As of January 2026, at least half of U.S. states have laws barring transgender student-athletes from participating in school sports under the guise of competitive fairness.
Advocates of sports equity show that there are no competitive advantages — especially among pre-pubescent children and teens — for athletes who identify as trans.
Yet discriminatory laws have led to lower sports participation among young trans athletes — and have become a catalyst for harassment and intimidation of trans youth, who make up 1.4% of young people ages 13 to 17 in the U.S.
And these negative consequences can impact even the most “junior” of leagues.
Portland Community Football Club founder Kaig Lightner, a 44-year-old trans man, organizes youth soccer teams based on skill level, instead of sex or gender.
“When looking at this particular way of structuring sports, the kids themselves let go of the binary ideas of how girls play and how boys play,” the Oregon-based coach told The Guardian.
“I’ve had boys say to me, ‘I thought girls couldn’t play soccer, until I started playing here.’”
One PCFC parent told The Guardian that it was a life-saver for his trans daughter, who was originally told she’d have to join a boy’s league if she wanted to lace up her cleats.
PCFC offered her a safe spot on the team — and a jersey with a Pride flag on it.
“During her first soccer game she couldn’t even really run normally because she was squealing and skipping with joy down the field,” the parent said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”
PCFC welcomes players ages six to 18, so long as they promise to accept their fellow teammates.
The organization is also dedicated to making sports more financially accessible to all young people, moving away from a “pay-to-play” model and instead getting support from partner organizations at the local and national level.
“Too often, youth and families are forced to step away from organized and competitive sports because of the high costs associated with the pay-to-play model,” PCFC shares on its website. “This system hinders progress toward creating more accessible, diverse, and inclusive spaces when young people and their families are unable to participate.”
The club also offers “wrap-around” services, including a food pantry, language translation services, and rides to practice.
“Success grows when access is open, belonging is universal, and opportunities are shared,” PCFC’s website concluded.
By inviting diverse players into one space, experts say, PCFC makes a real, positive difference.
“When sports put together these positive relationships that help make us feel safe and practice being stressed but being able to deal with that stress, you’re truly building resilience in the biological definition of resilience,” said Megan Bartlett, founder of the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport, and an expert in trauma recovery among children.
“In this country … making sports more accessible to these groups is a public health imperative.”
The kids playing sports don’t realize how vital it is — they are simply delighted to have a place where they can be themselves, trust their bodies, and run free.
“When we signed her up, nobody batted an eye. It felt normal,” the PCFC parent said. “And on the field, she’s just a kid who gets to be on a soccer team, who gets to play soccer with other kids.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2025 Sports Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image courtesy of Portland Community Football Club
