Can I Play Too? Transgender Student Athletes’ Inclusion in “Because of Sex”

This article seeks to explore what remedies may be available to transgender student athletes in today's changing legal field. The law is scant as to whether transgender student athletes must be allowed to play on the sex-segregated teams which correspond with their gender identity. New legislation may not be needed. Title VII and Title IX may offer protections for transgender student athletes.

The legislative and judicial tools already exist. Several federal courts have included gender identity under Title VII, yet Title VII currently only protects people who are considered to be employees. There is now a movement across college campuses to label college athletes as employees of their respective universities for the purposes of collective bargaining and labor law protections. Parts of the legislative acts which give labor force protections have been held to be analogues of Title VII.

Evolving jurisprudence demands that courts act broadly in expanding these protections, adhering to their true intent: to protect those from invidious discrimination and suppressive workplace practices.