Gender nonbinary athletes and sport participation: Perspectives of high school coaches and athletic directors

ABSTRACT

Students who identify as gender nonbinary may be victimized by peers as well as school teachers, staff, and administration [Perez, E. R., Schanding Jr, G. T., & Dao, T. K. (2013). Educators’ perceptions in addressing bullying of LGBTQ/gender nonconforming youth. Journal of School Violence, 12(1), 64–79.]. We gained an understanding of how coaches and athletic directors perceive gender nonbinary athletes and their sports team participation by recruiting a sample of NJ high school coaches and athletic directors to complete an online survey. Participants read a hypothetical vignette about an athlete who identifies as gender nonbinary. Half read a vignette about that athlete who wants to join their team and half read about an athlete joining the opposing team. Participants then rated their agreement to statements about the athlete’s sport participation. Findings are relevant, as many coaches’ and athletic directors’ perspectives do not align with current policies, which may have implications for the education and training of high school teachers and staff, and the opportunities for gender nonbinary high school athletes.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBTQ+
• gender identity
• gender nonbinary
• high school sports
• gender diversity
• transgender
• inclusion
• mental health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).