verbal abuse, and over thirty percent noted physical abuse.
Equality in sport participation with regard to sexual minorities (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning; GLBTQ) has been publicly debated. Kye Allums [first public United States-based National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) transgender basketball player], Lana Lawless [successfully sued the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) for the right to compete], and Caster Semenya (South African woman who was initially stripped of her gold medal in the World Track and Field Championships following gender ineligibility allegations) are readily recognised not only for their athletic accomplishments, but for the gender scrutiny that followed.
Numerous sport governing organisations have constructed, or deferred to already established, policies regarding transgender equality in sport. The International Olympic Committee`s (IOC) Stockholm Consensus, which is widely adapted, focused primarily on transitioned athletes (e.g., those who underwent sex reassignment surgery and/or hormone treatment for at least two years). The National Collegiate Athletic Association`s (NCAA) updated policy on transgender participation similarly noted eligibility considerations based on hormone treatment and team classification (e.g., segregated sex or mixed team) (Lawrence, 2011). Despite these efforts, Sykes (2006) noted several historical accounts in which governing sport associations have successfully petitioned exemptions from gender equality legislation (see pages 7-9, Mainstream Sports Seeks Exemption from Transgender Rights).
The purpose of this ICSSPE Bulletin is multifaceted. The contributors collectively sought to expand the general knowledge base, and investigated various aspects which underpinned policy development regarding participation in sport by transgender athletes. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) recommended a multi-disciplinary medical and mental health support team to assist in gender identity development and transformation (WPATH, 2011). The unique needs of transgender athletes, however, were not taken into account under the WPATH`s Standards of Care. Renee Richards, M.D., successfully fought for her right to play in the United States Open tennis tournament as a professional female (trans female) athlete in 1977. Dr. Richards expressed the critical role tennis played for her during a radio interview with Neal Conan of National Public Radio:

> “…tennis was always a refuge because it`s something that I love to do, and it was something that I was good at and I could have success at doing. … It was a very clear, unambiguous, not strange world from me. And so maybe I retreated into the tennis world at times when everything else was a confusion to me. … Tennis has been a thread, it`s been a constant for me.” (Conan & Richards, 2011, p. 4).

