AI disclosure statement: Turboscribe was used to transcribe the quotes from the interviews.
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From a RebelNews post at a Toronto Tempo WNBA game this week, to a new research paper on Alberta’s sports policies regarding transgender athlete exclusion, the arguments surrounding athletes continue to make headlines.
The paper, “Intersectional futures: gender equity, transgender inclusion, and sports governance in Alberta” is written by Alison Toews, Taymy J Caso, and Danielle Shinbine and was released on Sept. 18. It responds to last year’s Fairness and Safety in Sports Act which prevents transgender youth, ages 12 and up, from participating in women’s amateur sports unless their organization verifies their birth assigned sex.
The RebelNews video, released on Sept. 23, included interviews with fans outside of the Coca-Cola Coliseum ahead of the matchup between the Toronto Tempo and the Indiana Fever of the Women’s National Basketball Association. Reporter David Menzies asked fans whether men should be allowed in the WNBA while a billboard truck displayed anti-transgender women messages.
“It kind of sends this message [that] trans folk shouldn’t be in sport or don’t belong in sport and I think that’s extremely harmful,” Lev Goldberg said. Goldberg is a Toronto-based transgender marathon swimmer who became the first openly transgender person to swim across Lake Ontario last year and continued his journey to cross all five Great Lakes by swimming across Lake Huron last month.
He emphasizes the effects this messaging can have on transgender women and girls, saying it can impact their ability to build up skills through being active in sports and their mental, physical or social health.
“It’s really devastating. You put someone in a position where they might feel like they have to hide their identity whether they’ve transitioned or just considered transitioning,” Goldberg said.
The researchers echo this sentiment, writing that the act effectively outs gender diverse and transgender youth in the classroom by requiring educators to inform students’ parents if their child changed their name or pronouns. Their findings indicate that this can cause youth to hide their identities in fear of parental rejection, which is a root cause of homelessness, abuse and neglect in transgender youth.
The Alberta policy states that its purpose is for the “promotion of fairness and safety in sport” but critics argue that it promotes transgender athlete exclusion, which is reflected in the recent RebelNews video. Despite the arguments against transgender athletes in sports, the visibility for these athletes is already limited and in March of this year, The International Olympic Committee restricted women’s Olympic events to “biological females” only despite New Zealand weightlifter Laura Hubbard being the only openly transgender women to compete at the Olympics back in 2021.
“What I see on the lines is that when there are headlines, like the IOC decision, what we’ll get are chats of people seeing that and feeling, ‘what does it say about me? I feel like there’s no place for me, it feels like I’m being rejected in my personhood,’” Anika Tabovaradan said. Tabovaradan is a peer-support co-lead at the resource and support youth-led organization YouthLine. They described how the focus on banning the small population of transgender athletes has affected the youth, saying that it’s hard for transgender youth to see a future for themselves when there’s no example to compare to.
In the collegiate circuit, the National Collegiate Athletic Association president Charlie Baker says there are over 500,000 collegiate athletes but he’s aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes at the college level. Despite the ongoing arguments surrounding transgender athletes in the WNBA, Layshia Clarendon is the only openly transgender player to have played in the league, playing a total of 11 seasons before retiring in 2024.
Goldberg argues that the ongoing focus on excluding transgender athletes from sports, considering the small number of athletes they make up, is another way to promote or intensify transphobia. He also says that we should question why this is happening now.
“I think we should all be critical, not just, uncritically engaged in this conversation and come back at them and counter these points that are being made or not being made,” he said. “Why is this conversation happening now? And why is it happening in this way? And maybe is there a motivation behind it that is rooted in transphobia, that’s rooted in trans misogyny, that is having an overall destructive effect on the safety and (well-being) of trans people.”
The researchers argue that consistent policies and decision making structures are central to achieving inclusion and integrity rather than restriction. They highlight organizations that prioritize accessibility and safety over other competitive structures. The Toronto Gay Hockey Association, a volunteer-led, non-contact ice hockey league for both LGBTQ and heterosexual players, encapsulates these priorities and demonstrates how community-led structures can prevent exclusion while maintaining participation.
“I think, being able to connect with other people who share your experiences might know what you’re going through and might want to actually make the effort to reduce the harm and make you feel included. Who do we have if not each other?” Tabovaradan asked.
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
