All language subtitles for No League of Their Own (2016) BR

- You know, I don't think
a transgendered athlete,

male to female, female to
male, whatever it may be,

really has any
advantage whatsoever.

Because there's so much
more to sports than gender,

than your identity.

Nobody gives anything
away in sports, you know?

You gotta earn it.

- Sports are such a public
display of our physicalities,

it's hard to hide who you
are on the playing field.

You know, when you talk
about transgender issues,

in terms of sports, they
are very much divided

between trans women
and trans men.

- I think there's a national
conversation happening

right now in a couple
of different domains

about these trans individuals
that are coming in to compete,

are somehow going
to have an unfair

or competitive advantage.

- This issue has been around
the Olympic movement forever.

Okay, this is not
something that's new.

And then, in peoples'
perception, they
especially think

in a male to female, that
they're gonna dominate,

that they're gonna be better
than all of the other girls.

Of course they're gonna
be better, they're boys!

The rules that
first allowed transgender women

to compete, were enacted
in 2004, this is 2016.

And if all these trans
women are gonna take over,

why hasn't it happened?

- People don't transition just
to dominate women's sports,

and they're seeing them more
as someone who is transitioning

for an athletic advantage.

That is not true, that is not
happening, and I can tell you

as a trans person, what a
trans person experiences

in the rest of their life would
never offset athletic glory.

- The hormone strategy for
transgender individuals

is really all about
testosterone, and so what

does that really mean?

The biggest difference
between men and women

vis-a-vis hormones,
is testosterone level.

Male testosterone levels
are about ten times

female testosterone levels.

So, if we have a
transgender woman who goes

from having a male level of
testosterone to a female level

of testosterone, her muscles
are gonna be shifted,

in an enormous way.

Testosterone restructures
several things in your body.

Lung capacity, the
shape of your pelvis,

longer limbs if you're in the
growing phase of your life.

So when a transgender
woman competes,

an important thing to
realize is that she may be

the same size as she was
because of going through

a male puberty, her
muscle mass has shrunk

to female proportions.

Anybody who's participating
in athletics will really

be able to notice
the difference.

There's a fear that transgender
women will dominate sports

because of the larger body
size, but that does not

make sense because of the
enormous role that muscle plays

with athleticism.

- I'm Chloe Anderson, and I am

a collegiate volleyball player.

Almost immediately, within three
months of starting hormones

I could feel major
muscle changes.

My arms became weaker, my
ability to run became much worse

and I was struggling a lot to
try and recalibrate my body,

and when I started playing
volleyball, my coordination

started to change, and when
I'd go up for my approach,

I noticed there was like,
a lag in my coordination,

my serves are definitely not
as strong as they used to be.

Hormones have kind of
made me really insecure

about my athleticism,
because I know where I was

before hormones, and I'll
never be there again.

It took a lot of practice
and a lot of effort

to even consider going
back to volleyball,

but my coach definitely
pushed me really hard

to try and always be
performing at my best.

It's really hard to
describe to people

that literally, your
biggest dreams came true,

to play on a women's volleyball
team and I want more people

to have that feeling, you know.

- It's very important to
note that transgender women

do have advantages, but
also have disadvantages,

and that's one thing almost
nobody ever thinks about.

Certainly, my interest in
sports and transgender women

came about from
my own transition.

What I found, was that as a
fairly serious distance runner,

that I was remarkably slower
with just one year of hormones,

and then I found that there
were other trans women runners

that had the exact
same experience.

When you look at a
transgender woman athlete,

you're looking at a large
car with a small engine,

and they are competing
against small cars

with small engines.

- Every athlete has some kind
of competitive advantage,

and the interesting thing to
me, is that when people tend

to talk about level
playing fields,

and competitive advantage,
they limit it to biology.

But we shouldn't.

- Athletes come in all
shapes and sizes already.

And so there are
very tall athletes,

and there are very
short athletes,

and there are athletes
with very long arms,

and there are athletes
who can jump very high,

and that has everything
to do with their sort

of composition as people,
and so, with so much variety,

in people already, it's
hard to say, you know,

what gives them an advantage.

- The differences between
transgender individuals

and non-transgender
individuals are smaller

than just the variety among
men and women's bodies

across the planet.

- The question isn't,
do transgender women
have advantages,

the question is, can transgender
women and cisgender women

compete against each
other equitably?

- People say, oh, well, we
don't have trans athletes

on our teams, we don't
need a policy right now,

when someone comes forward,
we'll put one in place.

But the reason people
aren't coming forward,

is because you
don't have a policy.

