When Sivan Kotler-Berkowitz steps onto the soccer field, his stress, fears, and worries wash away.
He鈥檚 no longer a 17-year-old boy, a high school senior, or a transgender advocate; he鈥檚 a center forward, one essential cog in the machine of a high school sports team. For Kotler-Berkowitz, that鈥檚 the best feeling.
鈥淚鈥檓 just there with my teammates,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all going for one goal: to win the game, to learn, and to have fun. Nothing else really matters in that moment.鈥�
But when he鈥檚 off the field, Kotler-Berkowitz, and the small number of transgender athletes like him, are in limbo, waiting for government officials to decide if and how they can play the sport they love. Much of that may hinge on an upcoming interpretation of Title IX, the federal sex discrimination law cited both by transgender advocates and by those who favor restrictions on trans athletes in student sports.
Kotler-Berkowitz is among the 2 percent of U.S. high school students who identify as transgender, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And he鈥檚 one of the estimated 26 percent of trans boys and girls ages 13 to 17 who play a sport, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on behalf of LGBTQ people.
None of the transgender athletes interviewed for this article wanted their specific town or school published out of privacy concerns. Kotler-Berkowitz lives in Massachusetts, which means his state鈥檚 laws protect his ability to play on boys sports teams, and he was able to start soccer without having to even inform his coach he is transgender.
Many transgender K-12 athletes can鈥檛 say they鈥檝e had the same experience. Eighteen states have laws banning the ability of trans students鈥攑rimarily transgender girls鈥攖o participate in sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that tracks laws on equity issues.
The upcoming interpretation of Title IX could affect such efforts.
In June, the U.S. Department of Education released proposed rules that would clarify that sex discrimination applies to issues of gender identity and sexuality. But the department sidestepped any official interpretation of how the rule applies to sports. Instead, it plans to do a separate rulemaking process, exploring whether the law establishes a student鈥檚 right to participate in a sport that aligns with their gender identity.
The Education Department has not released any information on what the rulemaking process will entail or a timeline, although it will likely take more than a year. Meanwhile, athletes, parents, coaches, and advocates on all sides of the issue argue time is of the essence, growing impatient as they wait for federal action.
The National Women鈥檚 Law Center and Women鈥檚 Sports Foundation sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Aug. 11, urging his administration to 鈥渟wiftly release a Title IX athletics rule that would ensure all students, including transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students, can participate fully and equally in school sports.鈥� Forty-eight other organizations鈥攊ncluding The Trevor Project, the National Planned Parenthood Foundation, and GLSEN, an LGBTQ rights organization dedicated to K-12 students鈥�.
One facet of a broader societal debate
The debate over sports is just one of the societal divisions surrounding young trans people, their rights, and schools鈥� responsibilities toward them. In the past two years, politicians in Texas and Florida have passed laws preventing teachers from talking about LGBTQ issues in the classroom, requiring schools to inform parents when students want to go by a name other than the one on their birth certificate, and preventing gender-affirming care for young trans people.
鈥淭his is a moment when trans youth, especially, need to see more than attacks, which have dominated so much of the discourse now,鈥� said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis support to young LGBTQ people. 鈥淭hey need to see their leaders have their backs, and they need to see it soon.鈥�
Rights in limbo
The controversy centers on students like Ember, a transgender high school senior in Ohio who asked that her last name not be used out of concerns for her privacy. Before Ember could start playing girls softball during her sophomore year, she had to prove she was trans.
For Ember, now 18, that meant completing at least one year of hormone treatment related to her gender transition, or demonstrating that she does not possess physical or physiological advantages over cisgender female athletes of the same age group.
Ember chose to go the hormone route, which allowed her to play her sophomore year. But in her junior year, she was also required to receive a doctor鈥檚 note to confirm she didn鈥檛 have a physical advantage by providing information on her height and weight compared to cisgender female athletes her age.
Each year, Ember has to go through that process, which she describes as 鈥渁nxiety-inducing鈥� and 鈥渄emeaning.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檙e having to prove your femininity,鈥� Ember said. 鈥淚 am having to prove that I am girl enough to play on a girl鈥檚 team. That in itself is just kind of painful.鈥�
Despite the work she has done to prove she can be on the girls team, Ember鈥檚 ability to play softball is under threat.
The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill June 1鈥攐nly with Republican votes鈥攖hat would effectively ban transgender girls from playing girls sports. Ohio House Bill 151, which was initially written as a bill to make changes to the state鈥檚 teacher residency program, included a last-minute amendment that prohibited sports organizations from allowing 鈥渋ndividuals of the male sex to participate on athletic teams or athletic competitions designated only for participants of the female sex.鈥�
Under the proposal, students would have to undergo a physical examination if they, or someone else in their community, decides to dispute their defined sex. That would involve receiving a doctor鈥檚 statement establishing their sex based on their 鈥渋nternal and external reproductive anatomy, the participant鈥檚 normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone, and an analysis of the participant鈥檚 genetic makeup.鈥�
For Ember and her family, the bill feels like a personal attack. If Ember weren鈥檛 in her senior year the family would consider moving to another state, said her mother, Minna, who also asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons.
鈥淚t鈥檚 heartbreaking and frustrating,鈥� said Minna. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard not to take it personally because this is directed at my kid.鈥�
The Ohio bill is one example of state lawmakers across the country labeling the inclusion of transgender children in sports unfair, often arguing that trans girls and women have an advantage over their cisgender opponents.
