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51 U. Rich. L. Rev. 637 (2016-2017)
Uniform Rules: Addressing the Disparate Rules That Deny Student-Athletes the Opportunity to Participate in Sports according to Gender Identity

handle is hein.journals/urich51 and id is 659 raw text is: UNIFORM RULES: ADDRESSING THE DISPARATE RULES THAT DENY STUDENT-ATHLETES THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN SPORTS ACCORDING TO GENDER IDENTITY INTRODUCTION Grade-school and college playing fields have long been segre- gated on the basis of sex. For decades, male and female students were afforded the opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletic competitions on teams determined by their biological gender. Recently, an increasing number of high school- and col- lege-aged [students are publicly] identifying as transgender (or trans), meaning that their internal sense of their gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth.1 The emergence of openly transgender students in grade schools and colleges, in general, has resulted in vastly disparate rules prom- ulgated by school districts to address how transgender individu- als fit into the traditional operation of the education system.2 For the states that have enacted policies that address transgender students' participation in interscholastic athletics, the guidance varies widely, and some states' policies are so discriminatory that they effectively deny transgender students' participation on their schools' sports teams. While the issue of transgender individuals' participation in sports has not been the most visible issue con- 1. Pat Griffin & Helen J. Carroll, On the Team: Equal Opportunity for Transgender Student Athletes, NCLR (Oct. 4, 2010), http://www.wiaa.comConDocs/Con550/Transgend erStudentAthleteReport.pdf. 2. See, e.g., Emanuella Grinberg, Bathroom Access for Transgender Teen Divides Missouri Town, CNN (Sept. 5, 2015, 3:37 PM), http://www.cnn.com2015/09/03/living/miss ouri-transgender-teen-feat/ (addressing a Missouri town's reaction to a transgender stu- dent's use of the bathroom and locker room that conformed with the student's gender- identity); Ed Payne & John Newsome, US: Illinois Transgender Student Must Get Ful Locker Room Access, CNN (Nov. 3, 2015, 6:21 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/us/illin ois-school-district-transgender-ruling (discussing Illinois resolution to allow a trans- gender teen to use the locker room according to his gender identity for mandatory physical education class); Gabrielle Sorto, Students Protest Growing over Gender-Equal Dress Codes, CNN (Feb. 25, 2016, 12:43 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/living/dress-code- protests-irpt/ (discussing student reactions to protest a school board's decision not to revise a decades-old dress code that may violate state gender-rights law).