The inclusion of transgender athletes, specifically whether trans women and girls should be allowed to compete in women’s sports has spurred a fervent debate in U.S. sports.
In a recently published chapter for the anthology How To Watch Sports (NYU Press, 2026), Mia Fischer, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, analyzes media coverage as well as sports associations’ and law makers’ responses to Lia Thomas’s success during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s 2021–2022 swimming season.
Dr. Fischer highlights how transphobia, (cis)sexism, and racism undergird much of the current debate and points to the harms of exclusionary frameworks that reinforce sex segregation in sports. This topic is particularly timely, as two anti-transgender initiates, Proposition 134 and 135, focused on sports and gender-affirming care, are on Colorado's ballot in November.
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