鈥淎llowing biological males to compete against biological females is a discriminatory policy that turns back the clock over a half-century on advances we have made for women,鈥� Ohio state Rep. Jena Powell, a Republican who sponsored the bill, said during a June 1 hearing.
Logistically, the debates and varying laws make it difficult to keep up, said Anthony Nicodemo, a boys basketball coach and athletic director at the Greenburgh-North Castle school district in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Nicodemo doesn鈥檛 have to worry about restrictive laws in his state, but when students travel to other parts of the country, like nearby Connecticut, the rules are different. The lack of consistency is 鈥渞eally problematic,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he perfect solution, if it were ever possible, would be to have guidelines that are the same,鈥� he said. 鈥淓very state is operating under a completely different set of rules right now. It鈥檚 really creating chaos.鈥�
For the transgender students at the heart of it all, the rhetoric, media attention, and near-constant news is emotionally draining at best and silencing at worst. In a survey conducted earlier this year by the Trevor Project, 83 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth said they have worried about trans and nonbinary people being denied the ability to play sports.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to have all of these attacks on us,鈥� said Kotler-Berkowitz, the Massachusetts soccer player. 鈥淲e just want to play like any other kid.鈥�
The power of Title IX
Field hockey taught Rebekah Bruesehoff perseverance. The 15-year-old transgender high school sophomore in New Jersey started the sport when she was 10, and she credits it for helping her develop a 鈥済rowth mindset.鈥�
鈥淥ne of the most important things that field hockey has taught me is how to fall and get back up again,鈥� Rebekah said. 鈥淚鈥檓 definitely not the best person on my team. Learning from mistakes I may make during a game or just being with peers who are better than me, trying to keep up with them and learning from what they do, that鈥檚 been really valuable.鈥�
Like Kotler-Berkowitz, Rebekah is living in a state that allows her to compete in girls sports. She transitioned at 8 years old, and so far her introduction to field hockey has been without major complications, even with moves to three different schools.
But Rebekah鈥檚 mother, Jamie Bruesehoff, still worries.
鈥淓very time I鈥檓 standing on the sidelines at a game, I look around and I鈥檓 like, 鈥榃ho鈥檚 going to be the one that decides this is a problem?鈥欌�� said Jamie, who works for GenderCool, a national campaign to promote understanding of transgender and nonbinary people. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been really lucky that hasn鈥檛 happened but, as the political rhetoric gets more and more intense, you鈥檙e kind of just waiting for it to be a problem even though she鈥檚 protected by law.鈥�
Jamie believes Title IX already protects her daughter鈥檚 right to play field hockey, and she鈥檚 not alone. The federal law has been referenced by advocates on both sides of the issue, who say it bolsters their argument.
鈥淚 would argue that Title IX already prohibits this type of discrimination,鈥� said Shiwali Patel, a lawyer with the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. If the department were to add specific language protecting transgender students鈥� right to participate in sports, 鈥渋t would clarify and make explicit that these types of bans are unlawful,鈥� Patel said.
But the law has also been cited in state bills, including the Ohio bill, aiming to prevent trans youth participation in sports.
Louisiana State Sen. Beth Mizell cited Title IX in a state law she sponsored, titled Fairness in Women鈥檚 Sports Act. The law prohibits transgender women and girls from competing in female sports by clarifying that girls sports are for 鈥渂iological females鈥� and boys sports are for 鈥渂iological males.鈥�
鈥淗ere we are backing off of the basic premise [of Title IX] that athletics for biological women are a unique entity and need to be held in that regard,鈥� Mizell said in an interview. 鈥淣ow ... we鈥檙e going to allow this to happen, which we know will diminish the competitions between biological female athletes.鈥�
Mizell believes the Education Department should leave the question up to the states. If the department鈥檚 rulemaking ultimately threatens the legality of the Louisiana Fairness in Women鈥檚 Sports Act, Mizell expects the state government to fight that.
鈥淭o go into this area of conversation, that鈥檚 quite a leap,鈥� Mizell said of the federal government鈥檚 involvement in the issue. 鈥淭o do it without the support of many of the states, not only is it inappropriate but it鈥檚 disrespecting the opinion of the states across the country. I would hope they would take states鈥� thoughts into consideration before they do anything.鈥�
Time is of the essence
In the meantime, trans student athletes try to keep their focus and perspective.
Although the process she must go through to play softball is hard on her, Ember can鈥檛 imagine her life without the sport. Her team is her community, and she鈥檚 in love with the adrenaline that comes with playing as a catcher.
鈥淓ven though it causes stress and anxiety, without softball I would just be way more stressed and anxious over the entire school year,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the ability to not think about life for a few hours.鈥�
Ember, along with Rebekah and Kotler-Berkowitz, is keeping her eyes on the Education Department as it plans to draft new rules for trans youth participation in sports.
They鈥檇 like to see the department focus on listening to trans voices, and talking to doctors, athletic directors, and coaches as it develops proposals. Most of all, they鈥檇 like to see action, and they鈥檇 like to see it soon.
In the meantime, they plan to focus on advocacy in between classes, practice, and clubs. Last year, Ember participated in the #OhioCanPlay campaign with Equality Ohio, an LGBTQ rights organization based in Columbus, . She regularly meets with lawmakers in her state to discuss the implications of restrictive laws.
Rebekah and Kotler-Berkowitz , which means they鈥檝e shared their story to help dispel misconceptions about transgender people.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not scary, we鈥檙e not trying to disrupt other sports,鈥� Kotler-Berkowitz said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really, really just trying to play like other kids.鈥�
