• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

  • About
  • Books
  • Articles
    • Articles (single)
    • Articles (in series)
  • Audio/Video
    • Audio Interviews, Lectures, and Debates
    • Video Interviews and Lectures
    • Powerpoint Slides
  • Blog
    • Current Posts
    • Blog Archives
  • Podcasts
    • The Tentative Apologist Podcast
    • Archived Podcasts
    • Reviews

On Transgender Athletes

June 28, 2021 by Randal

This morning, I posted the following poll on Twitter:

Regarding transgender women competing as women in sport. This is not a flippant question: I'm quite serious. If LeBron James announced that she genuinely self-identified as a woman, should she be allowed to play in the WNBA?

— Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) June 28, 2021

One supporter of transgender athletes messaged me and complained that the scenario presented was “extreme”. I interpreted that to mean that this person was reluctant to say yes in this case but the person did not believe that justified a general ‘no’. To quote an old maxim, hard cases make bad law.

However, the very fact that one might be inclined to interpret this scenario as a hard case at all reveals a weakness in the pro-transgender sports position. Would it be a hard case to decide whether James should be allowed to play in the NBA? The answer, of course, is no: great athletes at the top of their game are welcome! But then, if self-identification with a gender is sufficient for one to be that gender then James self-identifying as a woman and wanting to play in the WNBA just is a case of a great athlete at the top of their game wanting to play in the appropriate league. It isn’t a hard case at all: rather, it’s a no-brainer.

Consequently, if one still does view this as a hard case, an “extreme” scenario, then that is indicative that one views the matter as more complex than simple self-identification.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: athletics, transgender

Footer

Against Malaria Foundation

Against Malaria Foundation

Support Kiva

Support Kiva

Search this website

Archives



Copyright © 2023 • Randal Rauser • A Steady Site