"Wanton cruelty": Trans athletes see sports ban as step toward societal erasure

For some transgender athletes, the Trump administration's sports ban feels like just one play in a broader societal erasure of millions of Americans.The big picture: Transgender and nonbinary people across the U.S. are navigating an upended sports landscape — on top of additional rollbacks of their protections and civil rights — following President Trump's February executive order banning trans athletes from women's sports.Other executive orders have targeted access to gender-affirming care, military service and basic federal recognition. Several government websites have also been scrubbed of references to trans people. "If you can dictate my identity on a sports field, why can't you then dictate my identity in different areas of public life?" asked Sydney Bauer, a rower, runner and journalist who covers sports and LGBTQ+ rights. State of play: Trump's Department of Education alleged last week that the University of Pennsylvania violated Title IX by allowing a transgender swimmer to compete on the women's team.That came after the administration had paused $175 million in federal funding over the school's transgender athlete policy.The Justice Department also recently announced legal action against Maine's education department after the state refused to bar trans athletes from girls' sports in compliance with Trump's order. Several other schools and leagues across the country are also facing investigations.The NCAA announced earlier this year it would change its trans athlete policies to comply with the Trump administration's order, which denies federal funds for schools that allow trans women or girls to participate on female sports teams.Trump's policy also raises questions ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as the administration moves to ban trans athletes from obtaining visas.Driving the news: While the order will impact high-level sports, kids, teens and recreational athletes alike will also be caught in the crosshairs. "This isn't about elite sport," Bauer said. "It's about preserving the pathways to who gets to compete in elite sport, and dictating who gets to go to the field of play."For LGBTQ+ youth, who already face heightened mental health challenges, access to affirming environments is critical. "Having that opportunity to still be with your friends and still be on a team matters," Bauer said.Friction point: Such bans on trans athletes could also increase the scrutiny of cisgender women and girls competing in sports, said Cam Wein, the assistant athletic director for compliance at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania."I'm a trans man, but I also think of me as a little athlete ... I've always presented more masculine," Wein, who didn't transition until adulthood, added. As a child assigned female at birth, he played football and wrestled against boys, but also played softball and basketball against girls. "So many people on one side want to say, 'it's 10 trans athletes,' but I don't think that they realize the impact that it will have on cisgender women as well," he said, noting the scrutiny he sometimes faced while competing as a child.Zoom out: Austin Killips, a cycling champion, emphasized that the implications of the administration's ban could stretch far beyond the field, track, trail, or court.Trump directly singled out Killips when signing his executive order, referencing her (now broken) record in the Arizona Trail Race — but the president failed to mention the 800-mile race's co-ed leaderboard.She emphasized that Trump's executive order calls for a review of federal immigration policies, with the intent of blocking "males seeking to participate in women's sports" from the U.S. under the purview of immigration law that bars those seeking admission "by fraud.""If you come to the States for a recreational bike tour ... and you're trans, does that mean you're going to get pulled aside by TSA?"Barring access to the social good that sports cultivate, she said, is "wanton cruelty."The bottom line: Wein said some critics have asked why he's trying to save "one tree" in a burning forest through his advocacy for trans athletes. "Even if it is one tree in the forest, this is where they start. Where do they end?" he asked."If we start with trans women in athletics, next it's going to be another marginalized community. Then, half your forest is burned down."Go deeper: Newsom's comments on trans athletes gets muted rebuke from Democrats

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