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Joe Anderson is a board-certified pediatrician and is the advocacy chair for the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Brian Youth is a board-certified pediatrician and serves as the president of the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Anne Coates is a board-certified pediatric pulmonologist and serves as the vice president of the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
We’ve spent our careers listening to children and families. We’ve heard their dreams and anxieties, their triumphs and vulnerabilities. If you ask any pediatrician about the most important aspects of our job, we’ll tell you that our job isn’t just to keep kids healthy. It’s to make sure they know they matter.
That’s why we’re deeply concerned about legislation here in Maine that would ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ school sports. Supporters of these bills often invoke concerns about fairness. And we understand why. Fairness is a value we all care about. It’s what makes sports meaningful in the first place: Every player giving their best, every team playing by the rules and every child having a chance to participate.
But when we take a closer look, this legislation doesn’t ensure fairness in school sports. It just makes them more exclusive.
The reality we see is that transgender youth are not trying to dominate girls’ sports. They’re simply trying to play. To belong. To experience the same joy, discipline and camaraderie that sports offer all children. Most of these young people aren’t competing for trophies or college scholarships. They just want to run, jump, swim and feel part of a team.
There’s a perception, amplified by headlines and social media, that trans girls have an inherent and overwhelming advantage in athletics. But that perception doesn’t align with reality. Competitive advantage in youth sports can be shaped by countless factors: access to coaching, family income, early training and, yes, sometimes biology. But to assume that all (or even most) transgender girls participating in sports have a biological advantage over cisgendered girls would be an incorrect generalization.
Banning a group of children from sports because of who they are is not about ensuring fairness. It’s about drawing a line of exclusion. And for trans youth, who already face significantly higher rates of bullying, depression and suicide, being told they don’t belong can have serious consequences for their health and well-being.
As physicians, we are trained to understand nuance, to weigh evidence and to consider the full context of a child’s life. We don’t make blanket assumptions about our patients. We meet them where they are. This is the same approach we should take with policies that affect kids, especially policies as personal as whether they’re allowed to participate in a sport with their peers.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, along with nearly every major medical and mental health organization in the country, supports inclusive policies that affirm the identities of transgender youth. Because for children, inclusion is protective. It builds resilience. It saves lives.
We understand that some parents feel uncertain about this issue. They want to protect opportunities for their daughters, and they worry that inclusion might come at a cost. But the truth is, we don’t have to choose between fairness and compassion. We can protect the integrity of girls’ sports while also ensuring that no child is left behind. These are not competing values; they’re shared goals.
We all want a world where our kids are safe, seen and supported. We believe that world begins when we replace fear with empathy, and when we trust that inclusion doesn’t diminish us, but in fact, it makes us stronger.
Let’s not lose sight of what youth sports are really about: teamwork, resilience and building a foundation for an active and healthy life. These are lessons every child deserves to learn, regardless of gender identity.
If we lead with empathy and listen with open hearts, we can find solutions to address this issue in a manner that reflects our shared values. Not just fairness, but kindness. Not just rules, but relationships. That’s how we build a future where every child has the chance to thrive.