We have not reached a
level playing field,

we have a long way to go.

- Competitive advantage
is the thinking that leads

to the idea that we need
sex segregated sports,

which is also part of the issue

about why we think we
need trans policies.

I don't think we've had a
more rigorous and careful

and well thought out
conversation about why it is

that some things
are considered fair,

and some things are
considered unfair,

and some people will say,
well, the rules of sport

are arbitrary, but their
impact and their effects

are not arbitrary, that
has an impact on a life.

- My name is Chris Mosier,
my sport is duathlon.

In 2015, I was the first
transgender man to make

a men's U.S. national team.

Playing sports and
participating in some sort

of fitness activity was
always a way that I connected

to my body, and so even
before I identified

as a trans person, I can
think back to experiences

where I would use weight
lifting or running

as a way to feel
better in my own skin.

When I was considering
transition, I was thinking,

will I even be able to play
the sports that I love,

because of the policies
that are in place?

The problem was, there
were no policies in place,

and so, I wasn't sure
if it was possible,

and that really made me
pause on my transition.

And so, as a triathlete,
to find a place where

I felt comfortable
going to swim was

a great challenge for me.

When I had top surgery, and
had, I had a double vasectomy,

and so I had then a
male appearing chest,

I became much more comfortable
with myself and my body,

but even being there,
in my own comfort,

I still faced stares
from other people,

and trying to figure
out which locker room

I would be safe in.

So, I found myself changing
in a sort of side tent

on the pool deck, using a
special entrance to get in,

and in all honesty, it's
probably part of the reason

that I've shifted so much from
triathlete, swim bike run,

to duathlete, run bike run.

It takes a very strong
athlete and support system

to fight against some of these
policies that are in place,

and it's not easy to put
yourself out there like that.

For me, it's really
important to be out and open

as a transgender athlete,
so that other people

can look to me and see that
it is possible to compete,

at an elite level,
with cisgender men.

I don't need to know
that I'll be the best,

I don't expect to
win every race.

I just wanna know that
I can go out there

and still enjoy being
a competitive person

and the way that I was before.

- Renée Richards, I
remember when she came out,

and I was fascinated
by the story.

- Renée sued in the 70s
in a federal court in

the United States in
order to be allowed

to play women's tennis.

But, Renée was the first
and pretty much the only one

before the 21st century.

- Sport is a very conservative
domain, it doesn't matter

what the sport is, and it's
some of the last places

where ideas about sex
and ideas about gender

get talked about and
questioned, and so,

because we have such
sex segregated sport,

there has been an interest
about how you maintain

the division between
men and women,

and who should be allowed to
compete in which category,

and that kind of concern
animates the particular policies

that we've seen over
the last seven decades.

- For trans athletes,
this is the first Olympics

where updated regulations
will be put into play.

Even though no publicly
out trans athletes

have competed in the
Olympics, gender politics

in the Olympics date
back to World War II.

In the 1936 summer
Olympics, German high jumper

Dora Ratjen placed fourth
in the women's competition.

20 years later, Ratjen
revealed he was designated

male at birth, and the
Nazis had forced him

to compete as a woman.

The scandal led international
sports governing bodies

to require female
athletes to be inspected

to confirm they
were indeed female.

Female athletes were required
to be visually inspected

by doctors.

The inspections were
called "naked parades,"

because the women had
to walk around naked

in front of a panel of doctors.

In 1968, the IOC banned the
humiliating naked parades

and began chromosome testing.

In 1986, Spanish
hurdler Maria Patino

was banned from the
Spanish Olympic team

after failing her
sex chromatin test.

Eventually, chromatin
testing was found

to be ineffective, because it
couldn't determine maleness.

The IOC stopped
mandatory sex testing,

unless they thought the female
athlete looked suspicious.

Gender testing wasn't designed
to support transgender

or transexual women athletes.

It was designed so men
couldn't compete as women.

It wasn't until 2004 that
the IOC opened the door

for transgender athletes.

Under the Stockholm consensus,
transgender athletes

could compete in
the Athens Olympics,

but there were some invasive
and harmful requirements.

All transgender
athletes were required

to have completed gender
reassignment surgery.

Male to female athletes had
to be legally recognized

as female, and
undergone two years

of hormone replacement therapy.

Female to male athletes were
allowed to compete against

cisgender men, but they
had to file a form to cover

their testosterone injections.

In 2015, the IOC decided
transgender athletes

could compete without undergoing

gender reassignment surgery.

The IOC has spent
decades adapting

its gender verification process.

