Fairness In Women's Sports Act
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The Fairness In Women's Sports Act is a common title for legislation passed in Idaho, Florida, and Arkansas that restricts participation in interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, club athletic teams, and any sports sponsored by a public school or university based on the biological sex of the individual. The legislation was introduced in response to concerns that allowing transgender women to compete in
women's sports Women and girls have participated in sports, physical fitness, and exercise throughout history. However, the extent of their involvement has varied depending on factors such as country, time, geographical location, and level of economic develo ...
would create an unfair advantage due to their physiological differences. This bill generally prohibits school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls. (R-AL) Supporters of the laws argue that it is necessary to maintain fair competition and protect the integrity of women's sports, while opponents argue that they are discriminatory and unjust. Much of the current legislation is facing legal challenges and criticism from advocates for transgender rights, who argue that they perpetuate harmful stereotypes and ignore the diversity of gender identities. Legislation of this nature has been introduced in several states across the US and is part of a national debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in sports teams based on their gender identity. In January 2025, the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
passed a similar legislation titled "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" that restricts transgender women from playing on women’s sports teams.


Background

Sports were male-dominated and when women's participation in sports increased competition was separated according to biological sex. ‌Research asserts that men have increased muscle mass and strength, different skeletal structures, and better-adapted cardiorespiratory systems that put them at an advantage during sports over women. With biological differences, there have been debates about whether transgender athletes, specifically transgender women, should be allowed to participate with
cisgender The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...
athletes, specifically cisgender women. This is a topic that has been talked about a lot and is now just getting looked into and changed. One side believes that transgender women have an unfair advantage over cisgender women due to the differences in human physiology and that these differences are not reversed enough with hormone therapies. The other side believes that hormone therapies and puberty blockers reduce the competitive advantages. The first transgender athlete who was banned from competing was Renee Richards. Renee Richards was an American tennis player who was banned from competing in the US Open in 1976. The following year Renee won the right to compete in the New York Supreme Court in 1977. In 2003 the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
set up a framework in regard to transgender participation in sports. The guidelines indicate that in order to compete, transgender female athletes must have undergone sex reassignment surgery, legal recognition of their gender, and hormone therapy for a certain amount of time before participation. This can take a toll on the person and many of them don't want to agree to this just to be able to play in women's sports. In 2015 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had a meeting on sex reassignment and hyperandrogegism where they determined a set of guidelines for allowing transgender athletes to compete. The 2015 IOC guidelines placed limits on athletes' testosterone levels and required transgender athletes to undergo treatments. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, there were 4 transgender athletes competing and this gained a lot of media attention. Three months after the Olympics in November  2021 the IOC announced a new framework for transgender and intersex athletes that did away with the 2015 framework. The IOC stated that their new framework "recognizes both the need to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations, can practice sport in a safe, harassment-free environment that recognizes and respects their needs and identities". Advocates for transgender athletes in sports believe the IOC's framework for transgender athletes in sports helps their case in the fight against state bills that restrict transgender participation in sports. Prior to 2020, there was no legislation keeping transgender athletes out of sports but now that has changed.


Mental health and wellness of Transgender athletes

Transgender athletes experienced social prejudice and disparity in sports participation, which led to mental health issues and increased suicide rates, according to a meta-analysis of the 12 papers in this study. 7152 (33%) of the 21,565 study participants experienced prejudice when it came to playing sports and receiving medical treatment; this is a rate of 0.61 (95% confidence interval I 0.35, 0.81). However, 0.39 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.65) of the athletes were transgender and reported feeling accepted and supported by their teams. These findings showed notable distinctions in the treatment of transgender athletes in medical facilities and throughout their participation in sports.


