By Sophia Mao

Dear Andie Taylor,

I just watched the video “I’m a Trans Runner Struggling to Compete Fairly” featuring you. Credits to Lindsay Crouse, Taige Jensen, and Adam Wolffbrandt for the creation of the video. The quality and music was a nice bonus.

First, I would like to compliment how you managed to find the “apolitical middle ground.” You managed to not take any side in the debate; you agreed that you do currently have an unfair advantage, but you also want to compete in women’s sports. You gained a lot of respect from me, especially when you said “as a competitor, I want to win. But I only want to win if I know it’s fair.”

The self research you conducted was really important. It showed that even though you had already taken 3 years of hormone therapy, you were still getting better and better at running. There are rules that state if a transgender female takes hormone therapy for one year, they will be allowed to compete in sports. However, your research and other recent research has proven the therapy to be futile.

Obviously, some trans women may still have an advantage, but in sports there are already many advantages that don’t involve gender. Some people are just naturally more athletic and talented.

For now I think that transgender people should decide if they think it’s fair for them to compete or not. Instead of debating and arguing about a less important issue, we should let professionals do their research. Maybe if researchers or scientists finally come up with a piece of information or method to make it fair for all athletes to compete- this debate will finally end.

Links: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/opinion/transgender-sports-science.htm