The president of the NCAA knows of 10 transgender college athletes nationwide, so how many does that leave in Maine? Further, there’s no extensive documentation of trans athletes in high schools because they are very few and far between. On top of this, evidence surrounding an advantage is inconclusive, and has been wildly sensationalized under the thinly veiled claim of “fairness.” So why, over a handful of transgender athletes, would President Trump withhold funding, unless Maine adopts policy more exclusionary than the Olympic guidelines?

The answer is that it was never about sports. Trans youth face suicide rates multiple times those of the general population which, alongside anti-trans hate crimes, have drastically risen following increased anti-trans legislation. Trump selects groups like mine that are already embroiled in oppression because he knows we lack the resources to respond. By turning our neighbors against us, his destructive economic policy that harms the working and middle class will continue to slide under the radar.

I am a young trans woman, and I can’t help but be disgusted by my fellow Mainers, who happily join Republicans in obsessing over the bodies of trans youth, and who celebrate the pervasive collection of executive orders challenging our right to publicly exist.

I wonder if Mainers, who have joined this obsession, rest easy knowing that although the price of groceries continues to rise, and Trump prepares to cut health care for billionaire tax cuts, that at least they can bank on trans youth to be thrown under the bus.

June Meuser
Portland