Scientific background

Alison Heather, a professor of physiology at the University of Otago in New Zealand studied the physiological differences between biological women and biological men and how gender-affirming hormone therapy affects those differences. She asserts there are immutable differences between the sexes in the brain, skeletal structure, and cardiorespiratory system and differences in muscle mass, strength, and aerobic capacity which can be modified through hormone therapy. Heather attributes these cardiorespiratory differences to the levels of testosterone exposure in the first years of life. While accounting for sex variation, cisgender women have a 10-12% smaller lung capacity than cisgender men and a shorter diaphragm. Similarly, a cis woman's heart is 85% the size of a cis man's heart. Additionally, Heather found biological males have an advantage in spatial ability, visual memory tasks, and perception. When compared with trans women after a year of estrogen therapy, there was no decrease in these cognitive advantages. Prolonged estrogen therapy can diminish some of these advantages. Heather also found that estrogen therapy cannot alter skeletal structure, but it does diminish muscle mass. The
British Journal of Sports Medicine The ''British Journal of Sports Medicine'' is a twice-monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering sports science and sports medicine including sport physiotherapy. It is published by the BMJ Group. It was established in 1964 and the editor-in-c ...
published research by Dr. Timothy Roberts, Joshua Smalley, and Dale Ahrendt, MD. which examined the effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy on the athletic performance of trans men and trans women in the U.S. Air Force. They found prior to hormone therapy transgender women performed 31% more push ups, ran 1.5 miles 12% faster than cisgender women, and performed 15% more sit-ups. After two years of hormone therapy, trans women had no advantage in push-ups or sit-ups but maintained a 12% advantage in running. Additionally, prior to hormone therapy, transgender men accomplished 43% fewer push-ups than cis men and ran the 1.5 miles approximately 15% slower. After one year of hormone therapy, there was no difference between cis men and trans men in push-ups or run times, but trans men accomplished more sit-ups on average than cisgender men.


Legislation


Idaho

On March 30, 2020, the Governor of Idaho signed into Law House Bill No. 500 entitled "Fairness in Women's Sports Act." The bill amended Title 33 of the Idaho Code with the addition of a new chapter 62 to be known and cited as the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act." This bill established that only female students who were biologically female at birth can participate in female sports teams and athletics. It states that public schools, any school that is a member of the
Idaho High School Activities Association The Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) oversees high school athletics and activities in the state of Idaho. Idaho high schools are classified in six categories, based on enrollment, for league competition and state playoffs and champi ...
, and any higher education institution that is a member of the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
, NAIA, or
NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...
  must ensure that athletic teams are designated based on biological sex, rather than gender identity, and prohibits transgender females from participating in female sports teams. The bill made Idaho the first state to outright ban transgender participation in athletics. The bill was introduced in response to growing concerns that allowing transgender females to compete in women's sports would create an unfair advantage due to their physiological differences. Males, as the bill outlines, having naturally higher levels of testosterone, higher red blood cell counts, high hemoglobin, larger hearts, greater lung volume per body mass, and other biologically advantageous traits, are able to generate greater power and speed during physical activity than their female counterparts. Citing Neil Burton's article "The Battle of the Sexes" published in 2012, Gina Kolata's article "Men, Women, and Speed. 2 Words: Got Testosterone?" published in 2008, and the work of Doriance Lambelet Coleman among others, the bill provides extensive scientific evidence to support its claim of an inherent male advantage over females in athletic pursuits. The legal footing of the bill is found in the U.S. Supreme court ruling in ''
United States v. Virginia ''United States v. Virginia'', 518 U.S. 515 (1996), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the long-standing male-only admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in a 7–1 decision. Just ...
'' (1996) which stated that "sex classifications may be used to compensate women for particular economic disabilities suffered, promote equal employment opportunity, ndto advance full development of the talent and capacity of our Nation's people." Emphasizing the final clause, the Idaho legislature argues that sex classifications are necessary for the "full development of the talent and capacity of our Nation's people" in the context of sports and athletics. The bill also cites two cases, ''Kleczek v. Rhode Island Interscholastic League, Inc.'' and ''Petrie v. Illinois High School Association'', wherein the courts have recognized the existence of inherent physiological differences between males and females and the unfair advantage those differences give males over females in athletics. Thus, it is only through teams and sports designated based on biological sex that the state of Idaho could fully realize gender equality in sports and athletics. House Bill No. 500 specifies that a "student may establish sex by presenting a signed physician's statement that shall indicate the student's sex based solely on: the student's internal and external reproductive anatomy; the student's normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone; and an analysis of the student's genetic makeup." The bill makes clear that even those using puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones if born biologically males continue to have an absolute advantage over female athletes and should be excluded from female-designated athletics. Supporters of the bill argue that it is necessary to protect the integrity of women's sports and ensure a level playing field for female athletes. Opponents of the bill argue that it is discriminatory against transgender individuals and violates their rights to equal treatment under the law as guaranteed in the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...
of the U.S. Constitution. The Bill is currently being challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit as an Equal Protection Clause violation in the case ''Hecox v. Little.'' The plaintiffs, Lindsay Hecox, and her three friends, initially lost in the District Court of Idaho. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to deliver a ruling.