Certain aspects of sport subculture (e.g., conformity and homophobia, Loughran, 2009; and transphobia, Cavanagh & Sykes, 2006) have contradicted the norm of individual expression espoused throughout the GBLTQ community. According to Loughran (2009), American acceptance rates for gay and lesbian civil rights were lower within athletic populations than in the general public. This might be attributed, in part, to: misinformation, lack of exposure to gender nonconforming individuals, and/or concerns regarding a competitive advantage (particularly in trans females; Loughran, 2009; Wamsley, 2008).
Sport psychology consultants are poised to help facilitate a cultural shift within an athletic organisation, while providing assistance in the success of trans-athlete performance. The distinct position of the practitioner enables him or her to relate updated information about gender nonconformity, fosters a non-judgmental environment, and provides individual and team mental skills training. Unfortunately, there is a significant gap in the sport psychology literature regarding service delivery within this underserved marginalised population. The information below has been adapted from several related fields: Counselling and mental health; education (school psychology, teacher education, and academic advising); coaching education; and social psychology. These suggestions are not intended to reflect Best Practices; rather the purpose is to ignite discussion, provide guidance for neophyte practitioners, and highlight an area of critical need for research and further understanding.
Consultant
Sport psychology is an interdisciplinary science (kinesiology and psychology) that seeks to capitalise on psychological skills in order to enhance performance and enjoyment in sport and exercise (Cox, 2007). Consultants are primarily concerned with two broad relationships: The psychosocial and physical impact of sport participation throughout human development, and the psychological aspects of performance (Cox, 2007). The educational backgrounds of applied practitioners vary. Consultants typically have specialised training in one or more of the following fields: counselling, kinesiology, coaching/physical education, sport sciences, and/or education (Dalloway, 2011), in addition to sport psychology.
The WPATH Standards of Care (2011) noted, “Mental health professionals should have familiarity with gender nonconformity, act with appropriate cultural competence, and exhibit sensitivity in providing care” (p. 21). Sport psychology consultants are ethically bound to practice within the scope of their formal training (e.g., competency; AASP, 2011). Therefore, unless holding relevant credentials permitting one to engage in mental health counselling with the unique needs of transgender individuals, sport psychology practitioners are highly encouraged to refer the athlete to a licensed clinician [for additional information on this topic, please see Competency of mental health professionals working with adults who present with gender dysphoria (WPATH, 2011, p. 22-23)]. This is not to infer that a sport-based consultation and outside psychological counselling cannot co-exist (see Individual section below).
The consultant may wish to explore personal beliefs and attitudes related to GLBTQ prior to working with a transgender athlete. This can be accomplished through self-awareness exercises, such as bracketing with a skilled practitioner. Concerning revelations that could negatively impact the therapeutic relationship or outcomes should be addressed. Furthermore, the consultant should seek out opportunities for professional development (e.g., workshops, seminars, and/or additional supervision; WPATH, 2011). Smith (2006) also recommends interacting with gender nonconforming individuals and reading memoirs/biographies depicting the lived experiences of transgenders (e.g., Herman, 2009). Consultants should be cognisant that their word choice (e.g., partner rather than boy/girlfriend), tone, and nonverbal communication (e.g., facial expressions, body position), reflect acceptance of the GLBTQ athlete (Moorhead, 2005).
Individual
GLBTQ individuals reportedly requested mental health services at a higher rate than the general population (Singh & Shelton, 2010). This author was unable to locate comparison data for the prevalence of psychological services sought between non-GLBTQ and GLBTQ athletes. This may be due to a lack of available research, tracking, and/or non-disclosure.
Raj (2002) contends gender and sexual identity affirmation and validation drive therapeutic goals and interventions. Sport psychology consultations with a transgender athlete will most likely focus on performance enhancement (e.g., emotional management, attentional shift, goal setting, etc.) and enjoyment (e.g., motivation, interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution, and so forth). Mental skills training programmes should be individualised and tailored to the specific needs of the competitor. However, it is important to understand the unique struggles faced by gender nonconforming athletes. Knowledge of potential comorbid psychological issues, and when to refer an athlete for counselling, should be discussed with an experienced practitioner (please refer to the confidentiality and supervision sections of your professional organisation`s code of ethics). The Human Rights Campaign (2009) provides a free informative booklet entitled, Transgender visibility guide: A guide to being you. This web-based document provides an overview of gender nonconformity and transition, disclosure process (e.g., planning who to tell, how they might react, etc.), common feelings and reactions, and transgender statistics and myths.
GLBTQ individuals may have experienced: “Anxiety, depression, self-harm, a history of abuse and neglect, compulsivity, substance abuse, sexual concerns, personality disorders, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, and autism spectrum disorders” (Bockting et al., 2006; Nuttbrock et al., 2010; Robinow, 2009; as cited in WPATH, 2011). Richards, in the aforementioned NPR interview, described her pre-hormonal treatment period as the “turbulent years,” (Conan & Richards, 2007, p. 6) and stated that after transitioning “there is always that fear that you might be found out” (Conan & Richards, 2007, p. 9). A listener, “Andre,” echoed these emotions: “I lived in terrible fear for decades of my life, and I had paid a terribly high cost in depression and migraines that were so debilitating” (Conan & Richards, 2007, p. 8). The sport psychology consultant may assist the athlete in developing coping strategies (Loughran, 2009), while simultaneously advocating for the rights of all athletes for a safe environment marked with acceptance and respect (see Team section below).
Team
The athletic team may be a microcosm of the dominant heterosexual society. Internalised negative beliefs pertaining to gender nonconforming individuals may lead to harassment and violence. Male athletes who are underperforming may be taunted for “playing like girls.” Likewise, the sexual orientation of females may be questioned if exhibiting athleticism through assertive physical play. Comments reflecting heterosexism and gender stereotyping are rampant in athletic locker rooms and performance situations (Griffin, Perrotti, Priest, & Muska, 2002). Transgender athletes may develop feelings of discomfort and isolation and become ostracised from peers and coaching staff (either overtly or indirectly).
Challenging homophobia in sport may facilitate team cohesion and have a positive impact on performance, learning, and psychological well-being of all athletes, regardless of sexual or gender orientation (Griffin, et al., 2002). Sport psychology consultants have a responsibility to promote a safe environment through education, advocacy, and modelling appropriate behaviour (Griffin, et al., 2002). Educational efforts should involve all members of the organisation (e.g., administration, coaching staff, support services, and athletes). Informative materials (e.g., pamphlets, community resources, recommended reading) should be easily assessable. Dr Richards (2007) reportedly found solace as a teenager by reading “Man into Woman,” a book about a trans female Danish painter.
Cognitive and cognitive-behavioural techniques may be employed to challenge faulty thought patterns stemming from fear, misinformation, and internalised stereotypes. It should be noted, however, that the overarching goal is to create a safe environment based on equality and mutual esteem. Religious and personal beliefs pertaining to GLBTQ individuals should be acknowledged and respected by the practitioner (Griffin, et al., 2002). Validity testing (e.g., client must support claim with evidence) can be used to explore the faulty belief that trans-athletes (particularly trans females) gain an unfair performance advantage. The consultant may also pose a series of questions to promote self-discovery of stereotypes that are being reinforced within the team environment (e.g., guided discovery). Griffin et al., (2002) accomplish this end through the use of an educational video (It Takes a Team! Making Sports Safe for Lesbian and Gay Athletes), follow-up discussion guides and handouts (note: the reader is highly encouraged to review these documents).
Sport psychology consultants can assist athletic organisations in creating action plans for athletes and coaches (Griffin, et al., 2002). Participants generate a list of observable behaviours as well as practical ideas to increase tolerance and understanding (e.g., attend sensitivity training). Athletes and coaches can engage in role play exercises to demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate actions. Members of the athletic organisation can also provide positive reinforcement to those adhering to these `contracts` in order to promote adoption of tolerance and mutual respect. Team building activities may also be beneficial to foster interpersonal relationships, communication, and trust among players.
Gender expectations, along with contradictory scientific evidence, anecdotal reports, and differing cultural histories, contributed to early policy development with regard to transgender participation in sport (Sykes, 2006). Transgender athletes who did not fall neatly into one of the aforementioned binary categories were excluded from their chosen pursuits as a result. Transgender individuals have been identified throughout history and amongst various societies around the globe. Scientific understanding of the unique experiences of transgender individuals appears to be emerging. Research is in dire need to better understand the psychosocial impact of transgender participation in sport, as well as establishing Best Practices for sport psychology service delivery in this marginalised group. It is the hope of the contributors of this special topic journal that the enclosed articles foster greater understanding, ignite scholarly debate, and guide international policy development for non-discriminatory inclusion of transgender athletes in competitive sports.
Web-based resources
Federation of Gay Games - http://gaygames.com.
Gay and Lesbian Athletes Association - http://glaa.org/.
Human Rights Campaign - www.hrc.org.
National Center for Transgender Equality - www.transequality.org.
Transgender Law Center - www.transgenderlawcenter.org.
Women`s Sports Foundation - www.womenssportsfoundation.org.
References
American Psychological Association (2011). Answers to your questions about transgender
people, gender identity, and gender expression. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.aspx#
Association for Applied Sport Psychology (2011). Ethics code: AASP ethical principles and
standards. Retrieved from: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/about/ethics/code
Brownstein, M. L. (2009). Ethical questions concerning sex reassignment surgery: Revisions for
Version 7 of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health`s Standards of Care. International Journal of Transgenderism, 11, 220-221.
Cable News Network (2010, November 03). First transgender athlete to play in NCAA
basketball. Retrieved from: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-03/us/transgender.basketball.player_1_transgender-athletics-staff-basketball-team?_s=PM:US
Cavanagh, S.L., & Sykes, H. (2006). Transsexual bodies at the Olympics: The International
Olympic Committee`s Policy on Transsexual Athletes at the 2004 Athens Summer Games, Body & Science, 12(3), 75-102.
Conan, N. (Interviewer) & Richards, R. (Interviewee). (2007, February 08). The second half of
my life: Interview with Renee Richards, M.D. National Public Radio. Retrieved from: www.npr.org/templates/sotry/story.php?storyID=7277665
Corbett, R. (2009, May 26). Promising practices: Working with transitioning/transitioned
athletes in sport project – Some themes emerging from consultation to date. Retrieved from: www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/emerging_themes_corbett.pdf.
Cox, R. H. (2007). Sport psychology: Concepts and applications (6th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill.
Dalloway, M. (2011). About sports psychology. Peak Performance Institute. Retrieved from:
http://www.performance-media.com/aboutpsy.php
ESPN, Inc. (2011, September 13). NCAA adopts transgender athlete policy. Retrieved from:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6966387/ncaa-adopts-new-policy-transgender-athletes
Federation of Gay Games. (2006). Sports manual of rules, policies and procedures: Gender
identity policy. Retrieved from: http://www.gaygames.com/index.php?id=208
Griffin, P.; Perrotti, J.; Priest, L.; & Muska, M. (2002). It takes a team! Making sports safe for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender athletes and coaches. An education kit for athletes, coaches, and athletic directors. Women`s Sports Foundation. Retrieved from: www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED473448.pdf
Harding, B. (2008). Students with specific advising needs. In V. N. Gordon, W. R. Habley, and
T. J. Grites, Academic advising: A comprehensive handbook (2nd edition) (chapter 12). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Herman, J. (2009). Transgender explained for those who are not. Bloomington, IL:
AuthorHouse.
Human Rights Campaign (2009). Transgender visibility guide: A guide to being you. Retrieved
from: http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/transgender-visibility-guide
Lawrence, M. (2011, September 13). Transgender policy approved. National Collegiate
Athletic Association. Retrieve from: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2011/September/Transgender+policy+approved
Loughran, M. J. (2009). Counseling the GLBTQ student-athlete: Issues and intervention
strategies. In Etzel, E. F. (Ed). Counseling and psychological services for college student-athletes (239-256). Coliseum, WV: Fitness Information Technology.
Moorhead, C. (2005). Advising lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in higher
education. NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources. Retrieved from: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/AdvisingIssues/LGBTA.htm
Sykes, H. (2006). Transsexual and Transgender policies in sport. Women in sport and physical
activity journal, 15 (1), 3-13.
Raj, R. (2002). Towards a transpositive therapeutic model: Developing clinical sensitivity and
cultural competence in the effective support of transsexual and transgendered clients.
The International Journal of Transgenderism, 6(2). Retrieved from: http://www.wpath.org/journal/www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/IJT/97-03/numbers/symposion/ijtvo06no02_04.htm
Singh, A. A., & Shelton, K. (2010). A content analysis of LGBTQ qualitative research in
counseling: A ten-year review. Journal of Counseling and Development, 89, 217-226.
Smith, B. L. (2006). Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) issues in advising
situations. Academic Advising Today, 29(3). Retrieved from: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/AAT/NW29_3.htm#6
Wamsley, K. B. (2008). Social science literature on sport and transitioning/transitioned athletes.
Prepared for the Promising Practices: Working with transitioning/transitioned athletes in sport project. Retrieved from: http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wamsley_lit_review(2).pdf
World Out Games. (2009). Gender identity policy. Retrievd from:
http://www.copenhagen2009.org/Outgames/Registration/Policies/Gender_Identity_Policy.aspx
World Professional Association for Transgender Health. (2011). Standards of care for the health
of transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people (7th Ed.). Retrieved from: www.wpath.org/publications_standards.cfm
Contact
Rebecca Saitz
Barry University
Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences
Florida, USA
Email: Rebecca.saitz@mymail.barry.edu

