After five years of fighting for her trans daughter’s right to participate in sports, Amy Manzelli says she's tired of continuously having to argue for her daughter to be treated like a human.
So the Biden Administration’s recent Title IX proposal that would make it difficult for schools to enact blanket bans on trans athletes initially had Manzellli excited.
“But not if it doesn't take all transgender women and men and non-binary people into the fold,” Manzelli said. “All people need to be protected and have their civil rights protected.”
The Biden Administration’s proposed change would still allow schools some flexibility to issue more targeted restrictions on transgender students’ participation in school sports. That’s generated pushback from several local activists and officials who say it falls short.
Manchester Rep. Alissandra Murray says the proposal doesn't go far enough as it still allows schools to require that athletes’ birth certificates match the gender of the team they’re trying to join.
“We've seen these bills come across in New Hampshire and in different states — any state that is making these kinds of bills are also the same states that are making it harder to change birth certificates and to make your legal documents match your gender,” Murray said. “It basically creates a loophole for schools to be able to outright ban trans kids from sports teams.”
Murray is among a group of trans and nonbinary lawmakers who signed a letter urging the administration to reconsider the policy.
“A lot of the discrimination feels targeted against trans women because people assume they can ‘tell the difference,’ ” Murray said. “But when they have trans men that they’re trying to force to use bathrooms and join sports teams that match their assigned gender at birth, they are visibly and physically out of place and people aren’t comfortable with that either."
The federal government is expected to seek formal public comments on the proposal before it becomes final.
Iris Turmelle, Manzelli’s 13-year-old daughter, said that the proposed policy only helps people in the states that already support trans athletes.
“I’m not that much of a sports person, but the people that I do know who are trans and also do participate in sports, they struggle a lot,” Turmelle said, adding that there’s still transphobia in schools.
“It hurts when people do that against people that you know,” Turmelle said.
