{"id":101324,"date":"2022-10-31T11:11:42","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T16:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=101324"},"modified":"2022-10-31T11:11:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T16:11:42","slug":"trans-athletes-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid national attacks on trans athlete rights, Illinois policies can offer false sense of security"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Haduck<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

When rower Cillian Mullen competes, he tunes everything else out. From the first stroke of his oar on the water, the world falls away. He forgets about the river, the weather and the competition, settling into a focused zone and using all his energy to thrust backward and propel his team\u2019s boat ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes things sneak in a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it’s pretty much drowned out by the mental focus.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chicagoland athlete\u2019s keen concentration paired with his 6-foot, 165-pound frame of lean muscle have helped catapult him to the highest levels of rowing competition despite his limited experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mullen began rowing in 2019, and by 2021, he was participating in the Junior World Rowing Championships, a race convening the best under-19 rowers from more than 40 countries. Mullen and his boat ultimately finished fourth in their division \u2014 the women\u2019s four. Mullen is transmasculine, making him the country\u2019s first openly transgender participant in the international event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mullen came out in 2020, but he explained he continues to compete on women\u2019s teams without pursuing a medical transition because doing so would interrupt his ability to row at the elite level to which he has become accustomed. While he says he does hope to medically transition one day, he currently expresses his masculinity in other ways. On a Friday night over Zoom in the spring, he appeared in a comfy, oversized sweatshirt, and his chestnut hair, parted down the middle, grazed his cheeks in shaggy waves. His red nail polish, though chipped, stood out against his fair skin.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent high school graduate, Mullen is part of a community of transgender athletes who make up a small fraction of the overall student and student-athlete populations. Though the exact number of transgender youth in the United States is not known, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/span> estimated<\/span><\/a> in 2019 that about 2% of high school students are transgender. And a 2017<\/span> study<\/span><\/a> by the Human Rights Campaign found that while nearly 70% of all youth surveyed played sports, only 14% of trans boys and 12% of trans girls did. The same HRC report revealed less than 1 in 5 transgender and \u201cgender expansive\u201d athletes were open about their gender identity with their coaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given this lack of representation and visibility, Mullen hopes his participation on women\u2019s teams sends a much-needed message. \u201cGender is so fluid and gender so flux, so I feel like it kind of shines a light on that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives people the opportunity to see that not everything is strictly binary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet that\u2019s not how a number of legislators see it. This year registers as the<\/span> worst on record<\/span><\/a> for the introduction and implementation of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, according to HRC. Of the more than 300 bills the organization has identified as damaging to the LGBTQ+ community, more than 130 of them are specifically and explicitly anti-trans. Much of this discriminatory legislation is aimed at trans youth athletes. Nearly <\/span>30 states<\/span><\/a> this year have considered excluding trans athletes from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, per the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with<\/span> about half<\/span><\/a> actually putting bans in place, according to the Movement Advancement Project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Illinois does not currently have any active legislation prohibiting school-age trans athletes\u2019 participation in sports. In fact, the Illinois Human Rights Act<\/span> protects<\/span><\/a> these students\u2019 right to compete according to their gender identity. But even Illinois\u2019 position is not immune to threats at the state and local level.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2021, state Rep. David Friess (R-116) introduced bill <\/span>HB4082<\/span><\/a> to the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly. The bill would require high school athletes to submit a written statement confirming their assigned gender at birth. Though the legislation stalled after its referral to the House Rules Committee, three other representatives have since signed on as co-sponsors, most recently Joe Sosnowski (R-69) in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Illinois, said in an email that passage of the bill is a \u201cfever dream\u201d of the state\u2019s anti-trans lawmakers. But even though the proposed legislation remains void, its existence still poses an issue. According to a January<\/span> study<\/span><\/a> by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit championing suicide prevention among LGBT+ youth, 4 in 5 trans and nonbinary youth report that recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. This mental stress can be deadly \u2014 nearly<\/span> 1 in 5<\/span><\/a> of this same group attempted suicide in the past year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way that we have a pathway to being a trans adult is if we\u2019re supported as trans kids,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cIt\u2019s insane the rate at which trans kids are resorting to (suicide), or having suicidal thoughts, or struggling really badly with depression.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mullen has found a safe space in the Chicago Rowing Foundation (CRF), an independent rowing club based on the Chicago River just 3 miles west of the city\u2019s Boystown neighborhood. Boystown, in turn, is home to one of the largest LGBTQ+ communities in the Midwest. If a recreationalist happened upon the gravel path skirting the CRF facilities while practice took place, they may understand how the boathouse could become a home, filled with the structure of routine trainings, coaches\u2019 careful guidance and support from teammates during moments big and small. Last year, Mullen told Northern Illinois\u2019<\/span> Kane County Chronicle<\/span><\/a> that his coaches and teammates backed his decision to remain rowing with the women. While he has been embraced at the boathouse, he cannot say the same for the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI live in one place,\u201d he said, \u201c(but) I row in a much different place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Batavia High School is about 40 miles west of Chicago. When he was a student there, Mullen says he and his queer peers were continually<\/span> disrespected and discriminated against<\/span><\/a> by both teachers and classmates, motivating him to speak out at three school board meetings in pursuit of change. While he finally received permission to establish a part-advisory, part-support group at Batavia, he says his experiences with the administration have made him appreciate that his sport operates outside the Illinois high school system.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) governs student athletics across the state. Its<\/span> trans athlete policy<\/span><\/a> generally adheres to the spirit of the Illinois Human Rights Act, allowing students the chance to compete according to their gender identity. Since the policy went into effect in 2011, the organization says it has approved the requests of 56 athletes. But this gender-affirming opportunity is not guaranteed.<\/span><\/p>\n