Athletic Administrator Perspectives Hindering Transgender Inclusion in U. S. Collegiate Sports: A Queer-Feminist Analysis
Li Brookens
Introduction
When examining sex-segregated sports associated with educational institutions in the United States, athletic administrators (AA) have a challenging responsibility to enact policies and practices that promote equal opportunity for all people (Griffin & Carroll, 2010). In this paper, select findings are reported from a study designed to elucidate how AA`s in positions of power include transgender student-athletes (TSA). In the study a queer-feminist theory for analysis is used, which serves to deconstruct political and legal barriers that prevent marginalised populations (i.e. - TSA`s) from having the same rights and resources from those in power (i.e.- AA`s) (Sykes, 1998). Additionally, “transgender” is defined as someone who expresses a wide range of identities, appearances, and/or behaviours that fall outside of stereotypical gender norms of either male or female (Gender Spectrum, 2010, p. 2).
In September 2011, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) adopted a transgender inclusion policy for post-season competition that has been cited before in this publication. This policy is a major step forward for inclusive practice, yet its impact and effectiveness may be limited as many individual institutions in the NCAA maintain the power to keep transgender athletes from participating in regular season competition if they so choose. While this study was conducted prior to the NCAA announcing their transgender inclusion policy, relevant findings document important AA perspectives that hinder inclusion among individual institutions.
Literature Review
Transgender Identities, a Growing Phenomenon
Gender identity is a social construction that all people develop and represents “one`s concept of self as male or female or both or neither…[that is] same or different than the gender assigned at birth” (Griffin & Carroll, 2010, p. 47). A growing number of people are identifying outside the gender binary, and policies are needed to protect and include their participation in schools and activities aimed at development and growth (Griffin & Carroll, 2010).
It remains difficult to estimate the number of people whose gender identity is different from their gender assigned at birth (Olyslager & Conway, 2008; Reed, Rhodes, Schofield, & Wylie, 2009). The American Psychiatric Association, which is frequently referenced in U.S. media, currently utilises data generated in the 1960`s suggesting that 1:30,000 adult males and 1:100,000 adult females seek genital reassignment surgery (American Psychiatric Association [DSM-IV-TR], 2000). This may leave the reader with an impression that transgender identities are obsolete. Using this rationalisation makes it easier to render transgender identities invisible within policy-making.
However, a recent study critiques authors of the DSM-IV-TR for severely underreporting these numbers, using outdated information, and failing to account for a vast majority of people who may identify as transgender and/or transsexual and do not elect for medical alteration because of choice, safety, income barriers, and/or many other reasons (Olyslager & Conway, 2008). For the purposes of this article, Olyslager and Conway (2008) estimate 1:250 people today transgress gender norms.
Reed et al. (2009) have studied gender variance and its prevalence and growth in the United Kingdom, and concluded that incidence of gender variance (in adult and youth populations) is growing at a rate of “15% per annum; hence the number is doubling every five years” (p. 4). Additionally, Reed et al. (2009) utilise transgender as “a broader term that includes all those who experience some degree of gender variance which, in most cases, requires no medical intervention” (p. 6). “We must raise questions about why the psychiatric establishment (which has largely seized control of information provided about transsexualism to the media in the U.S.) has been so persistent in promulgating vastly understated values of the prevalence” (Olyslager & Conway, 2008, para. 4). With the power the American Psychiatric Association holds in their DSM-IV-TR publication, vastly underreporting the occurrence of transsexualism helps to maintain the assumption most people have in our society—that gender identity needs to be congruent with the gender one is assigned to at birth. In this light, it is no mystery why the majority of athletic programmes in our nation`s schools have no policy to govern the inclusion of TSA`s (Griffin & Carroll, 2010); they are a highly invisible population.
Educational Values Leveraging the Transgender Student-Athlete
Educational values need to be considered in policy-making, which means AA`s must both adopt policies that provide opportunities for all students and policies that maintain the perception of a “level playing field” for all participants (Buzuvis, 2011; Griffin & Carroll, 2010). Factors that play into policy-making in this realm include the educational value of sport, medical science, and laws governing the school`s jurisdiction (Buzuvis, 2011). For starters, it means adopting non-discrimination policies that include gender identity and expression. Secondly, including TSA on sports teams means adopting specific policies addressing student-athletes who may transition to the opposite gender (for example FtM or MtF student-athletes), transsexual identities.
Buzuvis (2011), a law professor at Western New England College School of Law, writes about TSA policy using three key factors AA`s must take into account—education, medical science, and law. Buzuvis (2011) argues that while medical and legal factors contribute to policy development for TSA, they both miss the point of “the educational purpose” behind interscholastic athletics (p. 29). Moreover, as an increasing number of schools are adding gender identity and expression to non-discrimination policies, Buzuvis (2011) argues that there is judicial momentum for TSA`s who may choose to cite non-discrimination policy, which covers gender identity and expression, in order to get access to playing on the sports team congruent with their bona fide gender identity. In making these points, Buzuvis (2011) is urging her readers to consider a proactive approach to adopting TSA policy.
A Queer-Feminist Look at Transgender Student-Athletes
From a Queer-Feminist perspective, this paper explores issues of power and control in athletics to examine the extent of access and equality for transgender athletes. For instance, Travers (2008) writes about a network of highly powerful and visible institutions (such as the NCAA) that have a monopoly on the institution of sport in maintaining certain discourses that define sports norms. The discourse in the case of this paper is related to gender injustice because the discourse reinforces the societal expectation that people should align their gender identity and/or expression with either their male or female birth assignment. As a consequence of this, there is no safe place for the TSA to play. The practice of gender injustice contributes to transphobia by promoting binary ideology in policy and structure (Travers, 2008; Gender Spectrum, 2010, p. 2). Now that the NCAA has adopted a national policy for transgender inclusion, it is time for individual membership institutions to get on board and proactively adopt similar policy and practice as well.
Methods
Due to the limited scope of this article, only select qualitative results are discussed. A mixed methods design was used through use of an anonymous web-based survey. Two-part question sequences (multiple choice questions followed by narrative questions) were used to elicit expanded responses from AA`s in textboxes throughout the survey. The participant sample (N=511) was chosen based on their expertise and professional power within the field of collegiate sports. I created an exhaustive list of top AA`s (i.e.- Athletic Directors, and Senior Administrators) in NCAA membership institutions who have the authority to implement, change, or create policy.
The qualitative data were coded into themes from textbox responses. A queer-feminist theory content analysis was used to assess textbox responses. This means examining levels of inclusivity and determining how transphobia (fear or hatred of transgender individuals) may be “expressed, justified, or rendered invisible” by AA`s (Gender Spectrum, 2010, p. 2; Lyons & Coyle, 2007, p. 104).
Results and Discussion
Educating Athletic Administrators
The qualitative data were designed to elicit AA`s thoughts and feelings regarding TSA policies and inclusion. One question sequence depicts AA`s thoughts and feelings by first asking, “Would you like to see the NCAA adopt a national policy that includes transgender student-athletes?” A total of 334 participants answered the question (Yes, No, or Not sure), and 26.3% reported they were Not sure. Of participants responding Not sure (n=88), 53 responded to the follow-up textbox prompt: “Please expand on why you are not sure you would like to see the NCAA adopt a national policy that includes transgender student-athletes.” The qualitative data were coded into five distinctive themes after omitting three outliers (final N=50) (“Need to know more,” “states rights vs federal rights issue,” “isolated issue,” “level playing field,” or “guidelines rather than policies”)(See Figure 1).
The largest percentage of responses was categorised into the “Need to know more” theme (32.0%). AA`s who had responses placed in this theme described concerns that they did not have enough information to express an opinion regarding transgender inclusion: “I really am not educated on the issues and I would hesitate on advocating an association wide policy before knowing the specifics of transgender issues.” While this finding does not address willingness to be educated on transgender issues in sport, this result could have socio-political value to transgender researchers, advocates and educators in assessing and implementing programming that addresses transgender identities in sport.
Administrator Perspectives Hindering Inclusion
Perspectives hindering inclusion of TSA`s were discovered through examination of the second, third, and fourth largest themes for the national policy question sequence. Together, responses categorised in these themes account for 56% of responses (N=50): “states rights vs federal rights issue,” “isolated issue,” and “equal playing field.” The themes were surmised to represent AA perspectives that hinder transgender inclusion, which is expanded on in the following paragraphs.
For “states rights vs federal rights” (28.0% of N) it is inferred that AA`s are describing a preference for keeping the power to implement policy at the institutional level instead of nationally: “Might better be served as a campus policy rather than NCAA mandate.” In the third theme, “isolated issue” (14.0% of N) it is inferred that AA`s are making reference to a common political position that is used to resist and/or deny benefits to “special interest groups” that may seek legal and social equalities. An example of an AA using this rationale includes, “It seems to be a rather isolated issue from what I`ve heard or seen that to make it NCAA wide at this point is not purposeful.”
Inherently, in statements like “states rights vs federal rights issue” and “isolated issue,” the justification involves a powerful or dominant viewpoint (AA`s) against less powerful or non-dominant identities (TSA`s). AA`s who make this argument, in other words, are sending a message to TSA`s that they need to conform to a dominant perspective; gender identity and expression diversity are not honoured.
Continuing to rely on individual institutions to regulate trans-inclusion is problematic for sports associated within the U.S. educational system. The effect can be detrimental to individuals and team cohesion, leaving TSA`s invisible and vulnerable to discrimination at competitor institutions that may not have the same transgender inclusion policy. According to the NCAA, sports are closely tied to education and the membership organisations strive to adhere to core values:

> "[The NCAA]…shares a belief in and commitment to: [1] The supporting role that intercollegiate athletics plays in the higher education mission…and [2] An inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds." (NCAA, 2011a)

Using “states rights vs federal rights” and “isolated issue” rationalisations will work to maintain a status quo that limits and excludes TSA`s from accessing the benefits collegiate sports has to offer all student-athletes.
In the fourth theme, “equal playing field” (14.0% of N), AA`s imparted concern that other Athletic Programmes who have TSA`s may have unfair advantages: “Could someone use this policy for their own good & not the good of all Transgender Student-Athletes. This is an extremely emotional situation for all involved.” It appears that AA`s expressing this concern perceive the TSA as altering the “level playing field” that is highly valued within sex-segregated sports. The literature reviewed addresses TSA inclusion by advocating for policy adoption that honours medical science among other factors (i.e.- educational values and laws) to ensure a level playing field is maintained (Buzuvis, 2011; Griffin & Carroll, 2010). At the same time, medical and scientific research is lagging to legitimise the reality of the AA`s documented concern. AA`s in the NCAA may value more research using medical and scientific methods showing the “level playing field” is not significantly disrupted by the TSA.
N=50
Figure 1. Why administrators are not sure they want an NCAA policy
Transgender Student-Athletes and Ad Hoc Policy-Making
An original finding in this research documents AA`s perceptions of transgender-inclusive policy-making in an ad hoc fashion. The qualitative results (N=226) for the textbox question, “To the best of your opinion, how would you (or do you) describe your Athletic Programme`s overall attitude toward transgender student-athletes participating in your programme” document an ad-hoc policy-making rationale 30.5% of the time (N=69)(See Figure 2). Even in the case of AA`s reporting inclusivity within their athletic programme, there are implications to using ad hoc rationale similar to, “this is not a topic that we have widely discussed, but we are a welcoming community that advocates inclusion. I would hope everyone would accept a trans athlete for whoever he or she is.” The implication remains that AA`s are denying an existence of the TSA that could already be playing in their athletic programme as well as prospective, qualified TSA`s that seek to play collegiate sports.
Many AA`s expressed they were waiting until a TSA came out in their programme before adopting a policy:

> "As this situation is currently being managed at another institution with which we are extremely familiar, I would say that this administration is hopeful that it`s a situation with which they will not have to address. However, if the need arises, they would move forward with what is in the best interests of the student."

