Transgender athletes in college sports are rare, despite outsized political attention

USA Today

a day ago

On Sunday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The issue of transgender college athletes continues to animate Republicans as the Trump administration doubles down on their attacks on trans rights. USA TODAY Education Reporter Zach Schermele joins The Excerpt to discuss these issues from a political and an education perspective.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Hello and welcome to USA TODAY's the Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, July 27th, 2025. In July, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's sports and stripped the record of former swimmer Leah Thomas as part of an agreement with the Department of Education. It was the same month that the Supreme Court announced it will review Idaho's and West Virginia State bans on transgender athletes joining female sports teams. The move marks the country's latest grappling with issues surrounding transgender athletes. More than half the states have now passed laws preventing transgender athletes from competing on schools female sports teams, saying they're trying to prevent competitive advantages. Where does the American public stand on these issues, and what are the larger implications and influences playing into this conversation? To help us make sense of this moment, I'm now joined by USA TODAY education reporter, Zach Schermele. Zach, thanks for joining me.
Zach Schermele:
Hey, Taylor. Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's just go back to that news surrounding Leah Thomas. That's the former UPenn swimmer who became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming competition in Division 1 back in 2022. Zach, what did the university agree to here with the Department of Education?
Zach Schermele:
So this was a pretty significant agreement on the part of the University of Pennsylvania. That's an Ivy League school in Philadelphia with the Federal Education Department, and in particular with their office for Civil Rights, which handles curbing discrimination for students and teachers in any educational program that receives federal funding. So there were a couple of pretty significant concessions that the university agreed to with the department, first, that they would bar trans athletes from participating at all in women's sports at the University of Pennsylvania, a notable concession because there weren't any transgender athletes that were competing in women's sports at Penn at the time. They also said that they would comply with President Donald Trump's executive order that he issued that tried to ban trans athletes from competing in women's sports as well. And also, they sent personalized letters of apology to any female swimmers who had competed alongside Leah Thomas at the time of that NCAA competition that you were referring to there, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Zach, these moves were in response to the federal government suspending roughly $175 million in contracts to Penn back in March, alleging that university had violated Title IX. UPenn is also not the only university dealing with these allegations. Zach. Talk us through the government's arguments here.
Zach Schermele:
So they're far from the only university that has grappled with some of these threats and implementation of those threats with respect to federal funding, in particular for research projects being pulled from universities across the country, largely on the grounds of civil rights laws being violated. So the government was arguing, really that it's fundamentally wrong for trans women to be competing in female sports at the collegiate level. They say that the federal government has a role in protecting cisgender women in athletic environments, and that was an idea and an argument that played a big role in the resolution of this case here. They also argued that trans women have an unfair advantage over cisgender women in athletics. And that is an argument that comes very frequently from conservative critics of trans rights just in general, and we're seeing it more consistently from the education department under the Trump administration.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Zach, what does this Leah Thomas news mean for younger trans athletes, say in middle or high school coming up?
Zach Schermele:
It's really significant. But I think Taylor, what you could chalk it up to is that it is the latest major indication that athletics really are not welcoming anymore in school environments to the extent they ever were for young trans people. And it also shows how a powerful university that ostensibly younger athletes would want to aspire to, competing with or against can act in the face of some pretty considerable pressure from the federal government. Todd Wolfson, who was the president of the American Association of University Professors, when I was talking to him about the Penn case in particular a little while ago, he said, "Universities can't sell out trans people to satisfy ideological demands." And I think that that is a message that if you're a young person, a young trans athlete, potentially looking at what has just gone on Penn's campus, that's your takeaway.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, what recourse does a trans athlete have beyond the courts? What does a sixteen-year-old or twenty-year-old trans athlete who wants to compete at a high level do right now, Zach?
Zach Schermele:
There are several avenues that a student could potentially take if they were concerned about being excluded from a program or an athletic team on a school campus that receives federal funding. So they could file a discrimination complaint with the Federal Education Department, in particular with that office for civil rights that was in charge of resolving the case at Penn. The problem of course, though, is that the Trump administration interprets federal civil rights laws pretty distinctly from how the Biden administration in particular was interpreting those same laws. So under President Joe Biden, the education department, I think would've had a lot more alacrity to try and resolve a case like that, to negotiate with schools, K-12 schools and colleges and universities to ensure that those programs were providing adequate services that weren't discriminatory towards trans students. They, in fact, interpreted Title IX, that landmark sex discrimination law as including protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
The Biden administration actually interestingly, because of how politicized this whole issue has become, was going to issue some regulations in particular on the trans athlete component of protecting younger trans people in sports and delayed it until potentially after the election. And I think that just gives you an indication of how fraught this issue has become for schools and even for democratic politicians. But one could argue that trying to file a complaint with the education department, with the Civil Rights Office, especially in this new political environment, would be a lot more challenging than even just a couple of years ago.
Taylor Wilson:
Nearly half of Americans don't want politicians focusing on issues affecting trans people, according to a poll from the non-profit, the 19th News this past April. What are you hearing from the NCAA on the issue of trans athletes, Zach?
Zach Schermele:
So the NCAA was quick to issue some new guidance after the President's executive order in February. The NCAA, which by the way, we should mention, is an organization that is made up of more than a thousand colleges and universities in all 50 states. They have roughly half a million student athletes, and the organization said that they were going to be compliant with the President's executive order and not allow trans women to compete in women's sports. Charlie Baker, who's the president of the NCAA, actually said at the time that to that end, the order provided a, "Clear national standard." There wasn't a gray area that some of the lack of finalized regulation and civil rights precedent previously had left the NCAA and schools and other organizations, I think in a bit of uncertainty with respect to what their obligations were, in order to comply with federal civil rights laws.
But it's important, Taylor, to remember that we're talking about really only a handful of that half a million student athletes that are at NCAA schools. Charlie Baker told a senate panel in December of last year that there were only fewer than 10 trans athletes participating in sports at the collegiate level at that time.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Zach, we've touched on aspects of the political level here, but the issue of transgender athletes reverberated clearly throughout the 2024 presidential race, with Republican voters celebrating Trump's stance against transgender athletes competing in women's sports. On the other hand, Democrats embrace of transgender rights did not resonate with voters. A June Reuters Ipsos poll found the Democrats feel the party isn't focusing enough on economic issues, and is overemphasizing issues like transgender rights. Zach, are Democrats politically vulnerable here? Is there the possibility they might drop their support of trans rights altogether?
Zach Schermele:
I think it's important to level set a little bit here too, Taylor, and just bring us back to the idea that Republicans in particular are pretty concerned about an issue that's not super relevant to a lot of school campuses. So only about 1.4% of trans teenagers, according to federal survey data, participate in sports. And then some other studies show, a 2017 study in particular of about 17,000 young people found that only about one in 10 trans boys said that they played sports. And the statistic is roughly the same for transgender girls.
And I think it's important to keep in mind those statistics when we're having these discussions. But regardless, trans rights and the civil rights of transgender people have become a very animating issue for Republicans, and Democrats are taking notice of that. Seth Moulton, who is a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, was lambasted by a lot of his colleagues on the Democratic side right after the presidential election when he essentially came out saying that he was more in line with some Republican thinking on the particular issue of trans athletes in sports, not necessarily civil rights for transgender people, but whether young trans athletes should be able to play sports.
And then Gavin Newsom, who's the Democratic governor of California, said some pretty similar things recently as well. And so you're seeing that bifurcation among the Democrats in a really dramatic, I think, way if you're a trans young person and seeing that support start to decline.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, let's pivot to another transgender issue that could impact trans athletes, and that's medical care. Back in June, the Supreme Court upheld a state challenge brought by Tennessee families that made gender-affirming care of minors illegal. According to human rights campaign, 27 states now have bans on such care. Zach, what are you hearing on this front? Are families relocating to states where there is not a ban in place?
Zach Schermele:
Yeah, Taylor, I remember having a conversation in 2022 with a family in Florida where there was a gender-affirming care ban for minors there. And the mother at the time was sitting in on a board of health meeting that the state of Florida had just conducted. And I remember talking to her about how her trans child had spent, I think it was the better part of a year, trying to get access to things like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. There are a lot of hoops that families with trans kids have to jump through in order to get access to gender-affirming care. I think, just based on some of the rhetoric that sometimes can fly around the subject, you would think that it would be really easy to get access to these types of treatments.
But in many states, even in pretty liberal ones, it can take a long time to actually get that care that folks need. There is this cosmic divide between liberal states and more conservative states, where if you're a transgender person, you're probably getting more protection in a place like California, New York, Massachusetts, especially if you're a trans young person enrolled in a program that receives federal education funding versus some of the more red states, places like Montana, Idaho, the Dakotas. And that is a consideration that I know a lot of families who have roots there are thinking about pretty deeply.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about recent news that the Supreme Court has given, the green light to the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education altogether, taking legions of Civil Rights attorneys out of action. There was a carve out for civil rights attorneys, but many of them are still out of action. These are people who transgender minors and their families might've turned to protect their rights in schools. What concerns you the most here?
Zach Schermele:
I think that the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is in a place that it has, quite frankly, never been before. And the argument from some conservatives, because there are two camps of conservatives who are thinking about what's happening at the Federal Education Department right now. There's one camp that wants to see the department entirely dismantled, they want it to completely go away. And then there's another camp that sees it potentially as a tool, not really unlike what it's become over the course of the past couple of months, as the president has started taking more actions, and has let go of this idea of being able to entirely do away with the department. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has acknowledged repeatedly that she knows it would take help from Congress, particularly help from Democrats in Congress in order to make the education department entirely go away.
So there are some who want to see the Education Department frankly continue to do what it's been doing, which is to open up more targeted civil rights investigations, investigations that are more concerned, not so much with protecting students from marginalized populations, LGBTQ+ students in particular, but would rather see allegations of reverse discrimination, students who are concerned about having to be involved in LGBTQ sensitivity trainings, things like that. There are lots of folks on the conservative side who want to see the education department continue to investigate schools that are trying to be more inclusive in that way. This is the assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion that the President has been really adamant about making a centerpiece of his posture towards civil rights laws. But it is the truth to say that there are a lot of civil rights attorneys that spent many years at the education department who now are no longer employed there, and we could potentially see an uptick in discrimination complaints at schools across the country because of it.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, we'll be on the lookout for when the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the two transgender athletes cases. Zach Schermele is an education reporter with USA TODAY. Thank you, Zach.
Zach Schermele:
Thanks, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks to our senior producers Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts at usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.