This hunky trans male swimmer is blowing conservative lies about athletes out of the water

[Behind the Aegis]

With 37 states considering bans to block transgender athletes from sports, trans male swimmer (and 2021 Queerties nominee) Schuyler Bailar is using his platform to destroy conservative lies about trans athletes.

Bailar, who was the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team, has shared his transition journey on TV shows like 60 Minutes and The Ellen Show. These days, he’s using his Instagram feed to post compelling, bite-size explainers on how right-wing hysteria over trans athletes is just old-fashioned misogyny and transphobia.

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In a March 26 video, he points out that most people don’t care about women’s sports until a trans woman wants to play. They don’t watch women’s sports on TV or in person, they don’t do anything to address the massive pay gap between men and women professional athletes or the huge difference in funding for boys’ and girls’ school sports. Nor do they do anything to stop the rampant sexual abuse and harassment that stops many girls from even competing in the first place.

So when people say it’s “unfair” for trans athletes to compete, because “they’re just protecting women’s sports and they just care about fairness,” he adds, their actions show that they aren’t actually doing to anything to promote fairness or ensure gender equality in sports.

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