Jazz Jennings Source: Jazz Jennings / Twitter

Jazz Jennings Tweets About Anti-Trans Sports Bans, Shares Personal Story

Kevin Schattenkirk READ TIME: 1 MIN.

Social media influencer and reality star Jazz Jennings shared a social media post about the "devastating" impact of banning transgender girls, like herself, from participating in sports.

Jennings wrote, "when I was 8 years old, I was banned from playing girls soccer for over two years. The ban made me feel excluded, had no merit and negatively affected me and my family."

She continued: "Me and my family were devastated, but after 2+ years trans inclusive policy was created.

"People argue that transgender women have competitive advantages. This is not true. My personal experiences and many statistics prove this.

"Today in 30+ states, including Florida, they are trying to ban transgender people in sports. These bills are discriminatory, increase exclusion, and have no merit."

Jennings' post comes on the heels of South Dakota governor Kristi Noem ordering a ban on transgender girls playing on girls' sports teams. Elsewhere in the U.S., governors in Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as the House in West Virginia, have passed laws banning transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams.

Jennings' tweet also includes a clip from "I Am Jazz" in which her father, fighting back tears, reading an email he wrote to an official at the time his 8-year-old daughter was banned from playing on a travel soccer team when she was younger. Her father emotionally implores the official to reconsider.


by Kevin Schattenkirk

Kevin Schattenkirk is an ethnomusicologist and pop music aficionado.

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