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WASHINGTON, 2026-01-20 14:03:00 – The Supreme Court heard arguments this month in cases that could determine the future of transgender athletes’ participation in U.S.sports,while a stark disconnect emerged between those advocating for bans and their understanding of women’s sports.
The cases, We
- The Supreme Court is considering the legality of state bans on transgender athletes in women’s sports.
- Many protesters advocating for bans demonstrated a lack of knowledge about women’s sports, unable to name current professional athletes.
- The debate over transgender inclusion reveals a deeper question about who has the right to participate in sports.
Outside the Supreme Court on January 13, the debate over transgender athletes played out in real time. Supporters of transgender inclusion and those calling for bans were physically and ideologically divided. The core contradiction, as one observer noted, was that those claiming to “save” women’s sports often lacked basic knowledge of the athletes and the sports themselves.
The observation stemmed from a simple experiment. After noticing the disconnect, the observer and a fellow content creator, Allie O’brien, began asking protesters if they could name five women currently playing professional sports.The results were telling. One man admitted he could not name any. A woman cited the williams sisters, but acknowledged she couldn’t name any other current athletes. Another referenced Riley Gaines,a former college swimmer now known for her opposition to transgender inclusion,rather than her athletic career. When asked,a man holding a “Protect Women’s sports” sign stated,”I don’t watch women’s sports.”
This pattern repeated itself, revealing that many of those advocating for bans had little to no engagement with the sports they claimed to be protecting. Inside the Court, justices were weighing the legal arguments for and against exclusion. The observer, a fan of women’s sports, found the prospect of upholding bans deeply troubling, not just for transgender athletes, but for the foundational values of women’s sports.
Why It Matters
The disconnect highlighted by these interactions underscores a critical point: the debate over transgender athletes is not solely about fairness in sport, but about who has the right to participate. The history of women’s sports is rooted in the fight for inclusion, created to remedy the exclusion of women from athletic spaces.As the observer wrote,”Inclusion is not a threat to women’s sport,it is its reason for existence.” The current debate risks repeating the patterns of exclusion that women’s sports were created to overcome.
The NCAA’s February 2025 ban on transgender student-athletes – stating that “a student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women’s team” – illustrates a broader trend of prioritizing exclusion over inclusion. In 2024, fewer than ten of approximately 500,000 NCAA athletes identified as transgender, a small number that some argue justifies discriminatory policies. Though,as the observer points out,even one athlete deserves the right to participate.
Critics of transgender inclusion often frame their arguments around fairness, but this perspective overlooks the inherent “unfairness” present in all sports, from biological advantages to ideal physiques. The focus on transgender women also reveals a potential misog
