An edited version of this post, "The Problem of the Transgender Athlete" now appears in letters to the Editor in the Washington Post

("Biden Administration says school may bar trans athletes")

So, the benchmark for determining whether to allow participation is if it could undermine competitive fairness or potentially lead to sports related injuries. I see. A small, lousy transgender person can be on the team. But not the big, strong really athletic one. 

I would suggest that not one individual has used athletic advantage as the motivating factor in choosing to live an existence that is, at best, a difficult one, and at worst... (the percentage of the transgender population that has attempted suicide is, by all estimates, staggering).

This is an answer in search of a problem. The number of transgender children in our school systems is very small (slightly more than 1 in a hundred). The elite athletes who come from that group, who pose a "problem" is infinitesimally  smaller.

Do we prohibit a "typical" athlete who happens to possess a level of strength or skill such that he or she, as a reality, "undermines competitive fairness or potentially leads to sports related injuries" from taking part in a school sport? 

While President Biden may have intended to prohibit the automatic discrimination of transgender athletes, he has not done them any favors. This standard will not eliminate controversy but only exacerbate it. In conservative communities, we know the outcome even as the question is first raised.

What these children deserve is far better than the treatment they receive from those who stand as judge and jury. Making their hard life harder is not what our moral and ethical standards demands of our society.

We are in a world beset with enormous serious problems that often go unattended, ignored or, worst of all, defended. For this country to waste such a considerable amount of its effort on addressing this matter, shows how small, petty and hurtful we can be.

Give the kids a break and a tiny sliver of respect. Do not denigrate or diminish them, but instead applaud their efforts as you would all others. Let them play , without question or reservation.