The idea of ad hoc policy-making is discouraged among experts in the field of LGBT issues in sports. Buzuvis (2011) as well as Griffin and Carroll (2010) have explicitly encouraged schools to take a proactive approach to policy-making, and not impede access to the benefits sports has to offer to transgender identities. It is possible that athletic programmes that adopt policy that is transgender-inclusive may be preventing discrimination by the presence of the policy alone. This study shows eight AA`s who report having a specific athletic programme non-discrimination policy that is inclusive of gender identity/expression. Of those reporting a policy, none reported instances of gender identity/expression discrimination in their athletic programme when compared to schools that do not have this same policy. Schools that do not have this policy (N=133) reported gender identity/expression discrimination 7.5% of the time.
N=69
Figure 2: Administrators citing ad hoc rationalisation by athletic programme overall inclusiveness
Conclusion
No matter how people align with this topic personally, U.S. educational and NCAA core values pertaining to social justice and inclusion for all people need to be continually strived for in the context of NCAA sporting institutions. With the advent of the NCAA transgender inclusion policy, my hope is that individual schools will jump on board to adopt similar policies for their respective programmes. Transgender identities are not new to society, and research has shown growth among people who identify outside of gender binaries (Olyslager & Conway, 2008; Reed et al., 2009), but they remain invisible to most dominant perspectives among sporting institutions. A non-discrimination policy is a good place to start. While creating policy does not eradicate transphobia, it may be the first step to decreasing the invisibility of transgender student-athletes and creating a larger space in athletics for various gender presentations that do not exist on a binary.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Revised 4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Buzuvis, E. (2011). Transgender student-athletes and sex-segregated sport: Developing policies of inclusion for intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics. Seton Hall Journal of Sports Entertainment and Law, 21(1). 1-59.
Gender Spectrum (2010). A word about words. Retrieved from http://www.genderspectrum.org/images/stories/Resources/Family/A_Word_About_Words.pdf
Griffin, P., & Carroll, H. (2010, October 4). On the team: Equal opportunity for transgender student athletes. Retrieved June 21, 2011 from http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/TransgenderStudentAthleteReport.pdf?docID=7901
Lyons, E. & Coyle, A. (2007). Analysing Qualitative Data in Psychology. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (2011a). Core Values. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/about+the+ncaa/who+we+are/core+values+landing+page
National Collegiate Athletic Association (2011b). NCAA Inclusion of transgender student-athletes. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/fd9a78804841ff93953f9fbf5e8bc9cc/Transgender _Handbook_2011_Final.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=fd9a78804841ff93953f9fbf5 e8bc9cc
National Collegiate Athletic Association (2011c). Who We Are. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/about+the+ncaa/who+we+are+landing+page
Olyslager, F. & Conway, L. (2008). On the calculation of the prevalence of transsexualism. International Journal of Transgenderism, 10(3). Retrieved June 21, 2011 from http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TSprevalence.html#Article
Out For Justice. (2011, September 12). Re: NCLR applauds new NCAA inclusion policy benefitting transgender student athletes [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://nclrights.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/nclr-applauds-new-ncaa-inclusion-policy-benefitting-transgender-student-athletes/
Reed, B., Rhodes, S., Schofield, P., & Wylie, K. (2009). Gender variance in the UK: Prevalence, incidence, growth and geographic distribution. Retrieved June 21, 2011 from http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/GenderVarianceUK-report.pdf
Contact
Li Brookens
Smith College School of Social Work graduate
Massachusetts, USA
Email: lisabrookens@gmail.com
Resources on Transgender Issues
(Parts are taken from NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes, 2011)
Print Resources (Books, Articles, Reports)
AthletesCAN, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, Promising Practices: Working With Transitioned/Transitioning Athletes in Sport (2009).
Including Transitioning and Transitioned Athletes in Sport - Issues, Facts and Perspectives - Summary. Brenda Wag-man (February 12, 2009). Available online at: http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Summary_Transition_Discussion_Paper_FINAL1%20(2).pdf.
Including Transitioning and Transitioned Athletes in Sport - Issues, Facts and Perspectives - DISCUSSION PAPER. Brenda Wagman (February 12, 2009). Available online at: http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wagman_discussion_paper_THE_fINAL.pdf.
Working with Transitioning or Transitioned Athletes in Sport - Emerging Themes. Rachel Corbett (May 26, 2009). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/ Wamsley_lit_review(2).pdf.
Social Science Literature on Sport and Transitioning/Transitioned Athletes - LITERATURE REVIEW. Kevin B. Wamsley (February 2008). Available online at http://www.caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Wamsley_lit_review(2).pdf.
Do Transitioned Athletes Compete at an Advantage or Disadvantage - LITERATURE REVIEW. Michaela C. Devries (may 18, 2008). Available online at http://caaws.ca/e/resources/pdfs/Devries_lit_review(2).pdf.
Brill, Stephanie, and Rachel Pepper, The Transgender Child: a Handbook for Families and Professionals (San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2008).
California Safe Schools Coalition, Model School District Policy regarding Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students (2009). Available online at: http://www.casafeschools.org/csscmodelpolicy1209.pdf.
Come out to play. Sport Experiences of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people in Victoria (Australia). Caroline Symons, Melissa Sbaraglia, Lynne Hillier, Anne Mitchell. May 2010. Available at:
http://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/Come%20Out%20To%20Play%20May%202010.pdf.
Currah, Paisley, Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter, Transgender Rights (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006).
Gay Straight Alliance Network, the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Beyond the Binary: A Tool Kit for Gender Activism in Schools (2004). Available online at: http://transgenderlawcenter.org/pdf/beyond_the_binary.pdf.
Goorin, Louis, and Mathijs Bunck, “Transsexuals and Competitive Sports,” European Journal of Endocrinology 151 (2004): 425-429. Available online at http://www.eje.org/cgi/reprint/151/4/425.pdf.
Griffin, Pat, “Inclusion of Transgender Athletes on Sports Teams,” Women`s Sports Foundation (2007).
Greytak, Emily A., Joseph G. Kosciw, and Elizabeth M. Diaz, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in our Nation`s Schools (2009).
Lambda Legal, Bending the Mold: An Action Kit for Transgender Students (2009). Available online at: http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/bending-the-mold/order-bending-the-mold.html.
Movement Advancement Project, Advancing Transgender Equality: A Guide for LGBT Organizations and Funders (2009). Available online at: http://www.lgbtmap.org/advancing- transgender-equality.html.
National Center for Transgender Equality, Understanding Transgender: Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People (2009). Available online at: http://transequality.org/Resources/NCTE_UnderstandingTrans.pdf.
On the Team – Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student Athletes. Pat Griffin and Helen J Carrol (2010). http://www.sportlaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/em-Transgendered-Athlete...-non-CSL-On-The-Team-Equal-Opportunity-for-Transgender-Student-Athletes-Pat-Griffin-and-Helen-J.-Carroll-2010.pdf.
Steinbach, Paul, “Change Candidates,” Athletic Business (August 2008). Available online at: http://www.athleticbusiness.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=1817&zoneid=3.
Swallows and Amazons, or the Sporting Exception to the Gender Recognition Act. David Mcardle. March 2008.
Sykes, Heather, “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport.” Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal 15:1 (2006): 3-13.
Transsexual bodies at the Olympics: The International Olympic Committee`s policy on transsexual athletes at the 2004 Athens summer games. Shelia Cavanagh and Heather Sykes (2006 ) Available online at: http://bod.sagepub.com/content/12/3/75.short.
Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Guidelines for Creating Policies for Transgender Children in Recreational Sports (2009). Available online at: http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/TLPI_GuidlinesforCreatingPoliciesforTransChildreninRecSports.pdf.
Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Gender Identity Policy Jim Meyerhoff, Assistant Executive Director 435 main Avenue South, Renton, WA 98057 Office Phone: 425-282-5234 Office E-mail: jmeyerho@wiaa.com.
Women`s Sports Foundation, Participation of Transgender Athletes in Women`s Sports: A Women`s Sports Foundation Position Paper (2008).
Centres, Institutes and Associations
Transgender Law Center - Transgender Law Center (TLC) connects transgender people and their families to culturally competent legal services, increases acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support California`s transgender communities, and works to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people. www.transgenderlawcenter.org.
Transgender Law and Policy Institute - Transgender Law and Policy Institute (TLPI) is a non- profit organisation dedicated to engaging in effective advocacy for transgender people in our society. The TLPI brings experts and advocates together to work on law and policy initiatives designed to advance transgender equality. www.transgenderlaw.org.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — WPATH is an international, interdisciplinary organisation of professionals from fields of psychiatry, endocrinology, surgery, law, psychology, sociology, and counseling. WPATH publishes the internationally recognised Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, an evolving consensus on best practice in the provision of medical treatments for individuals with Gender Identity Disorder. www.wpath.org.
Videos
Straightlaced: How Gender`s Got Us All Tied Up
Straightlaced: How Gender`s Got Us All Tied Up takes a powerful and intimate look at how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are shaping the lives of American teens. The film proudly showcases the diverse and unscripted voices of more than 50 high school students from a variety of different communities, all of whom speak with breathtaking honesty, insight, and humour about gender roles and their struggles to be who they really are. More information on the film is available at www.groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/straightlaced.
Transgender Student-Athlete
A 30-minute video presentation sponsored by the NCAA and conducted by Dr. Betsy Crane, Widener University, http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/web_video/diversity_inclusion/transgenderSA.html. Dr. Crane presents a sex educator`s expertise on gender awareness and diversity, and provides definition to assist the viewer in under-standing best practices for including transgender students in athletics participation.
Organisations/Websites
American Bar Association (ABA) — The ABA opposes discrimination against those who are transgender or gender non-conforming. In 2006, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a recommendation that all federal, state, local and territorial governments enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity or expression, in employment, housing and public accommodations. For more information visit: www.abanet.org/leadership/2006/annual/dailyjournal/hundredtwentytwob.doc.
Advocates for Informed Choice — Legal advocacy organisation dedicated to promoting the civil rights of chil-dren with intersex conditions or disorders of sex development. www.aiclegal.org.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — The ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project fights discrimi-nation and moves public opinion through the courts, legislatures and public education across five issue areas: Relationships, Youth & Schools, Parenting, Gender Identity and Expression and Discrimination in Employment, Housing and other areas. www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights.
American Medical Association (AMA) — The AMA is a medical professional association whose mission is to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health. The AMA has adopted a num-ber of policies supporting the right of transgender and gender-non-conforming persons to be free from dis-crimination on the basis of their gender identity or expression. www.ama-assn.org.
American Psychological Association (APA) — In 2008, the APA Council of Representatives adopted a policy statement supporting “the passage of laws and policies protecting the rights, legal benefits, and privileges of people of all gender identities and expressions;” and as well as supporting “efforts to provide safe and secure educational environments, at all levels of education.” www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/trans-gender.aspx .
European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation http://www.eglsf.info/about.php.
EuroGames http://www.eurogames2011.eu/.
Equality and Human Rights Commission – England, Scotland, Wales: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/your-rights/transgender/transgender-additional-resources/.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Transgender Rights Project — Through the Transgender Rights Project (TRP), Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders puts litigation, legislative, and educational assets to work in a focused way to establish clear legal protections for the transgender community. www.glad.org
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network — The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. www.glsen.org.
Gender Identity, Research, Education and Society: http://www.gires.org.uk/.
Gender Spectrum — Gender Spectrum provides education, training and support to help create a gender sensi-tive and inclusive environment for all children and teens. www.genderspectrum.org.
It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport — A Women`s Sports Foundation initiative, It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Sport is an education project focused on eliminating homophobia as a barrier to all women and men participating in sport. www.ittakesateam.org.
Lambda Legal — Lambda Legal is a national organisation committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, educa-tion and public policy work. www.lambdalegal.org.
National Center for Lesbian Rights — NCLR is a national legal organisation committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.nclrights.org.
National Center for Transgender Equality — The National Center for Transgender Equality is a social justice organisation dedicated to advancing the equality of transgender people through advocacy, collaboration and empowerment. www.transequality.org.
NCAA Office of Inclusion — www.ncaa.org/lgbt.
National Gay and Lesbian Task force - The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the LGBT community by training activists, equipping state and local organisations with the skills needed to organise broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legisla-tion, and building the organisational capacity of the movement. www.thetaskforce.org.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays-TNET - The purpose of this special affiliate of PFLAG is to promote the health and well-being of transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill- informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. PFLAG TNET focuses on support for transgender people and their parents, families, and friends; education on transgender facts and issues; and advocacy for equal rights for the trans-gender community at local and national levels. www.pflag.org/tnet.
Press for Change is a non-profit, legal advice and advice and support organisation which also participates political lobbying and educational organisation, which campaigns to achieve equal civil rights and liberties for all transgender people in the United Kingdom, through legislation and social change. http://www.pfc.org.uk/.

