The so-called “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” by six Republican sponsors in Delaware, attempts to uphold toxic masculinity in athletics through notions of patriarchal femininity that are detrimental to every person regardless of their gender.

Following the theme of 75 pieces of copycat anti-trans legislation, Delaware’s bill institutionalizes transmisogyny and anti-Black racism by disguising itself as a ‘savior’ of womanhood, in its attempt to ban trans girls and femme athletes from their right to play sports.

Along with normalizing the tendency to treat trans folks as disposable by dismissing their right to live and play, this fear-mongering comes without any evidence to back it: “There is no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals (or male individuals) have an athletic advantage at any stage of their transition,” according to a Sports Medicine journal reviewing 8 research studies and 31 sport policies.

These anti-trans bills are against science: they carry on the institutional erasure of intersex people through their unscientific and baseless claims about dividing young athletes in line with a ‘sex binary’ that has never existed.

The arguments upholding differences based on “biological sex” fall apart the more you dig into the details of how genes, gonads, and hormones keep sex subject to change: “The truth is, your biological sex isn’t carved in stone, but a living system with the potential for change,” Neurobiologist Dr. Simón(e) D Sun writes in the Scientific American.

Delaware’s bill gives cisgender students the power to demand ‘compensation’ for playing with their transgender peers, and to get “relief” for “damages” from a school that calls out transphobia and attempts to create a safe space for trans athletes.

It will also let cisgender students sue schools that allows trans athletes to participate; gives schools the power to sue if their team competes with a team that has trans athletes; and safeguards anti-trans policies by not allowing government entities to challenge the ban.

As of March 31st, 13 states have banned trans athletes from playing sports in the United States.

DE SB 227 was introduced and assigned to committee on 11th February, 2022.