A student first must ask their school to join the sports team that aligns with their gender. Because of the school\u2019s involvement, however, the student\u2019s request may never even reach the IHSA, says Craig Anderson, the organization\u2019s executive director.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the school wasn\u2019t going to permit it, then I wouldn\u2019t ever see it, and I would never get a request to review and possibly grant an opportunity,\u201d said Anderson, who is the sole purveyor of the IHSA\u2019s transgender athlete applications. He adds that in his seven years as executive director, no student has attempted to navigate this process directly with the IHSA following a school\u2019s refusal to facilitate a request.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson explained that while schools cannot ease IHSA policies, they have the authority to make them stricter. When it comes to the IHSA\u2019s academic eligibility requirements, for instance, students must be passing five classes in a traditional schedule on a weekly basis to be eligible to participate in school-affiliated activities \u2014 a school could increase the eligibility requirement for its students to six classes, but lowering it to four would be an IHSA violation. In the same way, Anderson says schools can make it more<\/span> difficult for transgender students to participate on the sports teams that align with their gender, but not easier.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne could argue (the trans athlete policy) is slightly different,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cBut I think it reflects that our schools are empowered to make local decisions that are in their best interests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

About 100 miles northwest of Chicago, Dakota Community School District 201 is one Illinois institution that has recently taken the IHSA trans athlete policy into its own hands, restricting its students\u2019 rights beyond the governing body\u2019s guidelines. After a transgender Dakota student<\/span> sought<\/span><\/a> to join a team that matched their gender identity, the school district<\/span> updated<\/span><\/a> its sports participation policy to state that a student must compete \u201cconsistent with their biological sex assigned at birth\u201d because the alternative would result in \u201closs of athletic benefits and opportunities for other student athletes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Liszka was the only one of seven Dakota school board members to vote against the amendment to the policy, according to the<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/a> from the special meeting held for the vote in April. When contacted via email to discuss his decision, Liszka said he had no additional comments, pointing instead to the district\u2019s official statement that asserts the updated policy \u201cprovides for competition on a level playing field.\u201d However, a media representative from the Illinois Department of Human Rights said the Dakota policy could be a violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act, as public schools cannot deny students access to goods and services based on their gender. The family of the 14-year-old student has filed a <\/span>lawsuit<\/span><\/a> against the district.<\/span><\/p>\n

When schools do elevate trans athletes\u2019 requests to the IHSA, students are asked to present medical documentation \u2014 anything from counselor consultations to hormonal treatments\u00a0 \u2014 though medical intervention is not required for approval. Anderson says he originally conferred with medical experts when he began reviewing requests as executive director in 2015. Now, however, he generally makes judgments independently, saying he has gained knowledge of trans athletes in the IHSA over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting requests often, and fortunately, with the exception of a very small number, students have been meeting the policy and I\u2019ve been able to approve participation,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson said he authorized a record 16 requests during the 2021-22 school year, though he has denied some requests in the past. He explained that he may deny a request based on the submission of an athlete\u2019s \u201cgender identity-related advantages\u201d in sport, per the IHSA policy. He noted this is also another way for schools to counteract a student\u2019s request by presenting evidence against them. Anderson emphasizes the IHSA\u2019s policy allows students to appeal to the organization\u2019s board of directors if they disagree with his assessment. However, the 12-person board does not currently include any trans representatives or medical personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