Current Issues

WHO Report on No Communicable Diseases
Victor Matsudo
World Health Organization (WHO) just considered sedentariness as a cardio-vascular risk factor in 1992. However, after that WHO has tried to face this epidemic. Recently, WHO released an important report on No communicable diseases that is summarised here.
Of the 57 million global deaths in 2008, 36 million, or 63%, were due to NCDs, principally cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases. As the impact of NCDs increases, and as population`s age, annual NCD deaths are projected to continue to rise worldwide, and the greatest increase is expected to be seen in low- and middle-income regions. Over 80% of cardiovascular and diabetes deaths, and almost 90% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, occur in low- and middle-income countries. More than two thirds of all cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Insufficient Physical Activity
Approximately 3.2 million people die each year due to physical inactivity. People who are insufficiently active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of all-cause mortality. Regular physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease including high blood pressure, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and depression. Insufficient physical activity is highest in high-income countries, but very high levels are now also seen in some middle-income countries especially among women.
Interventions to prevent NCDs on a population-wide basis are not only achievable but also cost-effective. And the income level of a country or population is not a barrier to success. Low-cost solutions can work anywhere to reduce the major risk factors for NCDs. While many interventions may be cost-effective, some are considered `best buys` - actions that should be undertaken immediately to produce accelerated results in terms of lives saved, diseases prevented and heavy costs avoided.
Best Buys Include

- Protecting people from tobacco smoke and banning smoking in public places;
- Warning about the dangers of tobacco use;
- Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
- Raising taxes on tobacco;
- Restricting access to retailed alcohol;
- Enforcing bans on alcohol advertising; • Raising taxes on alcohol;
- Reduce salt intake and salt content of food;
- Replacing trans-fat in food with polyunsaturated fat;
- Promoting public awareness about diet and physical activity, including through mass media.

In addition to best buys, there are many other cost-effective and low-cost population-wide interventions that can reduce risk factors for NCDs. These include:

- Nicotine dependence treatment;
- Promoting adequate breastfeeding and complementary feeding;
- Enforcing drink-driving laws;
- Restrictions on marketing of foods and beverages high in salt, fats and sugar, especially to children;
- Food taxes and subsidies to promote healthy diets.

Also, there is strong evidence, though currently a shortage of cost-effectiveness research, for the following interventions:

- Healthy nutrition environments in schools;
- Nutrition information and counselling in health care;
- National physical activity guidelines;
- School-based physical activity programmes for children;
- Workplace programmes for physical activity and healthy diets;
- Community programmes for physical activity and healthy diets;
- Designing the built environment to promote physical activity.

