Credit: Philip Strong / Unsplash
There’s a pernicious mistake too many people make these days: You are either with us or against us. You are either a flaming woke liberal or an ignorant nutcase conservative.
Not so.
There are two basic ways people make decisions. Thinking fast and thinking slow. That’s the analysis of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.
Thinking fast is how we make emotional, stereotypic, unconscious decisions. Knee-jerk reactions. Thinking slow, on the other hand, takes more effort and analysis.
Unfortunately, we sometimes come up with quick, simple answers to questions that require more complicated analysis.
Let’s take the controversy of whether trans athletes should play on girls sports teams.
President Donald Trump successfully used this issue to fuel culture wars between Democrats and Republicans during the 2024 presidential campaign.
The first reaction is emotional, on both sides of the political divide.
- Conservative response: It’s not fair to give one team a competitive advantage and risk injury to students.
- Liberal response: Of course they should play on girls teams. We should never discriminate against trans athletes. Banning the athlete treats her as an outsider or misfit. This further traumatizes the trans athlete, who is already struggling with acceptance.
These “my way or the highway” approaches are playing out at both the federal and state levels.
One of Trump’s first acts as president was an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
Democrats later blocked an effort in Congress to turn Trump’s executive order into law.
Since 2014, California students have had the right to play on a sports team that aligns with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.
However, two bills were recently introduced in the Legislature to ban this.
- Assembly Bill 89 (Sanchez), would have required the California Interscholastic Federation to amend its constitution, bylaws and policies to prohibit a pupil whose sex was assigned male at birth from participating on a girls interscholastic sports team.
- AB 844 (Essayli) would have required that a pupil’s participation in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use of facilities, be based upon the pupil’s sex at birth, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.
Both bills were blocked in committee on Tuesday, but Republicans have promised to continue their efforts.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has angered Democrats and human rights advocates by breaking from the party line. He believes that allowing transgender girls and women to participate in female sports leagues is “deeply unfair.”
Let’s now take the “think slow” approach: Analyze the issue. Don’t jump to conclusions.
This issue is not hypothetical for me. My son has played on a girls team, and my daughter has played on a boys team. I have played on women’s soccer teams against trans athletes. For years, I played on co-ed teams.
But there is one undisputed fact: On average, adolescent boys and men are stronger, taller and faster than girls.
I absolutely support trans athletes playing on girls’ teams … unless they are bigger and stronger than most other girls.
The table below shows you the physical differences.
There are no simple answers.
Conservative response: Ban all trans athletes from playing on a girls team. To heck with equity.
Liberal response: Allow all trans athletes to play on a girls team. To heck with competitive advantage and safety.
Neither approach makes sense. We need a middle ground.
Let’s try an approach that puts students first.
- Recognize this is an issue of fairness and equity for both the trans athlete and the members of the girls team.
- For high school interscholastic sports, base the solution on the particular situation in junior and senior year of high school. That’s when the dramatic differences in strength, weight and height can influence the outcome of the game and impact the safety of the students.
- For college sports, assess whether there will be a competitive advantage or risk of injury.
- Understand that whatever the decision, people will be angry.
- Forget the political divide and rest your decision on what you think is best for students.
•••
Carol Kocivar is a child advocate, writer for Ed100.org, retired attorney and past president of the California State PTA.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.