Children hold placards supporting trans children, during demonstration outside the Statehouse in . [+] Columbus, Ohio on June 25, 2021, to oppose and bring attention to an amendment to a bill that would ban transgender females from participating in high school and college women sports. Photo by Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
“I never hated sports, but I hated how I was treated by kids and adults who played sports.” That’s how one young LGBTQ person responded to the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, when asked to describe their attitude toward athletics in school. “The locker room was always a nightmare, the athletic kids at my school hated me, the coaches at my school hated me, and as much as I didn’t care for a lot of mainstream sports in general, I avoided athletic activities out of terror, not disinterest.”
That response is just one selection from the new data released Wednesday by the organization, as it sifts through its 2021 survey of more than 35,000 LGBTQ youth. The Trevor Project is the nation’s leading nonprofit providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention resources to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer and questioning youth. And its focus this time is on LGBTQ young people’s experiences and attitudes about participating in sports.
Among the findings published Wednesday:
“The rate of LGBTQ youth participation in sports is significantly lower than that of their straight, cisgender peers, indicating that more needs to be done to make sports a welcoming and affirming environment for all who wish to play,” said Carrie Davis, Chief Community Officer at The Trevor Project. “No young person should be barred from the benefits of sports — friendship, fun, and stress relief — due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
A protester holds the trans flag, during a demonstration outside the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, . [+] on June 25, 2021. Photo by Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
MORE FOR YOUEight states across the U.S. have enacted laws or executive orders that restrict LGBTQ youth from participating in school sports, most of them banning trans females from competing with cisgender girls and women at the elementary, high school and collegiate levels. The Department of Justice and American Civil Liberties Union are tackling these laws in court.
“It is a cruel irony that state lawmakers continue to push legislation that would ban transgender and nonbinary youth from participating in sports, while so many youth already choose not to participate out of fear of discrimination and bullying,” said Davis. “We need more coaches and fellow athletes to speak up against anti-trans policies and to foster inclusion on the field and in the locker room.”
Carl Nassib #94 of the Las Vegas Raiders during the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Allegiant . [+] Stadium on September 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.
The organization points to out LGBTQ sports role models like Carl Nassib, the Las Vegas Raiders defensive end whose game-saving play on Sunday led the NFL team to its first victory of the season. Nassib came out in June, known in the LGBTQ community as Pride month.
This summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo included at least 180 openly LGBTQ athletes from around the world, including Great Britain gold medalist Tom Daley, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, American skateboarder Alana Smith and American BMX rider Chelsea Wolfe. Canadian soccer player Quinn made history as the world’s first trans nonbinary athlete to compete in the Olympics and its first-ever gold medalist.
In all, LGBTQ athletes won 33 medals at the Summer Games. Inspiring stories like theirs play a part in The Trevor Project’s mission to end suicide among LGBTQ youth.
“We recognize the need to make sports inclusive to all LGBTQ youth who wish to participate,” the organization announced in a news release issued with the new findings. “No young person should be barred from the benefits of sports participation—friendship, fun, and stress relief—due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The group has two teams to address these issues: A public education team to guide organizations and provide training for sports leaders to better affirm LGBTQ youth and support their mental health; And an advocacy team, working to oppose anti-LGBTQ legislation.
“Policies that seek to ban transgender youth from sports only serve to heighten experiences of stigma,” said a spokesperson for the Trevor Project, “and reduce the ability of youth to receive the positive physical, social, and emotional benefits of sports.”