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Transgender athletes have taken strides to compete on a level playing field against cisgender peers in various sports.
But for every step forward, critics are doing everything they can to halt such progress.
Professional tennis player Martina Navratilova is one of many female athletes who opposes competing against trans athletes, citing "unfair" physical advantages. She even referred to it as "cheating," something she has since apologized for after taking much heat.
Trans cyclist Dr. Rachel McKinnon, the first trans athlete to win the masters world championship, disagrees and is known for arguing against the notion that trans athletes have unfair advantages.
In response to McKinnon's belief, long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe told BBC Radio 4:
"She is arguing that from her own point of self interest and as far as I'm aware the facts that she talks about are not facts."
Brynn Tannehill joined the conversation in a viral Twitter thread in the hopes of putting an end to the transphobic assumptions in competitive sports.
The activist and author of Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Trans tweeted on Monday morning:
2. Quick test: name a transgender Olympian off the top of your head. You can't, because since the IOC started allow… https://t.co/jPOq4a2Q9F— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707905.0
3. The NCAA has allowed transgender people to compete without surgery since 2011, and there has not been a single d… https://t.co/mQIkwDn8LN— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707905.0
4. These constitute large scale, longitudinal tests of the system with millions of athletes as a sample, and the IO… https://t.co/Tb2VdO0wnj— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707905.0
5. 15+ years and millions of test subjects is bigger, and longer, than any clinical trial of a drug that I can thin… https://t.co/V4XgeRf4NY— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707905.0
6. The clinical evidence and subject matter opinion aligns with the observed results: removal of testosterone for a… https://t.co/g5FLHMh7jU— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707906.0
7. The arguments from the other side are either anecdotes (What about so-and-so who won some mid-level event?), or… https://t.co/put38YQrTK— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707906.0
8. The implied "solutions" of "Well, they can compete against men or get their own league" replaces a speculative h… https://t.co/qCHwk5jZ2o— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707906.0
9. Testosterone, which the NCAA and IOC regulate, is a key factor in performance. Because trans women lack it, they… https://t.co/mPnkJuCnPK— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707906.0
10. And there simply aren't enough transgender people for them to "get their own league", nor would there be enough… https://t.co/ZalGJJ6Bzb— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707906.0
12. If, at some point we start to see a disproportionate number of transgender women winning high level athletic ev… https://t.co/aUZ03yxH5J— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707907.0
These so-called solutions are not solutions at all.
They are just another tactic to further isolate a demographic.
13. Athletic leagues do this all the time: if something is giving people a competitive advantage, they ban it (but… https://t.co/CgXryyBO0Z— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707907.0
14. I'm frustrated as hell that we're still fighting this battle. The empirical evidence all points one way. We hav… https://t.co/644EuLc05B— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707907.0
15. So, when I point these things undeniable facts out, and people still want to argue, I have no issue with callin… https://t.co/LrKoNJoFCL— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707907.0
16. Oh, and Renee Richards was 40+ years ago, never ranked higher than 20th, never won a major event, and Martina N… https://t.co/OkzWLTQtxK— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551707907.0
18. We have thoroughly field tested the hypothesis that transgender athletes will dominate if they are allowed to c… https://t.co/rCHSl6o1sF— Brynn Tannehill (@Brynn Tannehill) 1551709791.0
Her strong arguments in exposing the toxicity of transphobia and its damaging effects were an eye-opener.
@BrynnTannehill Admittedly this is not a subject I’d thought about much previously, but you’ve changed my mind abou… https://t.co/SCmFZHmnQK— Dave Shelton (@Dave Shelton) 1551766561.0
@BrynnTannehill That was fascinating and made me rethink my outlook, thanks a lot :)— Prof Elemental (@Prof Elemental) 1551768704.0
@BrynnTannehill Thanks for taking time to share that...I know alot more now than I did before!— ❄️IceStella❄️ (@❄️IceStella❄️) 1551770250.0
@BrynnTannehill Ooh! Yes please! I love stats.— Blaise F Egan #FBPE (@Blaise F Egan #FBPE) 1551715933.0
@BrynnTannehill Thank you thank you thank you finally we have common sense with evidence to back it up ! PEOPLE THIS THE TRUTH— Marian stapleton (@Marian stapleton) 1551728096.0
Looks like Brynn Tannehill won this argument, fair and square.
Bottom line: transgender athletes already compete and do not dominate their sport like this debate claims as the reason to ban them from competition.
Just like the transgender bathroom debate, this is fear-mongering devoid of any basis in reality.
Bigots create these scare tactics to further their agenda to promote discrimination.
See also their work regarding Indigenous people with their "bloodthirsty savages" lies that led to the largest genocide on Earth, African slaves being a "threat to White women" which decades after the end of slavery still resulted in the murder of the child Emmett Till and the current hysteria about brown-skinned immigrants being responsible for all drug smuggling and human trafficking.
It's time for people to embrace facts instead of repeating lies about marginalized people or to simply admit to themselves they are bigots.