How do we talk about transgender athletes in school and sports?
Introduction
The question of how to include transgender athletes in school and professional sports is one of the most intense and complex cultural debates today. For Christians, the conversation requires navigating a challenging ethical tension: the desire to show Christian compassion and inclusion to transgender individuals, while simultaneously upholding the biblical truth of biological reality and the essential fairness of female sports.
The Christian approach to this conversation must be characterized by humility and grace, but never at the expense of truth and justice. We must maintain the dignity of all involved while affirming the clear, God-given differences between male and female bodies.
Three Pillars for a Christian Dialogue
A constructive Christian dialogue about transgender athletes should be built upon the following three foundational pillars: Affirming Biological Design, Prioritizing Fairness and Safety, and Leading with Compassionate Dignity.
1. Affirming Biological Design (The Truth Foundation)
The conversation must be grounded in the biblical doctrine of creation, which defines human gender and sexuality.
The Male/Female Binary: God created humanity as two distinct sexes: “male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This biological distinction, established at conception, is purposeful and foundational to the human experience, regardless of a person’s internal feelings or gender identity.
The Persistence of Advantage: For athletic competition, this biological design matters immensely. Studies confirm that advantages conferred by male puberty—including greater bone density, lung volume, heart size, and skeletal structure—are substantial and irreversible. Even with hormone therapy, these male biological advantages persist and significantly impact the fairness and competitive integrity of female sports.
2. Prioritizing Fairness and Safety (The Justice Mandate)
The command to love your neighbor includes a duty to pursue justice, which in this context means protecting the equal opportunity of all female athletes.
The Purpose of Sex-Segregated Sports: Sports are separated by sex precisely because of the inherent, biological advantage men have over women. Female sports were created to ensure fair competition and equal opportunities for biological women.
Protecting Female Sports: When biological males compete in female categories, it fundamentally undermines the very category of female sports. The Christian conversation should advocate for policies that protect the fairness and competitive integrity of the female category so that girls and women can achieve success against peers with similar biological structure.
Safety Considerations: In contact sports, there is also a critical need to consider the safety implications for biological female athletes when competing against biological males, whose physical strength often exceeds that of females.
3. Leading with Compassionate Dignity (The Christ-Like Way)
The commitment to biological truth must never result in cruelty, mockery, or hatred toward a transgender person.
Affirming Worth: Every individual, including those who identify as transgender, is made in the Image of God and deserves unconditional love, respect, and dignity. The parent, coach, or Christian speaker must treat the individual with the same grace and patience Christ shows us (1 Peter 3:15).
Respecting the Individual's Struggle: Christians can acknowledge the real, often painful, internal struggle of gender dysphoria without affirming the proposed solution (transitioning). We should seek to understand their pain and offer pastoral care and support.
Finding Creative Solutions: Dialogue should focus on finding compassionate, non-discriminatory solutions for all, such as offering an "open" or "co-ed" category for those who cannot or do not wish to compete in the biological male or female categories.
Conclusion
The Christian perspective does not shy away from the biological and spiritual truth that God made us male and female. However, we must never use that truth as a weapon.
In talking about transgender athletes, Christian parents and leaders should speak the truth about biology, fairness, and safety for female sports, while simultaneously demonstrating the unconditional love and respect due to every person made in the Imago Dei. Our goal is to seek justice for all and point every person to the ultimate hope and identity found in Jesus Christ.
