For Alex Ann, 22, conversations on transgender women are in black and white.
“Trans women are women,” said Ann, who identifies himself as a non -binary trans person.
And with regard to trans women participating in female sports – a Deliver that the Trump administration was part of his political program Since the day of the inauguration – Ann said that trans women should have the same rights as cisgenres women.
“When you talk about what a woman is, well now, you are talking about checking if you are really a woman,” said Ann, a resident in southern Florida. “And the kind of violation that arises in itself” goes too far, “continued Ann.
Ann represents the views of just over a third of generation Z, or 36%, that trans women should be allowed to participate in female sports, according to the new NBC News remains Towned Poll,, Powered by Surveymonkey. This level of support, respondents aged 18 to 29, was the highest of all generics in the 19,682 American adult survey.
Overall, 1 in 4, or 25%, said they supported trans women participating in female sports in a question yes / no. The remaining 75% of American adults said they did not think that trans women should be allowed to participate in female sports.
Cecilia Pogue, a 21 -year -old student from Virginia, said that she thought that allowing Trans women to participate in female sports is at the expense of cisgenres women.
“We want people to feel comfortable in their skin, And we want them to have opportunities, but we must also make sure that we do not withdraw the majority opportunities to please the minority, “said Pogue.
Many Gen Zers who spoke with NBC News of the subject have discussed the complexity and nuances that surround it, such as the way in which the passage of male puberty or taking hormonal suppressors could affect the physical development of a trans woman.
“Many things could be corrected by having a separate chronicle for Trans Sports,” said Julian Miller, 22, from Texas. “Just like the way we separate men and women, we have to separate trans males and women trans to compete against each other. I know that there may not be a lot of competition at the start, but as sport develops, competition too.”
The survey revealed an important gender gap between young men and women on the issue. About 3 men Z in 4 (72%) say that transgender women should not be allowed to practice female sports, compared to about half of young women (56%).
Defenders of Trans women participating in female sports say that the marginal number of trans women participate in an elite level makes the subject a non-professional. In December, the president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, said that he was aware of less than 10 transgender athletes Out of more than 500,000 students in total of NCAA colleges, which would be equivalent to 0.002% of this student-athlete population.
“It’s really a distraction,” said Ann. “This is important, but it is not what is most important at the moment.”
Jay Baca, a 26 -year -old man who identifies himself as non -binary, noted that when trans men participate in male sports “nobody draws them.”
“This is always limited to patriarchy, sexism and transphobia,” said the native of Colorado.
But despite the criticisms and the relatively low number of people involved, it has undeniably become a political problem of hot button in recent years.
The detractors of trans women in female sports say that trans women have an unfair advantage over puberty because of their body composition. The differences in body mass, bone density and size that trans women can have, said Pogue, can create a “dangerous” environment.
“I don’t really want to play football against a person 6- (foot) -2 who has already crossed puberty and then changed late high school or at the start of the college,” she said.
Vito Milino, 22, from California, said that Trans women should not compete in “full or highly physical contact sports alongside cisgenres women”, but does not see any problems in other sports.
San Jose State University women’s volleyball program has become a flash point In the national conversation on trans-female sports and trans women, just like swimming, a contactless sport. In 2022, Lia Thomas entered history when she became the First transmitted woman To win an NCAA championship while competing for the women’s swimming team at Pennsylvania University. Thomas had spent the first two years of his collegial career in the male team of Penn.
In February, the NCAA modified its rules following a decree by President Donald Trump, the collegiate organization of athletics establishing a new policy which “limits competition in female sports with students assigned to birth.”
Then, Monday, the Trump administration said that Penn had violated laws that Equal protection guaranteed For women in sport by allowing a trans swimmer to compete in the school women’s team and in team facilities. The Department of Education had previously announced an investigation into the state of San Jose.
However, some medical experts warn against false ideas that fuel a large part of the dialogue around trans women in female sports.
“Trans women are people who want to participate in society as the genre they identify as – women,” said Bradley Anawalt, endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the University of Washington, which rejects the concept that trans women change for sports benefits.
“They do not undergo hormone therapy affirming sex to try to succeed in sports,” he said. “Gender affirmation therapy, hormone therapy is not easy. It requires visits to the doctor, blood tests and frequent doses of drugs that may include fire. ”
Regarding the body composition, he added: “The competitive advantage of elite male athletes begins with puberty when the concentrations of blood testosterone increase to adult male levels.”
Alithia Zamantakis, assistant professor at the Institute of Health and Well-being of Sexual Minorities and Gender from Northwestern University, considers the higher generation Z survey numbers to support trans women who compete in female sports compared to older demographic data as an indicator of a change in “society as a whole”.
“We can expect increasing support for transgender rights as myths and anti-trans” that rhetoric is demystified, “she said.
According to Lanae Erickson, vice-president of social policy, education and politics, absent from Lanae Erickson, vice-president of social policy, education and politics.
“Sports are fabulous means to learn all kinds of values-teamwork, perseverance and healthy habits,” she said. “And by simply saying that a whole class of people cannot participate in any sport at any level, it really goes against these values and is a real prejudice to this group of people.”
“We also need rules on participation in sports,” added Erickson.
“But I think that these rules should be established on the basis of equity and security, and not based on animus towards a certain group of people,” she continued.
This NBC News listening survey was fueled by Surveymonkey, the fast and intuitive comment management platform where 20 million questions are answered daily. He was led online from April 11 to 20 among a national sample of 19,682 adults aged 18 and over. The declared percentages exclude non-response from the elements and turn to the nearest percentage point. The estimated margin of error for this survey among all adults is more or less percentage.