Thanks so much for sharing all this. It's fascinating! As a former endurance athlete who used to compete against women (and "lose" to them) all the time, I get it in my bones.

I'd just like to add that part of the tragedy of excluding trans people from sport is that lots of people don't care care about issues of fairness the way they claim to.

I'm thinking about an ongoing controversy in West Virginia where a group of cisgender middle school girls refused to compete against a 13-year-old transgender girl and have been temporarily suspended from school sport in consequence.

This is about middle school track and field, and the event is the shot put.

The transgender girl in question socially transitioned at the age of 7 or 8, is 13 years old, is on puberty blockers, and has not undergone either male or female puberty.

Whatever one could say about gendered advantage could not possibly apply to her compared to her competitors, many of whom are bigger and stronger than she is.

Yet they refuse to compete against her, at the instigation of their outraged parents and coaches.

That tells a tale, doesn't it?

Often, the problem is not about fairness, as in this case where no fairness issues present. It's just about hating trans people.