Tolkkinen: Transgender girls have an unfair advantage in girls' sports

Many years ago, the Babe City Rollers, a Bemidji women’s roller derby team, had a transgender woman on its team.

She became a star player; she was strong, long-limbed and fast.

I was at their game to write a magazine article about roller derby and afterward joined the team for lunch. Back in those days, I was a real chicken and didn’t dare address the elephant in the room: Did having a team member who was born a male give the Babe City Rollers an advantage, and if it did, was it unfair? And was it safe? Injuries were not uncommon in a sport that cultivated fierce showmanship. Players told me they’d broken their collarbones and suffered concussions.

Mostly I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, of getting jumped on, of being seen as unfairly singling out a player they had all embraced as one of their own. So I figured I’d keep my mouth shut. And I did.

It was the wrong thing to do. If anything, we should have been having open, honest and candid conversations about transgender participation in female sports all along, no matter how awkward. The absence of these conversations allowed two extreme sides to develop: one that forbids any deviation from the standard orthodoxy that transgender females should be allowed in women’s sports and the other that transgender participation will trigger the demise of women’s sports.

You can guess which side of the 2024 presidential election each side fell on. Donald Trump and pro-Trump groups spent tens of millions of dollars on campaign ads attacking Kamala Harris on transgender issues and exploiting the divide.

Now the Minnesota State High School League is under investigation by the Trump administration for its 2015 policy allowing transgender girls to participate in school sports. Schools that allow it could lose federal funding. And the Minnesota House is debating a bill, introduced by suburban legislator Republican Rep. Peggy Scott, to ban transgender girls in girls' sports statewide.

I have to say it’s refreshing to hear Republicans take such an interest in the rights of girls and women, especially during a time when Blame the Woman has waged a comeback at the highest levels of government.

This is not an issue that even transgender activists agree on.

A year ago, Cassandra Williamson, a transgender veteran and executive director of Transgender and Diverse Veterans of America, faced blowback on social media after writing in The Hill that transgender women need to respect the spaces of what she called “genetic women.”

“A transgender woman who has gone through male puberty should also not compete against genetic women,” she wrote. “It’s not about the influence of sex hormones on a person’s body, but rather the appearance of unfairness regardless of any such advantage.

“As a result of the failure to respect the obvious, we have allowed far-right activists led by the Heritage Foundation and their Project 2025 to control this narrative.”

Williamson was right on. But people didn’t want to listen. In remarks since deleted from social media, other trans veterans called for her to resign from her advocacy organization. But she’s still listed as the executive director.

In failing to address a common sense issue, Democrats have left open the door to a crowd of people who want to trample all over other transgender rights: the right to serve in the military, to receive gender-affirming care, even to have their gender identity on identification cards.

Transgender people deserve all these rights and more. They should be able to marry, adopt kids and provide foster care. And yes, transgender women, you may absolutely use the bathroom stall next to me.

But participating in girls' sports? If it’s just a fun game with no stakes, sure. But today’s sports typically aren’t for fun. So much rides on them. Scholarships, college admissions, a shot at the Olympics. When you’re competing at that level, the edge that comes from having developed as a biological male provides an unfair advantage. Taking female hormones can reduce muscle mass and testosterone, but they still have the longer limbs and larger cardiovascular systems that biology gave them.

There’s a reason we have men’s and women’s sports. Males are faster and stronger. Even if they grow up to be women.

At the risk of sounding like a schoolmarm, I do hope we take away a few lessons here. First, all sides should provide safe space for opposing views. Give grace for mistakes. Second, we can’t get everything we want. In saying yes to Lia Thomas, we say no to Riley Gaines.

And finally, let’s all remember that transgender girls in the K-12 system are just that: girls. They’re still kids. They’re young and trying to navigate a complex world. They’re frequently bullied or mocked. So in whatever conversation we have about transgender rights, let kindness prevail.