Some 471 anti-LGBTQ bills, many of which target transgender rights, have been introduced in state legislatures across the United State since the start of the year.
"For me, sports absolutely saved my life," Bailar said."They gave me life, and I think that every kid has a right to access that type of connection with their body and with their peers." "The driving way that people are trying to exclude is by focusing on trans women and trans girls. Lia Thomas, for example, received only hatred and vitriol from the media, which I think was really devastating to see, even though she did have support from her coach and from some of her teammates," he said."So there's a discrepant difference between that. Even though people are saying it's about saving women's sports, they're actually excluding women.
"Transgender people don't transition in order to win, or even in order to play sports. We happened to also be athletes. We transition to live," Bailar said."Now, if you are afraid of a man pretending to be a woman in order to win women's sports, who are you afraid of? You're afraid of men — toxic, cis men, who are abusing their power. You're not actually afraid of trans women.