Young transgender athletes grappling with anti-trans sports legislation

Young transgender athletes grappling with anti-trans sports legislation

Florida just became the latest state to sign anti-trans legislation into law.

ByKiara Alfonseca

June 4, 2021, 10:00 AM

• 9 min read

3:58

Debate continues over transgender athletes

As anti-trans legislation sweeps across the U.S., the fight for inclusion enters the world of youth sports.

Sunny Bryant, an 8-year-old transgender girl who lives in Texas, loves to play baseball and participate in gymnastics.

She's also been "begging" to play soccer, according to her mother, Rebekah Bryant. But Sunny, who currently plays on co-ed teams, is aware that she might not be able to play on girls-only teams as she has in the past. Some lawmakers in her state have been trying to force her off of girls' sports teams in the future and make her play with boys instead.

"It wouldn't be fair," she told ABC News in a recent interview.

Texas SB 29, which passed in the Senate, would have required public school students to compete on sports teams and in competition based on their sex assigned at birth. It was being considered in the state legislature but the House ran out of time in the legislative session to consider it.

"We know something like this is going to happen again ... This doesn't just immediately go away -- this pain that we experienced during the session," Bryant said.

The measure was among what critics say are more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Florida recently joined Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia in signing anti-trans sports legislation, similar to the one proposed in Texas, into law.

One area of focus for the legislation -- and a cultural flashpoint -- has been youth sports and Texas is just one of more than 30 states that have introduced bills against the participation of trans youth in sports teams of their corresponding gender.

Rebekah Bryant's daughter, Sunny, plays baseball and participates in gymnastics, but would be forced off the girl's teams if Texas passes legislation requiring public school students to compete on sports teams based on their sex assigned at birth.

'This is what's going on'

In April, Rebekah Bryant testified against the legislation in front of the Committee on Public Education in the Texas House of Representatives. Before she took the trip to Austin to speak out in support of her daughter, she explained to Sunny what she was fighting for.

"I explained to her, 'So, this is what's going on,'" Bryant said she told her. "'They want to stop you from playing sports, they want to not allow you to have puberty blockers, all those things. So I'm going to go try to convince them not to.'"

MORE: Anti-transgender legislation reignites classroom hardships for trans students

In her testimony, she recounted Sunny's story -- saying her daughter has known that she was a girl since she was 4 years old. She told the lawmakers she'd imagined what it would be like for a 16-year-old Sunny to play on a team that doesn't correspond with her gender identity.

"Long blonde hair, blue eyes, she's a young woman, but she has to play on the boys' soccer team," she said. "She'll be alone in the locker room, she won't have a lot of the same interests as her teammates, and she may even be bullied and harassed by the players, opponents and parents."

Some Texas legislators, like Republican state Sen. Charles Perry say the bill ensures fairness in girls' sports -- citing biological differences.

He did not respond to requests for comment from ABC News, but told NBC affiliate KCBD "it's just an effort to preserve the tradition, the history, and provide safe competition for women with their biological peer group."

'Absolutely horrific legislation'