The COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympic Games are hogging all available bandwidth today so I hope you’ll indulge me an Olympic-inspired essay. It only happens every four years or so. 

Remember back in March when NJ Senator Mike Testa (R-Vineland) sponsored a bill to ban transgender athletes from high school and college sports in New Jersey?

“I think that allowing transgender athletes to compete against genetic females really flies in the face of fairness and in the plain and unambiguous language of Title IX,” Senator Testa opined, with scant evidence, while citing the landmark 1970’s-era law that bans gender discrimination in schools receiving federal funding.

Christian Fuscarino leads Garden State Equality. He’s good for a quote whenever GOP lawmakers say predictable things about LGBTQs.

“Transgender kids want the opportunity to play sports for the same reason that other kids do, to be a part of a team and to feel like they belong,” Fuscarino said. “We shouldn’t be discriminating against kids simply because they’re transgender.”

Senator Testa’s anti-LGBTQ bill is going nowhere fast in the New Jersey legislature meaning it was always purely symbolism from Testa, a MAGA standard-bearer in a state that rejected Donald Trump by a large margin.

Meanwhile, we’re over halfway through the Tokyo Olympics and so far there’s zero evidence that transgender athletes have an unfair biological advantage over their non-trans cohorts. NBC (et al) will broadcast thousands of hours of Olympic coverage and you won’t hear a single example to bolster the claims of right wing politicians who seemed to have found a convenient target in transgender kids.

Any anti-trans bill was always gonna be DOA in Trenton. But still, Testa’s bill reinforces the nastiest of all anti-trans stereotypes, namely that transgender folk are somehow a threat to your kids, in this case to your daughter’s college scholarship. Fear-mongering that trans female athletes unfairly hoard athletic opportunities and college scholarships at the expense of (non-trans) female athlete is a fiction that harms LGBTQ kids who happen to like sports.

It’s a trend. Idaho and Mississippi passed into law legislation similar to Testa’s bill. Meanwhile, dozens of states have similar bills in the pipeline.

The Olympics are proof that new laws aimed at transgender athletes are an ill-advised  solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. And that’s a great opportunity to remind the world that right-wing politicians aren’t done feasting on anti-LGBTQ bigotry. Policing transgender athletes is merely the latest GOP salvo of their endless, grievance-fueled culture war.

Exhausting, isn’t it?

Tokyo 202ONE

New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard is a transgender Olympian competing in Tokyo in the women’s 87+ kilogram weightlifting competition. Many sports (weightlifting, boxing, judo et al ) sort athletes by weight class to level the playing field. So unlike the (amazon versus pixie) image painted by conservatives, Ms. Hubbard only competes with athletes her own size.

In the end, Ms. Hubbard’s Olympic debut was short lived. After faltering on her first three attempts, Ms Hubbard was eliminated from competition in the first found. She went on to finish in last place, dispelling the myth that transgender women possess some immutable athletic edge over their non-trans cohorts.

“As we move into a new and more understanding world, people are starting to realize that people like me are just people,” Ms. Hubbard said afterwards.

Not soon enough, honestly.

“Ahead of  Germany”

More optimistically, these Olympics spotlight the 175 Queer Olympians who are thriving in Tokyo.

If all 175 (or so) openly Queer athletes in Tokyo comprised its own squad, they’d land inside the top 10 on the medal standings.

According to Outsports, halfway though these Olympics, “Currently Team LGBTQ ranks 8th overall, just ahead of Germany. Rankings are determined by: 1) gold medals; 2) silver medals; 3) bronze medals; 4) total medals.”

Let that sink in for a minute.

LGBTQ Olympians have won 7 gold medals in Tokyo. This includes a thrilling performance by Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas who obliterated the triple jump world record on her way to gold over the weekend.

“These (LGBTQ) athletes know firsthand the benefit of being able to play the sport you love in school–and now win in that sport on the world’s stage,” Fuscarino told InsiderNJ. “At a time when conservative politicians all across the United States–even here in New Jersey–are proposing legislation to ban trans girls from playing sports, the LGBTQ athletes competing in the Olympics are shinning a bright light on that dark, hateful, and misinformed position.”

Gayest MVP

My dad was a career Marine so we moved around a lot. We landed in Maryland (from South Carolina) in 1984 during the most awkward phase of my life. For me it was huge hideous glasses, braces with headgear, and a conspicuously gay southern drawl.

But I excelled at sports. Usually, that was the only place I fit in. My parents encouraged sports for many reasons, mostly because it was a form of daycare that left me tired and less hyperactive. They tried hard to bury their heads about me being gay but on some level but they always knew.

And they knew being good at sports would help their son in a world still hostile to gay people.

I lament that my favorite sport, volleyball, didn’t have a boys team at my high school. But I played varsity tennis and soccer instead. I was decent on the soccer field and shined brightest on the tennis court earning MVP- and all conference honors. So I was good but also very lucky to have coaches who nurtured me at an age when I was pushing boundaries and still working out the whole “I’m gay!” thing.

My needs changed a lot in those four years. I mostly lost as a freshman and needed a coach who was generous with technical and strategic advice. My MVP years were different. I had a game plan by then. I just needed someone to keep me focused and confident, someone to ask “are you ok?” from time to time.

Mike Buonviri knew I was gay but he always had my back. And he never balked when I insisted on neon pink togs for senior year. (see pic.)

“Have fun out there,” Coach B always said. “And don’t forget to kick his ass!”

Every kid should have a coach like that. Every kid should have opportunities like that.

The support and camaraderie I found in high school sports filled a huge void in my life. Those days remain some of the best memories of my lifetime. And I feel rage (and some sadness) that GOP lawmakers all over America want to deprive transgender kids the vey same opportunities that helped me to thrive.

Jay Lassiter is an award winning writer and podcaster living in Cherry Hill. An achilles rupture ended his tennis playing days back in 2001. A brief comeback was aborted in 2004 after rupturing the *other achilles.