But LGBTQ+ researcher Ricky Hill sees an opportunity in this policy. Hill serves as a research assistant professor at Northwestern University\u2019s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH). They have also collaborated with the Northwestern Medicine Gender Pathways Program, a task force that provides gender-confirming care. While their ISGMH work does not directly pertain to trans athletes, Hill grew up playing sports year-round and currently competes with the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association, one of the largest LGBTQ+ athletic organizations in the Midwest.<\/span><\/p>\n

One spring afternoon via Zoom, Hill looked the part of athlete-turned-academic, pairing a hoodie and backward baseball hat with their studious spectacles. They approach analysis of the IHSA policy in the same way, viewing it through a lens shaped by personal experience and professional expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think (about) flipping the frame in terms of, what are the advantages for this person to actually compete as themselves, as opposed to whatever fake trauma that people that are competing against them are going to be subjected to?\u201d Hill said. \u201cWe know that the biggest threat to trans people is cisgender people. It\u2019s not the other way around.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And the advantages Hill references are significant. It\u2019s widely known that sports can offer athletes long-lasting physical and mental health<\/span> benefits<\/span><\/a>. However, trans youth often miss out on these growth opportunities because of unwelcoming athletic environments. Trans and nonbinary youth who were more \u201cout\u201d about their gender identity were less involved in sports, according to<\/span> research<\/span><\/a> by The Trevor Project. In fact, this group was only about half as likely to report involvement in athletics compared with cisgender LGBQ youth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only by competing according to his assigned gender at birth is Mullen able to consistently access all that competitive rowing has to offer. He has committed to joining the women\u2019s crew team at the University of Virginia and hopes to use his future platform as a collegiate athlete to improve representation for trans rowers nationally through the<\/span> Transgender Rowers Association<\/span><\/a>, an organization he founded in 2021. If that sounds like a lot for a college first-year to take on, Mullen says it can come with the territory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve met other trans people who have kind of had this experience of feeling like they have to be everyone in order to be accounted as someone,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I must do everything that I can in order to be accounted as being capable of just doing something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While rowing results in shutting stimulants out, Mullen says writing puts him at peace. In his short story \u201cThe Moth,\u201d he explores the trans experience, ultimately unearthing a universal sentiment: \u201cShe was a mirror image of me. A mirror image of the person I could not bear to see myself become. It had become my duty to eat her, yet I could not bring myself to. I never wanted to hurt her. I never wanted to kill her. I never wanted her to be gone for good; I only ever wanted to be the better version of her. I only ever wanted her to be happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alyssa Haduck is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter at\u00a0@Alyssa_Haduck<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Haduck Medill Reports When rower Cillian Mullen competes, he tunes everything else out. From the first stroke of his oar on the water, the world falls away. He forgets about the river, the weather and the competition, settling into a focused zone and using all his energy to thrust backward and propel his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":101325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[675,31,5317],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-justice","category-sports","category-summer-2022"],"yoast_head":"\nAmid national attacks on trans athlete rights, Illinois policies can offer false sense of security - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illinois has established itself as a safe space for trans youth, but those opposed still have opportunities to keep students from sport.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amid national attacks on trans athlete rights, Illinois policies can offer false sense of security - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illinois has established itself as a safe space for trans youth, but those opposed still have opportunities to keep students from sport.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-31T16:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/Trans-athletes-feat-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"917\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alyssahaduck2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alyssahaduck2021\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/\",\"name\":\"Amid national attacks on trans athlete rights, Illinois policies can offer false sense of security - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/Trans-athletes-feat-image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-31T16:11:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/279bd84711770e8852f3a9fcd501d370\"},\"description\":\"Illinois has established itself as a safe space for trans youth, but those opposed still have opportunities to keep students from sport.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/trans-athletes-illinois\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/Trans-athletes-feat-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/Trans-athletes-feat-image.jpg\",\"width\":1225,\"height\":917,\"caption\":\"Illinois has established itself as a safe space for trans youth, but those opposed still have opportunities to keep students from sport. 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