Florida

Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...
signed the "Fairness In Women's Sports Act" into law on July 1, 2021. This legislation is intended to maintain fairness and opportunities for female student-athletes. Similar to the Idaho bill, the Florida Act relies on biological sex at the time of birth as declared on the student's birth certificate but does not require anatomy to be certified by a physician. The bill requires all post-primary public institutions to designate sex-specific sports and teams. The bill designates three categories of teams and sports. The first is male-sex only but may allow athletes of the female sex. The second is female-sex only and this category cannot allow students of the male sex. The third category is co-ed and accepts students of both male and female sex. Unlike the Idaho bill, the Florida legislation does not discuss biological differences between the male and female sex, and private schools are largely exempt from the sex-designation requirement. This bill is also designed to protect public educational institutions from investigations, lawsuits, or complaints on the basis of female-only sports and teams. It allows for any students or organizations who are harmed by institutions that do not maintain female-only teams to take action for injunctive relief to file private claims within two years of the harm occurring. Harm can be defined as the deprivation of athletic opportunity, or subjection to public, athletic, or educational retaliation for reporting violations of the law. If their claims are determined to be factual they can be rewarded monetary restitution for harms that may include, physical, emotional, and psychological damage as well as attorney fees and are eligible for "any other appropriate relief" as the civil courts see fit.


Arkansas

Arkansas Senate Bill 354 To Create The Fairness in Women's Sports Act was signed into law by the Governor on March 29, 2021. SB354, which draws heavily from the Idaho House Bill No. 500, amends the Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 1, Subchapter 1 to create a section entitled "Fairness in Women's Sports Act."https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB354.pdf The bill, like that of Idaho's, established that only female students may participate in female sports teams and athletics, and banned the participation of transgender students in any sport or athletic pursuit designated as female. Subsequently, on April 29, 2021, the governor signed into law Senate Bill 450 To Create The Gender Integrity Reinforcement Legislation For Sports (Girls) Act; And To Create A Legal Cause Of Action For A Violation Of The Gender Integrity Reinforcement Legislation For Sports (Girls) Act.https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FSB450.pdf This bill included some of the more technical language that was originally left out of SB 354 regarding the determination of gender and the defining of a "school" or "covered entity." Pulling again from Idaho House Bill, Arkansas SB 450 defines sex as a "person's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth." Senate Bill 450 also makes clear that any elementary school, high school, secondary school, or postsecondary school that is located in Arkansas and whose students or teams compete in interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports against a public school or high education institution as outlined in SB 354, must as well adhere to the bill. Thus, private schools and educational institutions now also fall under the jurisdiction of the bill. The Bill also provides an avenue for legal action to be taken against those schools and "covered entities" who are found in violation of Senate Bill 354 The Fairness in Women's Sports Act.


Similar legislation in other states titled differently

Not all legislation barring the participation of transgender students in sports and athletics is entitled "The Fairness in Women's Sports Act." Similar legislation also exists under names such as "Save Women's Sports Act," "Fairness Act," and others. As it currently stands, in addition to Idaho, Florida, and Arkansas, legislation of this nature has passed in Mississippi ee Senate Bill 2536 Montana ee House Bill 112 Ohio ee Senate Bill 187 Tennessee ee House Bill No. 3 Senate Bill 228 and Texas ee House Bill No. 25 Legislation of this nature is also pending in nearly 23 other states across the U.S.


Similar legislations by U.S. federal government (titled differently)

On January 14, 2025, the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
passed the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" of 2025 that restricts transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams. The measure amends Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. The Republican lawmakers argued the bill will protect equal opportunity in athletics for women, mentioning that cisgender women could have physical disadvantages against transgender athletes. The legislation faces uncertain future in the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
.


Support


Polls

In January 2025, a New York Times/Ipsos survey found that 79% of Americans support restricting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. The survey asked “transgender female athletes - meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female - do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports?”, and 79% said transgender female athletes should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Previously, a poll conducted in 2023 by Gallup found that nearly 70% of U.S. adults say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that correspond with the sexes they were assigned at birth.


