The following piece is an opinion and does not reflect the views of The Eagle and its staff. All opinions are edited for grammar, style and argument structure and fact-checked, but the opinions are the writer’s own.
Throughout the country, conservatives have begun pushing yet another harmful narrative. The phrase “protect girls’ sports” has become a talking point for many Republican candidates and lawmakers. Yet, they do not care about women’s sports in the slightest, and their platforms and votes prove it.
Protecting girls’ sports has become coded language for curtailing the rights of transgender minors. If Republicans truly cared about women’s and girls’ sports, they would devote more energy to funding sports at all levels, upholding the mandates of Title IX and allocating resources to women’s health research. Instead, they inflate statistics about transgender students in sports, exaggerate the prevalence of negative incidents and fear-monger in the name of taking the rights of children away.
For example, in the 2025 gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, protecting girls’ sports was a common talking point for Republican candidates and supporters alike. The current Virginia lieutenant governor and Republican gubernatorial nominee, Winsome Earle-Sears, made transgender policies in schools a main point of her campaign that ended in a loss by over 15 percentage points.
In early September, Earle-Sears authored an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled “Turn back girls’ rights for equality? Let’s use common sense.” The piece reflected her campaign trail rhetoric: exaggerating incidents that happened involving transgender students throughout the commonwealth’s public schools and the claim that “children across the United States deserve support from every level of government to uphold their rights in the face of those who would turn back decades of gains for women’s rights in the name of transgender equality.”
When it comes to sports, specifically, Earle-Sears has supported legislation from Governor Glenn Youngkin that would keep transgender women out of women’s sports in the commonwealth’s public schools. Again, this legislation inflates infrequent incidents in schools and serves to fear-monger rather than help young athletes.
Throughout the country, millions of girls play school sports; however, only around seven percent of these athletes go on to compete in the NCAA. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that most female athletes at the high school level participate in their sport recreationally, with no direct effects on their futures.
Research shows that participating in school sports is linked with many positive outcomes, including improved problem-solving skills, increased confidence and a decrease in stress. When transgender teens — who are already 3 to 13 times more likely to experience mental health issues than their cisgender counterparts — are taken out of sports, their mental health will likely worsen. This puts already vulnerable populations at an even greater risk.
While figures around the exact number of transgender girls in high school sports are not readily available, 2023 estimates show that, within the 13-17 year-old population, just half a percent identify as transgender. Thus, the prevalence of transgender girls in high school sports is extremely low.
Yet, Republican lawmakers and voters continue to make a mountain out of this molehill while ignoring and even proliferating actual issues that negatively impact girls’ sports. National Republican leaders have led the charge in attempting to weaken Title IX and, on the statewide level, many have voted to cut critical funding that allows girls’ sports to flourish.
Research shows that women’s health access and research are critical components in girls’ success in sports. Yet, Republican lawmakers like Earle-Sears have supported President Donald Trump’s cuts to healthcare access that will negatively impact millions of women and girls.
If Earle-Sears and her Republican colleagues actually cared about girls’ sports, they would take action to ensure they flourish. From their track records, it is easy to see that all they really care about is attacking transgender minors and turning them into monsters within the broader Republican zeitgeist.
As young adults, many of us have known the value of sport, and even more of us know the value of voting. We cannot be fooled by these false claims and we cannot let lawmakers who spew this harmful rhetoric have a place in our government. To anyone reading, I urge you to keep this in mind ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Most of the transgender athletes who will fall under attack in the coming years are minors who are already at an increased risk due to their identity. We all need to do our part to protect these children and vote out officials who think it’s okay to exploit them for political gain.
Everyone belongs in sports; transgender people are not a threat; and Republicans do not care about girls’ sports because, quite frankly, it is obvious that they do not care about women or girls at all.
Addie DiPaolo is a senior in the School of Public Affairs and a columnist for The Eagle.
This article was edited by Quinn Volpe, Alana Parker and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Arin Burrell, Paige Caron and Andrew Kummeth. Fact-checking done by Aidan Crowe.
