Assessing Transgender Athletes and School Sport Policies: Radical Ethics and Critical Dialogues

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Difference: Radical Ethical Frameworks for Social Justice in Education (Table 1)

Abstract

Should states limit curricular inclusion of LGBTQ students and families for young kids (see Diaz, 2022 regarding Florida law)? Should schools disallow same-sex couples from attending school dances together (see Coble, 2015 describing deviations from the law that upholds same-sex couples’ rights to attend school dances as couples)? Should trans athletes be allowed to participate in school sports according to their gender identities? How might communities ethically deliberate contemporary U.S. educational questions around a myriad of LGBTQ+ school policies (Associated Press, 2022)? This paper brings the radical ethics of Habermas’s (1985a, 1985b) Critical Theory to bear on contemporary U.S. policy discourse around trans athletes’ participation in school sports. The paper begins by introducing the ethical and moral principles of Habermas’s critical theory—particularly his discourse ethics which point out the underlying principles of ethical deliberation. The radical nature of Habermas’s ethics involves a recognition of “the other” as worthy and valid in their own rights. Such radical openness to others has the potential of transforming us toward what is better (Habermas, 1997). Habermas’s conception of the good life involves harmonious coordination with others through a sincere desire to understand one another. This sincere desire is put into practice through principles of inclusion, equity, and openness, with a particular concern for those most affected by the outcomes of the ethical deliberations/practices. Habermas articulated procedural principles to guide ethical deliberations, but these guidelines also serve as anchors for how to think about the ethical questions being deliberated and they supply the means for critiquing the ethical outcomes of such deliberations. Habermas’s approach asks participants to enter the deliberations without an outcome predetermined. When an individual’s conception of the good life necessitates an awareness and orientation toward what is good for “others,” ethics converges with the moral point of view through what is just: the good life as synonymous with just living (Habermas, 1993).
In the debate around whether or not to allow trans athletes to participate in school sports according to their gender identities, the perspectives of trans athletes are often positioned as in opposition to the other athletes in the school who are easily participating in school sports according to their gender identities. The perspectives and voices included in the policy making do not reflect the values of those who stand to be most affected by the outcomes of the policy deliberations. This paper will use Habermas’s radical discourse ethics to examine the policy debates around whether or not transgender participation in school sports.

Author

• Barbara Dennis, Indiana University
  Presenting Author