Transgender athletes have taken 2,293 championship spots from biological women, new research finds
South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham speaks at a Capitol Hill news conference, warning about the physical dangers and unfairness of allowing biological males to compete in women's sports. Graham highlights the safety risks for female athletes, citing a severe injury in North Carolina.
So ... it's rare, right?
That's the argument certain activists keep making when it comes to the debate about trans athletes in female sports.
It's not a great position, frankly — because if something is wrong, it doesn't matter how rare it is. It should be stopped, assuming doing so doesn't trigger undue consequences.
Riley Gaines, Sophie Cunningham, and XX-XY Athletics founder Jen Sey pose courtside after an Indiana Fever game with a sign thanking Cunningham. (Riley Gaines/XX-XY Athletics)
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But new data suggests that this "uncommon" occurrence isn't so uncommon after all. Recent research from the Concerned Women of America found that transgender athletes have bumped biological women out of 2,293 championship spots since the mid-1980s. This is far different than simply noting the number of transgender athletes in sports. This is pointing out how many biological females would have won a specific honor if not for the trans athlete that took it.
For the report, the think tank drew on information compiled by HeCheated.org, a volunteer-operated database that tracks reported instances of trans athletes competing in women's sports. In total, it found that they have partaken in more than 14,000 female sporting events ranging from high school to college to amateur to professional.
The HeCheated.org list is extensive. The first page alone has 200 instances ranging from March 27, 2025, to September 18, 2026. It shows examples of biological males making league All-Star teams in high school lacrosse, or winning high school state championships in track and field in Washington, California and Oregon, or earning All-conference recognition in college fencing. There were also a couple of examples of trans athletes receiving "most improved" awards.
Trans athlete AB Hernandez swept jumping events at CIF Division 3 prelims, fueling ongoing fairness debate. (OutKick/Alejandro Avila) ((OutKick/Alejandro Avila))
And as long as laws that allow this to happen exist, there is no evidence of this slowing down.
Author Abigail Shrier wrote the book "Irreversible Damage" in 2020, in which she noted a 1,000 to 5,000 percent increase in the number of trans-identifying youth over a several-year period. Other research has noted that this uptick has no end in sight.
In 2023, the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that about three percent of high-school students identified as transgender. In 2025, the Williams Institute estimated that 724,000 Americans ages 13–17 identify as transgender, which was roughly equivalent to 3.6 percent.
And the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) estimated that trans/nonbinary identification for college students is at an all-time high, ranging from 4.7 percent to 6.7 percent. That last number shouldn't affect participation in the NCAA, which requires athletes play on teams that match their sex assigned at birth. But when we're talking about, say, the WNBA, which still doesn't have a concrete rule about gender restrictions, who's to say one of these college kids doesn't try to pull a much-more-subtle Enes Kanter and work their way into the league?
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Women athletes and supporters stand as Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women's Sport, and Carly Smolak, former goalkeeper for the San Diego Spirit women's professional soccer team, testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 23, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The committee held a hearing titled "Standing Up for Women in Sports: Ensuring Opportunity, Fairness and Safety for Female Athletes." (Getty Images)
When I was at The Seattle Times, I interviewed a high school athlete named Ahnaleigh Wilson, who lost to a boy in a high school track meet when she was in eighth grade. She told me that she had since competed against four biological males in high school. I couldn't confirm that, but when I see research documenting biological males competing in more than 14,000 events involving females, and consider that alongside a UCLA study estimating that as many as 122,000 transgender youth may be competing in high school sports, I tend to believe her.
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There's a common pattern among the Left when it comes to issues such as these. First, they say it's not happening. Then, they say "OK, it's happening, but it's rare." Then, they say "OK, it's happening frequently, but that's a good thing!" We're getting closer and closer to that third one.
I suppose what's "rare" and what isn't is open to interpretation. But there's no denying that trans athletes are upstaging females often enough for anyone paying attention to notice.
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Common sense doesn't appear as though it's going to stop this trend anytime soon. Laws, on the other hand, would.
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