Criticism


Political criticism

These laws have all been subject to intense review and criticism. In response to Governor DeSantis signing the Florida bill into law, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) filed a lawsuit on the basis of sex discrimination. The HRC claims this law is in violation of
Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...
because public schools receive federal funding. The HRC also asserts this law is in violation of the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...
and
Due Process Clause A Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibit the deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the federal and state governments, respectively, without due proces ...
of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ''National Collegiate Athletic Association'' (''NCAA'') also issued a statement after the Florida act became law saying they would only hold events in states "free of discrimination". Currently, the NCAA requires all transgender athletes to provide documentation of testosterone levels, as determined by their specific sport, four weeks before they are eligible to qualify for championships. As a broad response to various "Fairness In Women's Sports" acts in different states, President Joe Biden issued an
executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...
to combat discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The order reads, "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports." The Athlete Ally and
Women's Sports Foundation The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player Billie Jean King and initially supported by Olympic athletes Donna de Varona and Suzy Chaffee ...
compiled a list of around 200 female athletes as signatories for a Lambda Legal brief urging the Ninth Circuit of Appeals Court to affirm the
injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
against the Idaho bill. Famous athletes
Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...
,
Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...
, and Candace Parker were among the signatories.


Academic criticism


Elizabeth Sharrow

Elizabeth Sharrow, Associate Professor of Public Policy and History at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
, examined how the politicization of transgender athletes upholds the sex binary while reinforcing male dominance and the subordination of women. In her article "Sports, Transgender Rights and the Bodily Politics of Cisgender Supremacy" she asserts these laws protect status quo gender norms in favor of cisgender people and the "androcentric world". These laws further harm all athletes when they establish the need to investigate genitalia and ignore the possibility these investigations could cause sexual trauma. Ultimately, Sharrow argues that these laws "advance a logic of cisgender supremacy".


Zein Murib

In their paper "Don't Read the Comments: Examining Social Media Discourse on Trans Athletes", Zein Murib asserts that this recent movement against transgender rights, not only in sports but in health care, schools, and public spaces, is a reflection of the threat perceived by
evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
and far-right political actors against the established heteronormative, nuclear family, prototypical citizen tradition in American society. Having lost the marriage batter in ''
Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of th ...
'', the attention has now turned to transgender rights. Thus, the goals of these bills are not fairness and equality but about reestablishing binary sex as natural, or as Elizabeth Sharrow calls it, cisgender supremacy. Secondly, Murib seeks to challenge the belief that testosterone is the defining difference between male and female athletics by instead highlighting societal norms and gender stereotypes that shape the development of male and female athletes. Referring to a study done by Michael Messner on Little League Boys teams, Murib highlights that the ideas of males being innately competitive, aggressive, and less likely to cry are scripted into boys at a very young age by coaches and parents alike. Boys are consistently raised in an environment where displays of brute aggression and competitiveness, credited to their higher testosterone levels, are acceptable because they are boys. Therefore, weighting differences between male and female athletics entirely on their hormonal differences fails to recognize the gender roles and stereotypes that underpinned the formation of athletes from a young age. Maybe the issue is not whether female athletics are disadvantaged compared to male athletics due to biological differences, but the ways in which society instills passivity, submission, and softness in women from an incredibly young age.


Scientific criticism

Joshua D. Safer, MD, the executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery asserts that transgender people are at great risk for not exercising due to a fear of discrimination or being "outed". Given the mental and physical benefits of exercise Safer believes that encouraging transgender people to participate in athletics should be an important health priority. Safer also offered expert testimony in ''Hecox v Little,'' where he attested to consensus in the medical community which posits the difference in testosterone between elite male and female athletes is what drives the differences in performance. He also asserts that many cisgender women naturally have testosterone outside what is considered normal for cisgender women. Additionally, Safer asserts that the Idaho bill unnecessarily excludes transgender girls and women who began hormone therapy before puberty. These girls have the same levels of hormones as cis girls when they go through puberty and develop "typically female" muscle and bone structure. He further maintains that after a transgender woman lowers her level of testosterone there is no reason why her physical characteristics should be treated differently than those of cisgender women as it relates to athletic performance. An article published in ''Sports Medicine'' by Bethany Alice Jones, Jon Arcelus, Walter Pierre Bouman, and Emma Haycraft claims to be the first systematic review of literature as it concerns the participation of transgender athletes and subsequent policies. They assert there is no research that proves transgender female athletes have any advantage during any stage of their transition. They argue that the existing research on transgender athletes is mainly qualitative and thus does not lend itself to generalization.


See also

* Women in sports * Transgender people in sports * Transgender legal history in the United States


References

{{Reflist Transgender law in the United States Legal discrimination against transgender people in the United States Sports law