Opening a Policy Window: Elite Rhetoric and Transgender Athlete Bans

• In Event: Diversity and Inequality

Abstract

Over 40 states have proposed legislation meant to ban transgender athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity since 2020. Recent studies on LGBTQ policy suggest that the motivation for these bills may originate from politically influential elites who have, over time, made a concerted effort to pass policies that restrict gay and transgender rights. Mobilized elites hail from conservative religious groups and are prominent political influencers. How were mobilized elites able to influence the policy making process and open a policy window that allowed transgender athlete bans to proliferate across state legislatures?

This research maps the rhetoric used by anti-LGBTQ elites and links that rhetoric to the arguments used in state legislative debates. We use thematic coding to analyze press releases, policy briefs, and campaign advertisements produced by anti-LGBTQ organizations before and after bills began to pass state legislatures. We then compare elite rhetoric to the arguments used in support of transgender athlete bans in committee and chamber testimony in state legislatures. We note explicit themes (fairness to women), as well as those that were subtler and/or implicit (simplicity of the bills).

Author

• Kimberly Martin, Georgia Southern University