By Robert Boland & Jeff Chatterton As a sports lawyer (Bob) and a crisis communications advisor (Jeff) who have worked together before, and will again, LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey and her pre-emptive attack on The Washington Post and noted sports journalist Kent Babb, who was authoring a forthcoming […]
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This final episode of our first season closes with some final thoughts from most of this season’s guests where transgender youth in K-12 sports currently stands, where it could be headed, and what we should be doing with our concerns in the meantime.
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In this episode, I explore the various factions who, despite their different general ideologies, have united in advocating for the exclusion of trans kids from sports. We discuss why this presents such a challenge when working to educate and advocate around this issue. I also provide some additional details on […]
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When I started thinking about how to address the issue of trans exclusion from youth sports, I knew I needed to include the culture/industry of youth sports as part of the discussion. The pressure to compete and perform at a high level in athletics is reaching kids earlier than ever […]
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One of the most commonly expressed objections to the inclusion of trans athletes is that it is fundamentally unfair, particularly to cis women and girls, to compete against trans women and girls. While this cultural belief may be ubiquitous, the science behind it is far from black and white. Without […]
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This episode picks up where the last left off – about 50 years ago – when Title IX’s enactment changed education and athletics for women and girls in some big ways. But this 50 year old statute and implementing regulations were not created with trans and non-binary students in mind. […]
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To better understand how and why sports are a part of education, this episode goes back to where they started. Although the culture of youth sports has certainly evolved, the purpose of interscholastic athletics really has not. Today, just like 100 years ago, educators value the role of sport in […]
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Listen to Dr. Jeremy Piasecki and Ben Gucciardi, of Soccer Without Borders, speak about culture, relationships, trust, feeling valued, connection, mental health, intention, social isolation, and developing people.
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Episode 2 looks at the recent legislative push to ban transgender kids from scholastic sports across the country in the context of the anti-trans bathroom bans that preceded it. I also dive into the Soule v. Connecticut case that is so frequently referenced as an example of trans athlete exceptionalism despite the […]
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In Episode 1, I start to introduce you to some of the legal scholars and advocates I interviewed in my research. Their remarks all come from recorded interviews that are available in full via provided links. I excerpted these specific portions to frame my approach to discussing the significance of […]
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Football is a sport that unites everyone and brings all those from different countries, religions, and ethnicities and like any other sport football has the power to unite everyone together within the football community. With all this being said there are still some sexuality issues that remain in football but […]
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This past week has been a remarkable one in sports. An active NFL player came out as gay. A superstar gymnast took the penultimate step toward becoming the greatest of all time in her sport by competing to honor of and to remind the world, including her own national governing […]
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