In recent media many people have brought up the idea that transgender women are making it unfair when they join a female team because people believe that they have “natural advantages.” One of their theories is that some trans women join a cisgender women’s team just to make the sport easier for the trans women to win. Crazy, right?

One of the points made by transphobic individuals is that trans women have naturally high testosterone levels. Well that is not the case. Ninety-four percent of trans women that are on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have the exact same level of testosterone and estrogen levels as cis women. If you did not already know, yes, cis women already have testosterone naturally.

Now, what about “special advantages.” What about them? They do not have special advantages. Instead of focusing on trying to find special advantages in trans players, why don’t you recognize the special advantages some famous players have? Michael Phelps, a competitive swimmer, has been said to have a lung capacity twice the size of the average person, which helps improve his performance. Not only that but he produces about half the amount of lactic acid as any other player. Now why is that a big deal? This allows him to take a shorter amount of time to recover and then he can join back into the race.

Logically, you know that transgender women have no advantages and are not on the teams just to “make it easier” for themselves. You just want to find any way to discredit their achievements and not view them as “real women,” which is just another way to be transphobic.

The MO SB781 bill is known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” This bill was put into place to prohibit anyone assigned male at birth to participate in women’s sport teams. While it has not been passed, many others like this one have been and it is spreading all over the country. This is bill is targeted towards middle school, high school, and college athletics.

Trans women and men should be treated the same as everyone else. I am going to be completely honest as much as I, and many others, may want inclusiveness, it is going to take a very long time to get there. We have so many terrible, cruel people that act as if they are not the same as everyone else. There is nothing that separates us. If you are so disturbed or threatened by the fact that trans women are playing against you, quit. If you are uncomfortable, quit. It is not their job to make you feel more “safe.” It is not their job to make you feel like the game is fair. It is fair, but you don’t want to believe it. The idea or repetition of “unfair” just won’t do it. They are real women and they are real men that deserve the same right to play as anyone else.