To Trans and Nonbinary Youth: You Belong in Sports
posted on June 30th, 2026
Today, the Supreme Court denied transgender youth athletes equal protection under the law. Laws that ban trans participation in youth sports have already increased the harassment and policing of young athletes who may not conform to gendered expectations, regardless of whether or not they are transgender. This ruling will exacerbate those harms. Today’s ruling tells trans and nonbinary youth (and adults) that belonging in community through a commonality like sports requires denying who you are. By denying trans people the equal protection of law, the Supreme Court has signaled that further alienation and attempts at elimination of trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals is sanctioned by law. We can expect further legislative and social violence and animosity against queer and trans people as a result of today’s ruling.
Queer people have always faced persecution and backlash. Indeed, the history of Pride is the history of our community fighting back against social and politically-motivated hatred and bigotry. Historically, our fight for equality has often excluded and overlooked our trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming siblings, and that exclusion has come with a heavy price as we’ve seen increases across the country of anti-trans vitriol, including from some within our own community. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to emphasize that trans people are integral to Pride, to our history, and to our progress.
Our community is all too familiar with the nature of the Supreme Court’s treatment. We come from a long line of losses before cases like Lawrence, Windsor, Obergefell, and Bostock. Taking lessons from our history, we must continue to fight and show up for each other in our city halls, in our neighborhoods, our schools, our Legislatures, and beyond until the wrong of this case lies in the dustbin of history. And it will be difficult. The last several Supreme Court terms have done little to aid the fight of trans individuals seeking community, care, and belonging. But, as the author Larry Mitchell wrote in his fantasia that imagined a utopia of queerness, “We will get our asses kicked, but we will win.”
Queer Run’s message to trans youth remains steadfast: You belong in sports. You belong here. The Supreme Court cannot take away your right to exist by simply ignoring the long history of trans existence and resistance. We echo the voices of advocates, allies, and other athletes that all transgender athletes deserve the opportunity to compete in the sports they love.
Help Queer Run support trans athletes. Here are three actions you can take today, whether you’re a trans athlete or an ally:
1. Trans and nonbinary friends: Share your story with us
Sports are about more than finish times and medals. They are places where people find confidence, friendship, purpose, and belonging. Share your story, photos, videos, or reflections about how sports have impacted your life. We'll amplify selected stories to help remind trans youth that they are not alone and that there is a place for them in sports:
2. Sign our open letter
Stand with us in our push to get the Philadelphia Marathon and city of Philadelphia to address inequity for nonbinary runners. Help us make local change in the ever-growing anti-trans landscape in sports.
3. Donate to Queer Run to support our scholarship fund to get more trans and nonbinary runners to race starting lines
Now more than ever, access and representation matter. Help us get trans and nonbinary athletes to races, barrier-free.