Engendering Trans Inclusion in Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Athletics: A Critical Analysis of Sex and Gender in Sports, Title IX Protections post-Bostock, and Intersectional Methods of Antidiscrimination Law

Following the legalization of gay marriage by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and the failure of so-called “bathroom bills” to gain widespread traction across the country, conservative advocacy groups have turned to the arena of locker rooms and school-sponsored sports to pursue legislative and legal action against the inclusion of transgender people in spaces according to their gender identities. This thesis takes up legal challenges presented in Hecox v. Little and Soule v. Connecticut in order to (re)articulate the means by which we understand the language of sex and gender in sports, the protections afforded to trans student-athletes under Title IX post-Bostock v. Clayton County, and the ability for antidiscrimination law to provide meaningful change for trans people. In doing so, this project points toward intersectional, prescriptive methods of antidiscrimination law in order to attend to the ways in which discrimination and oppression operate in multifaceted ways, inside and outside the context of sports. Title IX offers a unique opportunity to adopt an intersectional, prescriptive method of interpreting “sex discrimination,” a method that could uncover new possibilities for what equity looks like in education and athletics