Join Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy

Sign our letter to support inclusion in youth sports

The Letter:

For months, people have been speaking for us, claiming they are protecting girls’ sports, deciding whose bodies qualify for girlhood, and spinning a narrative that girls are fragile, inferior, or in need of saving.

We’re writing to say: we don’t need your saving, we need you to listen.

We are women and girls, athletes of every level, from youth players to Olympians, along with former athletes, coaches, and teammates, honoring those before us who helped build girls’ and women's sports from the ground up and keeping their legacy alive in how we build forward.

Sport has never been just about winning. It is about the opportunity to play. Sport is the place where friendships are forged, accountability is learned, resilience is practiced, and belonging is felt. It is where we find mentors, teammates, and sometimes it is the only place that reminds us we are capable of so much more than the world expects.

Trans girls are girls. Strong girls are girls. Black girls are girls. Queer girls are girls. Brown girls are girls. Girls of every body, background, and ability belong. Youth sports have long been one of the few spaces where narrow definitions of girlhood can fall away, where differences become strengths and every person has something to contribute to the team.

Excluding trans girls from youth and high school sports does not protect girls. It enlivens fear. It invites harmful policing of ALL girls’ bodies. It tells us our performance and appearance are grounds for judgment, subjecting cis and trans girls alike, to suspicion, humiliation, and harm. Girls’ bodies are already subjected to harm in this world. We do not need more control disguised as protection; we need dignity, autonomy, and safety.

California has protected trans students’ right to participate in sports for over a decade. During that time, girls’ participation has grown. Inclusion did not weaken girls’ sports, it strengthened them. Why would we ever turn our backs on the facts and undo the very progress that has shown us inclusion works?

This is a moment to protect the future, not politicize it.
To protect play, not manipulate it.
To model the lessons of sport that last beyond the whistle.

So stand with us, female athletes, and let’s learn from history, not repeat it.

Respectfully,

ORIGINATING SIGNATORIES

Abby Wambach Julie Foudy