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Transgender wrestler Mack Beggs doesn’t want to compete in the girls’ category.
But a Texas high school athletics policy requires him to compete based on the gender listed on his birth certificate.
And now, Texas could pass a law allowing his league to bar him from competing at all.
SB 2095, which passed the Texas state senate by a vote of 22-8 on Wednesday and is now headed to the House of Representatives, does not once use the word “transgender.” What it does say, however, is that the University Interscholastic League, the Texas state-level high school athletics organization, can “declare a student ineligible for competition on the basis of steroid use” even if that student is taking a steroid for a “valid medical purpose.”
Of particular note here is the fact that testosterone treatment for young transgender men like the 17-year-old Beggs could be seen as a basis for disqualification even though cross-sex hormone therapy for transgender people is supported by major medical associations.
SB 2095 would, in effect, justify barring transgender athletes from high school sports “if the league determines that the safety of competing students or the fairness of a particular competition has been or will be substantially affected by the student’s steroid use.”
It was filed by Republican state senator Bob Hall less than a month after Beggs won the girls’ 100-pound category in a state wrestling tournament, fueling litigation and drawing national media attention to the fact that Texas policy required him to compete against girls even as he took testosterone as part of his transition.
“SB 2095 is terrible,” Hudson Taylor, executive director of the LGBT advocacy organization Athlete Ally, told The Daily Beast. “It is a veiled attempt to exclude transgender athletes from participating in sports [that’s] been disguised under the auspices of fair play and reducing steroid use.”
The office of Senator Hall did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment but in public debate over the bill, as the Texas Tribune reported, Hall said that SB 2095 is “not addressing who plays on what sports” but rather “addressing individuals who … are taking steroids” and allowing the UIL to “protect the other students who are playing” from “unsafe situations.”
Taylor, however, points to a 2015 Associated Press report on the Texas steroids testing program for public high schools, which noted that out of 2,633 students tested by the UIL during the 2013-2014 school year, only two were caught.
“It’s a non-issue,” he said. “Really the only intent behind this is giving the UIL the intent to hurt trans athletes.”
The UIL did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on the legislation. After Beggs won his category in the February tournament, the league published a statement and FAQ on their website explaining that their official rules determine gender by birth certificate and make an exception for steroid use if it is “prescribed by a medical practitioner for a valid medical purpose.”
The Texas Law That Could Disqualify Trans Athletes From Competing
But a Texas high school athletics policy requires him to compete based on the gender listed on his birth certificate.
And now, Texas could pass a law allowing his league to bar him from competing at all.
SB 2095, which passed the Texas state senate by a vote of 22-8 on Wednesday and is now headed to the House of Representatives, does not once use the word “transgender.” What it does say, however, is that the University Interscholastic League, the Texas state-level high school athletics organization, can “declare a student ineligible for competition on the basis of steroid use” even if that student is taking a steroid for a “valid medical purpose.”
Of particular note here is the fact that testosterone treatment for young transgender men like the 17-year-old Beggs could be seen as a basis for disqualification even though cross-sex hormone therapy for transgender people is supported by major medical associations.
SB 2095 would, in effect, justify barring transgender athletes from high school sports “if the league determines that the safety of competing students or the fairness of a particular competition has been or will be substantially affected by the student’s steroid use.”
It was filed by Republican state senator Bob Hall less than a month after Beggs won the girls’ 100-pound category in a state wrestling tournament, fueling litigation and drawing national media attention to the fact that Texas policy required him to compete against girls even as he took testosterone as part of his transition.
“SB 2095 is terrible,” Hudson Taylor, executive director of the LGBT advocacy organization Athlete Ally, told The Daily Beast. “It is a veiled attempt to exclude transgender athletes from participating in sports [that’s] been disguised under the auspices of fair play and reducing steroid use.”
The office of Senator Hall did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment but in public debate over the bill, as the Texas Tribune reported, Hall said that SB 2095 is “not addressing who plays on what sports” but rather “addressing individuals who … are taking steroids” and allowing the UIL to “protect the other students who are playing” from “unsafe situations.”
Taylor, however, points to a 2015 Associated Press report on the Texas steroids testing program for public high schools, which noted that out of 2,633 students tested by the UIL during the 2013-2014 school year, only two were caught.
“It’s a non-issue,” he said. “Really the only intent behind this is giving the UIL the intent to hurt trans athletes.”
The UIL did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on the legislation. After Beggs won his category in the February tournament, the league published a statement and FAQ on their website explaining that their official rules determine gender by birth certificate and make an exception for steroid use if it is “prescribed by a medical practitioner for a valid medical purpose.”
The Texas Law That Could Disqualify Trans Athletes From Competing