Trans athlete researcher rejects open category proposal at conference, says most would 'quit their sport'

Earlier this month, a "Play the Game" conference was held in Finland that included a panel titled, "Who Has the Right to Compete? Exploring the Inclusion of Transgender Athletes in Sport."

The panel featured five speakers representing both sides of the controversial matter, including Joanna Marie Harper, a transgender professor at Western University in Canada.

Jon Pike, a philosophy professor at The Open University in England, argued that an open category should be created for transgender athletes to avoid any potential unfairness from biological males competing against girls and women.

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Opponents of a bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's sports react to the passing of the bill after a vote by members of the Nassau County Legislature on June 24, 2024. (Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Harper, though, was not a fan of the idea, because "99%" of the open category "will be…cisgender male."

"And so what you are asking is for trans women to compete in a category which is virtually entirely cis men, and just call it an open category. Most trans women, myself included, would rather quit their sport than to compete in such a category," Harper said.

In a 2015 op-ed for The Washington Post, Harper wrote, "Science provides a clear explanation for why, in many sports, trans women don’t maintain any athletic advantage," citing hormone therapy and personal experiences.

Transgender athlete supporters hold up signs as an overflow crowd converges outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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"By 2005, when I was racing in the women’s category, the difference was astounding. I finished one 10K in 42:01 — almost a full five minutes slower than I’d run the same course two years earlier as a man," Harper wrote.

Harper added that trans women could have advantages in sprinting and basketball due to muscle mass and already-garnered height, but may actually have disadvantages in distance running and gymnastics for those same reasons.

"For those who suggest trans women have advantages: we allow advantages in sport, but what we don’t allow is overwhelming advantages," Harper told Outsports in 2021. "Trans women also have disadvantages in sport. Our larger bodies are being powered by reduced muscle mass and reduced aerobic capacity, and can lead to disadvantages in quickness, recovery and a number of other factors.

"The bottom line is, we can have meaningful competition between trans women and cis women. From my point of the view, the data looks favorable toward trans women being allowed to compete in women’s sports."

Transgender athlete supporter Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside holds the progress  pride flag as "Save Girls Sports" supporters Lori Lopez and her dad Pete Pickering, both of Riverside, listen to the debate as they join the overflow crowd converging outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Twenty-nine states currently have restrictions on transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February that prohibited biological males from competing against biological females.

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