Opening: Transgender female athletes have an unfair advantage in their new gender category before and upon transitioning.
Background Information + Definitions: Transgender people are people who change their gender identity sometime after birth. Transgender athletes are people who compete in sports and change their competition category based on their newly assigned gender.
Develop it: While transgender athletes should be accepted on the grounds in which they want to be accepted on, transgender athletes have too much of an advantage even if they transition and it is not fair to those who are naturally in their category.
Thesis statement: While people report that transgender athletes hold no advantage after transitioning, we have to consider the science and facts behind the transitioning process before allowing those people to compete.
Pro point 1
Topic sentence: The athleticism potential that a transgender woman carries into their new category makes the playing field unfair for all those in the category itself.
Explain: By keeping a certain percentage of testosterone after competition, transgender female athletes keep an advantage in their newly assigned gender discipline. Even with the current ruleset on how a trans-athlete should transition, studies show that they still have a leg up on their competition for another year or so.
Evidence: Men had a 12-20 second advantage over women across all swimming events. Transgender women retained this advantage with a smaller percentage.
Reinforce: Isn’t it unfair for a transgender woman to have a higher potential as base than a cisgender woman in the same competition?
Conclude:
Pro point 2
Topic sentence: Rules that impede on cisgender participation in sports like track and field have zero impact on transgender participation, even if trans athletes would break those rules as well.
Explain: Cisgender women are expected to be within a testosterone threshold before they’re allowed to compete. Transgender women go through a transitional phase where they utilize testosterone blockers, and then they’re free to compete.
Evidence:
Reinforce: If there are different rules on hormones for different types of women, is it even a category for women anymore? By letting one group break the established ruleset and the other ignore it, it questions the fairness of the category itself.
Conclude:
Pro point 3
Topic sentence: If we allow transgender athletes to fully compete and involve themselves in their new category, programs specifically for females lose their way.
Explain: Clubs and organizations across America are starting to investigate the percentage of women with collegiate scholarships versus transgender athletes with collegiate scholarships. It is now getting harder for women to be recognized as transgender athletes win with their own advantages.
Evidence:
Reinforce: There are many women in the field, all fighting for an opportunity to go to school as a student-athlete and many more titles. While LGBTQ students do not have as many openings for this as the world is getting accustomed to the idea of people that are different, they apply for the same opportunities made with cisgender women in mind. This steals opportunities from women who are not LGBTQ.
Conclude:
Rebuttal:
Assess the other side: While it is understandable for an athlete to want to compete in what makes them comfortable, they have to understand that competition isn’t based on comfortability, it must be based on fairness. Fairness and rules are what heighten a competition from more than just kicking, hitting, or throwing a ball around. By favoring inclusivity over fairness, we lose our path to equal competition. Using facts and science, we can no longer allow for transgender women to compete alongside cisgender women.