1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am strongly opposed to this bill that goes against actual science and tries to legislate a 7th grade version of biology into law. This bill is an attempt to treat sexual differences as a binary as opposed to the dimorphism it actually is. Not only does it ignore the lived experiences and realities of intersex individuals, it creates dangerous situations for cisgender people who do not satisfactorily conform to gender stereotypes.  Banning trans athletes will impact cisgender athletes on a much larger scale. These bans then become an act of enforcing whatever version of femininity or masculinity the enforcement arm of a ban holds. We’ve seen gender non-conforming cis women attacked in women’s bathrooms because someone declared them not woman enough. This will open the door to harass any girl or woman who does not present sufficiently feminine to a coach, teammate, or rival. Even at the chromosomal level, the IOC stopped chromosome testing because cis athletes found out their chromosomes don’t match their lived experience of sex and gender. This all comes down to a plan to inspect the genitals of kids and young adults. In a world where sexual assault and coercion are the true threats to youth sports, and womens sports specifically, giving adults in power more access to intimate contact with kids is a terrible idea.