Idaho has more pressing issues than what sport transgender students play
I recently read that there is a proposal to limit the ability of transgender children to compete in the sport of their choosing floating around the Idaho capital (Idaho is about to join the national debate over transgender student-athletes, Idaho Statesman, Jan. 12, 2020). While veiled in the uneducated understanding of what it means to be transgender, such a proposal does nothing other than to further ostracize and alienate a group of children who are, without much doubt, already struggling in a society that refuses to see and understand them.
The evidence points to a stark and challenging outlook facing these children already. Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that transgender children exhibit suicidal behavior anywhere from just below 30% of the population, to above 50% depending on where they are on the gender identity spectrum. This is as compared to 17% for female adolescents and less that 10% for male adolescents – both numbers that even on their own are far too high.
Further, in order to combat these shockingly high rates of suicidal behaviors, the Suicide Prevention Center recommends, among other things, that these youth understand that they are not alone and specifically points out the need for safe schools and support networks. The proposal circulating right now does exactly the opposite – ostracizes, isolates and creates a school environment ripe for bullying. This is not what our great state’s leadership should be focusing on.
Right now, Idaho is lagging behind the nation in salaries (a low unemployment rate isn’t very meaningful if wages don’t keep up), higher educational attainment, production of STEM graduates, education funding across the board, upward mobility, women’s rights and minority rights, not to mention the travesty that comprises the state’s relations with its indigenous peoples. It seems that, rather, the people appointed to represent the people of Idaho should focus the people’s work on the issues that actually impact the lives of their constituents and less on what sports children can play.
In the hopes that some of my younger transgender Idahoans read this: I’m sorry that I didn’t know to speak with you before today. I see you, I believe in you, and you are perfect just the way you are. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you are not. And if a relative of a transgender child is reading this, tell them you love them. It is important to them and they are important to you.