Individual Health-Care Interventions
In addition to population-wide interventions for NCDs, country health-care systems should undertake interventions for individuals who either already have NCDs or who are at high risk of developing them. Evidence from high-income countries shows that such interventions can be very effective and are also usually cost-effective or low in cost. When combined, population-wide and individual interventions may save millions of lives and considerably reduce human suffering from NCDs.
Priorities for action
While the magnitude of the NCD epidemic has been rising in recent years, so has the knowledge and understanding of its control and prevention. Evidence shows that NCDs are to a great extent preventable. Countries can reverse the advance of these diseases and achieve quick gains if appropriate actions are taken in the three components of national NCD programmes: surveillance, prevention, and health care. Those actions include:
A comprehensive approach
Risk factors for NCDs are spread throughout society, and they often begin early in life and continue throughout adulthood. Evidence from countries where there have been major declines in certain NCDs indicates that both prevention and treatment interventions are necessary. Therefore, reversing the NCD epidemic requires a comprehensive approach that targets a population as a whole and includes both prevention and treatment interventions.
Multisectoral action
Action to prevent and control NCDs requires support and collaboration from government, civil society and the private sector.
Therefore, multiple sectors must be brought together for successful action against the NCD epidemic. In this respect, policy-makers must follow successful approaches to engage non-health sectors based on international experience and lessons learnt. Guidelines on promoting intersectoral action are included in Chapter 7 of this report.
Surveillance and monitoring
Measuring key areas of the NCD epidemic is crucial to reversing it. Specific measurable indicators must be adopted and used worldwide. NCD surveillance must be integrated into national health information systems. This is achievable even in the lowest-resourced countries by considering the actions recommended above under "lack of monitoring".
Health systems
Strengthening of country health-care systems to address NCDs must be undertaken through reorienting existing organisational and financial arrangements and through conventional and innovative means of financing. Reforms, based on strengthening the capacity of primary health care, and improvements in health-system performance must be implemented to improve NCD control outcomes.
Best buys
As highlighted above, prevention and control measures with clear evidence of effectiveness and high cost-effectiveness should be adopted and implemented. Population-wide interventions must be complemented by individual health-care interventions.
Sustainable development
The NCD epidemic has a substantial negative impact on human and social development. NCD prevention should therefore be included as a priority in national development initiatives and related investment decisions. Depending on the national situation, strengthening the prevention and control of NCDs should also be considered an integral part of poverty reduction and other development assistance programmes.
Civil society and the private sector: Civil society institutions and groups are uniquely placed to mobilise political and public awareness and support for NCD prevention and control efforts, and to play a key role in supporting NCD programmes. Strong, united advocacy is still required for NCDs to be fully recognised as a key priority of the global development agenda.
Businesses can make a decisively important contribution to addressing NCD prevention challenges. Responsible marketing to prevent the promotion of unhealthy diets and other harmful behaviours, and product reformulation to promote access to healthy food options, are examples of approaches and actions that should be implemented by the corporate sector. Governments are responsible for monitoring the required actions.
The NCD epidemic exacts an enormous toll in terms of human suffering and inflicts serious damage to human development in both the social and economic realms. The epidemic already extends far beyond the current capacity of lower-income countries to cope with it, which is why death and disability are rising disproportionately in these countries. This state of affairs cannot continue. There is a pressing need to intervene. Unless serious action is taken, the burden of NCDs will reach levels that are beyond the capacity of all stakeholders to manage.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Victor Matsudo
Physical Fitness Research Laboratory of Sao Caetano do Sul – CELAFISCS
Sao Caetano do Sul, Brazil
Email: matsudo@celafiscs.org.br
Migration and the Protection of Minors, in particular children in sports
Speech for the Joint Meeting of the EPAS Governing Board and Consultative Committee, Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 7 June 2011)
The United Nations Children`s Fund, UNICEF, is the leading advocate for children`s rights, active in 190 countries through country programmes and national committees. UNICEF`s mission is to advocate for the protection of children`s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We work for the Millennium Development Goals and for the progress promised in the United Nations Charter. We work to hold everyone accountable to the promises made for children.
UNICEF has long recognised that there is great value in children`s sport and play, and has been a consistent proponent of these activities in its international development and child protection work. Sport can be a vehicle to promote peace, reconciliation and capacity-building. UNICEF believes that through sport, recreation and play, children and adolescents learn to exercise judgement and think critically while finding solutions to problems.
Sport promotes the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play, teaching teamwork, self-discipline, trust, respect for others, leadership and coping skills. Essential to ensuring that children develop into responsible and caring individuals, sport and recreation help young people meet the challenges they face and prepare them to assume leadership roles within their communities. In times of conflict, post-conflict and emergencies, sport, recreation and play can provide children and adolescents with a sense of hope and normalcy.
During recent years, however, it has become evident that sport is not always a safe space for children, and that the same types of violence and abuse sometimes found in families and communities can also occur in sport and play programmes. Regrettably, research evidence indicates that sport is not immune from issues such as sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, bullying, physical violence and commercial exploitation. The evidence of violence against children in sport is undeniable.
There is a need for balance between individual rights and adult and state responsibilities in sport. Too often, children with exceptional athletic potential are treated as adults. This has serious consequences for the realisation of their human rights and their access to legal processes and mechanisms of protection and defence – which might be more accessible to them in non-sporting contexts.
The issue is whether children and young people in sports are regarded as athletes first and children second. The visibility and commercial rewards of competing at the elite level might exacerbate emotional abuses because gifted young athletes are increasingly pressured to train harder. Parents, and caregivers have consistently emerged in the research literature as one of the most significant positive influences on children`s play and sport. There are cases, however, where parents put excessive pressure on their children to excel, through abusive and violent behaviour towards children. As children`s involvement in elite sport grows ever more intense, some may be drawn into using performance-enhancing drugs, or doping, to improve their performance. Some have argued that sport is a form of social control and a tool for positive socialisation, but it is not clear that sport necessarily diverts youth from using drugs.
Trafficking in the context of sport involves the sale of child athletes, usually across borders and for profit. This has been described as a new form of child slavery that leaves players in a precarious legal position. There are known cases of child trafficking in baseball, football and in use of camel jockeys, but finding systematic data on the practice is a challenge. Unofficial, and therefore unregulated, football training centres test young players, who are then recruited or discarded. These players may become involved in illegal migration or be traded from club to club. In the worst case scenario, they end up in some European country with no resources, no support, and become involved in illegal activities in order to survive.
After years of denial, most sport agencies in industrialised countries have recognised that sexual violence against children in sport is an issue they need to address. Studies suggest that talented athletes at or around puberty who have not yet achieved elite status are more vulnerable to sexual abuse by an authority figure. The perpetrators of sexual violence against children in sport have been identified as primarily authority figures, particularly coaches, but also team doctors, physiotherapists, trainers and counsellors.
Sport generates billions of Euros and receives considerable media attention. Yet, violence prevention, child protection, and measures to safeguard the well-being of children are generally not embedded in sport delivery systems. Many industrialised countries have yet to recognise the need to strengthen child safety and violence prevention measures within sport. There is also a lack of coordination between governments and sport NGOs on the subject of violence against children in sport. To address these gaps, steps need to be taken in broad categories such as improved data collection and knowledge sharing; strengthened structures and systems; increased education, awareness-raising and training; and creating of ethical guidelines and codes of conduct.
Until recently, few of the international organisations and Sport for Development Organisations had introduced explicit measures to protect child athletes from violence. A number of violence prevention initiatives have been introduced in international sport, some of which apply to child athletes. Nonetheless, Sport Associations need to clarify the objectives of codes of conduct aimed towards preventing violence against children in sport. National governing bodies of sports or clubs should define and raise standards of conduct associated with violence against children. These include the modalities of their sending scouts abroad in search of young talents, the information provided to the families, the organisation of trips for try-outs, the negotiation of contracts, the return to their country of origin of young players who were not successful with a sport club, and many more aspects.
Education on topics such as neglect, physical and psychological abuse, trafficking and exploitation in sport is lacking for several key stakeholder groups, including athletes, policymakers, support personnel, officials and sport managers. In addition, the child athlete`s voice is still largely unheard. Those charged with policy responsibilities for children and young people need information on children`s rights and protection in sport. UNICEF advocates for strong regulations, monitoring and reporting, as well as efficient grievance mechanisms available and accessible for children.
As previously said, sport generates billions of Euros and therefore attracts dubious individuals willing to go to great lengths to exploit this potential. Children and their families – especially those from the South – can fall prey to such schemes. For that reason, UNICEF welcomes the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport`s Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to member states on protection of minors and youngsters against issues related to migrations in sport. There is certainly a need for more regulations, monitoring, and implementation in the field of migration in sport. UNICEF was pleased to see that the proposed guidelines cover a wide spectrum of situations such as the massive drain of talent from Southern countries; the exploitation of the vulnerability or inexperience of young sportsmen and women by agents, clubs, intermediaries or even families; and human trafficking.
Indeed, when considering the topic of migration in sport and the protection of minors and youngsters, it is not enough to focus on taking appropriate measures to prevent the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form. States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child also agreed to take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.
UNICEF wishes to join forces with the Council of Europe and relevant stakeholders in addressing these issues. In relation thereto I would like to highlight a recent related initiative. Since June 2010, UNICEF, Save the Children and the United Nations Global Compact have been leading an initiative to develop a set of Principles for Business on Children`s Rights. The principles build on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, International Labour Organisation Conventions, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the Global Compact Principles. These principles call on business everywhere to respect and support children`s rights and avoid complicity in children`s rights abuses. The principles are also relevant to the activities of sport clubs and associations.
With reference to the latter, UNICEF also just developed technical guidance notes on required standards of care and protective systems to address the vulnerabilities of children recruited to European Football Clubs and Academies. UNICEF will use these technical guidelines and other protective recommendations to support international sport clubs and associations in the development of their understanding and analysis of the risks and protection issues raised by current processes intrinsic to the recruitment and relocation of child athletes.
UNICEF has over the years built a solid relationship with government officials and a variety of partners in the world of sport. Through these contacts, UNICEF can sensitise and advise decision-makers, major sport associations and clubs on the need to take measures for the prevention, identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment. UNICEF will also gladly bring its expertise on children`s rights and the circumstances leading young athletes from the South to risk everything in the hope of a better future in Europe.
In conclusion, UNICEF expresses its strong support for the Recommendations on the protection of minors and youngsters against issues related to migration in sport, and is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with the Enlarged Partial agreement on Sport and the Committee of Ministers in the path leading to the implementation of the Recommendations.
ICSSPE News
Katrin Koenen
Sport as a Mediator between Cultures
Following ICSSPE`s Board meetings at the Wingate Institute, Israel, the international conference Sport as a Mediator between Cultures was held from 15-17 September, 2011, gathering respected experts and researchers from more than 30 countries.
Hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Israel, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany, with the support of ICSSPE and other organising partners, this event offered a wide range of expert panels, workshops and poster sessions. Topics included the capacity of sport programmes in intercultural co-operation; the impact of sport on adolescents` psycho-social development; training of physical education and sports staff; the role of physical education in school for equity; and inclusion and integration.
There was consensus that sport may contribute to issues including social and cultural interaction; reconciliation and reconstruction; building trust and co-operation; gender empowerment; inclusion; skills development and capacity building. In line with this it was agreed that a lot of work still needs to be done in the academic, practical and political fields to establish knowledge and acceptance of sport as a means for development and peace.
Communities and Crisis - Seminar Programme Available
The programme for the international seminar Communities and Crisis – Inclusive Development Through Sport is now available on the ICSSPE website.
From 21-26 November, 2011, practitioners and academics from international universities and organisations, including the Swiss Academy for Development (SAD); PlayAble; Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support (PS Centre) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); Freie Universität Berlin, Germany; London Metropolitan University and Loughborough University, UK; University of Rome Foro Italico, Italy, will address an interdisciplinary package and share experiences on how sport can be a useful tool for development in crisis and social problem areas.
At the Hotel HausRheinsberg in Rheinsberg, Germany, presenters will deliver theoretical and hands-on learning sessions on topics including:

- Trauma, trauma relief and debriefing;
- Community based psycho-social support;
- Sport activities for different age groups;
- From individual survivors to a surviving community;
- Gender and sport - challenges in crisis areas;
- Project funding and entrepreneurship;
- Monitoring and evaluation of psycho-social sport programmes.

Philip Noel-Baker Research Award for Darlene Kluka
During the ICSSPE Board meetings in Israel, Darlene Kluka was presented the Philip Noel-Baker Research Award for her outstanding contribution to sport science at the international level. The award was named after Lord Philip Noel-Baker, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of ICSSPE and is awarded to a researcher who has made highly valued contributions to the International Community of Sport Science and Physical Education, to which Darlene has made both in the USA and internationally.
Darlene has dedicated her work to the field of women and sport, and has already been inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Hall of Fame for her strong engagement. Amongst others, she has been President of the International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women (IAPESGW), and is a founding member of the USA Volleyball Sports Medicine and Performance Commission. Additionally, she was Vice President of USA Volleyball and served as a member of the United States Olympic Committee. For ICSSPE, Darlene Kluka has held several positions including Treasurer, Chair of the Editorial Board and member of the Executive Board.
“The past years have been a complete joy for me to serve sport science and physical education at the international level. I am grateful that a vital professional organisation thought my contributions were indicative of such an honour. It is an absolute honour and delight to have been selected by the ICSSPE President`s Committee for the Philip Noel Baker Research Award”, said Kluka welcoming the award.
For any further information, please visit the ICSSPE website at www.icsspe.org.

Resources

Book Information
Kari Kekskinen
Neuromuscular Aspects of Sport Performance. The Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine
An IOC Medical Commission Publication
Komi Paavo V (2011)
Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 978-1-4443-3447-0
This new volume in the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine series published under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee provides a comprehensive overview of neuromuscular function in sport and exercise, combining the basics of mechanical knowledge with guidance on the application of science to enhance or predict performance.
Approaching the neuromuscular system both as a control “organ” and as a system that can itself operate and function very efficiently in demanding sport activities, this book describes essential topics such as neuromuscular fatigue, neuromuscular training, and musculoskeletal loading, as well as explains in detail the specific research tools, invasive approaches and in-vivo techniques that are used to understand the true nature of tensile and ligament forces during intensive exercise. Additionally, special chapters cover two recently developed research methodologies – high speed ultrasonography (US) and transmagnetic electrical stimulation (TMES) – that can be applied during natural locomotion.
With contributions from internationally renowned experts, this is an invaluable reference book for biomechanists, sport scientists and sports medicine specialists, as well as for advanced level coaches and sport physiotherapists.
Children`s Games
Mark Wertheim