Trans athletes still
face many hurdles,

but the latest rulings
are a big headstart

in this new world for
elite trans athletes.

The international
Olympic committee

is thought of as the gold
standard for policies,

and so to have the most
elite classification

create a policy that is
more trans inclusive,

has a trickle-down effect
to the other organizations

that it governs, and also to
other outside organizations

that don't have policies yet.

They're going to say, what
is the Olympics doing?

Let's look to that policy,
and see if we can mirror that.

- The public thinks
that the trans female

has a tremendous advantage
over all the other girls.

I think the IOC is proving
that is not the case.

I like that the IOC has
come up with guidelines

on how long ago the
transition had to take place,

about what your
hormones level have been

for the last couple of years,

and they have found out
that if that is the case,

it's no advantage whatsoever.

- I'm not going to the
Olympics, duathlon is not

an Olympics sport, and so
as, you know, going into

the world championship
is the highest level that

I can achieve in my sport, I'm
very very happy about that.

But I'm even happier that
there's now an opportunity

for young trans athletes to
fall in love with their sports,

to put in the practice and
the time and the training

that it takes to become
an elite athlete,

and then have the opportunity
to be both transgender,

themselves, and be a competitive
athlete in the Olympics.

I know that now, that
the policy has changed,

the door is open, and
just having that knowledge

that it's possible,
will enable other people

to really dedicate
themselves to their training

to reach that level, and
so I think that we will

see a trans athlete in the
Olympics in the future.

Hopefully near future.

- The biggest challenge
for, I think a high school

trans athlete, is acceptance.

It's tough enough to
get through high school,

and if you're openly trans
and you're out there,

and you wanna play sports,
okay, you're putting yourself

even farther out there,
but I think what a lot

of young trans
athletes have done,

is they've opened up
this conversation,

where is my place in life?

- My name is Anry, and I play
soccer at Denair High School.

When I started seeing
myself more as a female,

was around, I wanna say,
seventh and eight grade.

I was starting, like
puberty, and all that stuff,

so you kind of get to know
who you are at that age.

I started to come out
to my community as Anry,

around my freshman year.

I knew that transitioning was
something that I wanted to do,

like it's just something
I wanted and something

that was gonna make me happy.

I just was so anxious to
do anything, you know.

When I started my junior
year, that's when like,

my hair started growing
out, and I started wearing

dresses and stuff.

I would feel out of place,
and I would feel like,

uncomfortable.

I was actually really worried,
to know if I was actually

able to play or not on
the girls' soccer team.

I just kept coming out to
the practices and then,

no one said anything,
and then I was told

by my athletic director,
I need to get permission.

I actually didn't know
that we had to find

an advocate to, for
me to be able to play

on the girls' team.

I do like my coach,
she's awesome.

She's very neutral, she's
more of a, you work hard,

you play, you know.

She is the most
accepting person ever.

- And I've always
known Anry as a female,

so her coming out
just seemed natural.

I don't think anybody's
really approached

or been upset just because
again, Denair's just been

very tight knit community.

- I've been through
it all with her.

The whole way.

When she started transitioning,

it was difficult for
me to understand,

but I always be there
for her, I never really

saw her different.

She's always been
the same person.

- It was more of, the
girls who were like,

oh, it's okay, we don't care,
come here and you can join us.

If a girl on an opposing
team felt like I'm stronger

because I'm physically
a male, I would probably

tell them that, it's
not even your gender,

it's just body type.

That this is the
team I belong to,

and so it's not my fault.

I mean, there's girls that
are tough out there, you know.

There was a tough girl
I had to work with,

and she was obviously
stronger than me.

Being able to wear the
girls' uniform actually

made me feel really good,
because it's who I am,

I don't feel like Chris
does at all, I feel ...

I feel cool I feel
like I'm part of the team,

so I've never felt out of place.

When my friends and family
use, like, female pronouns,

it makes me feel respected,
it makes me feel like

they actually care,
they're acknowledging me.

You have to feel wanted,
you have to be able

to like, work with them.

This is a team sport,
it's so important for us

to have a bond, and
that's what we have.

It's nice to have
them, like, accept me.

One, two, three,

Coyotes!

- Athletes have tremendous
visibility and tremendous power

in this country, especially
at the elite and pro level.

It's incredibly important
both for society,

but also for trans individuals
to see representation

in places like sport, in media.

One way that I think that
we create social change

is through visibility.

- Now that I'm in a
position where I've made

two U.S. national
teams, I've competed

in a world championship, and
I have this sort of platform

as a trans athlete, it's
really important for me

to use that to start
the conversation

and accelerate the conversation
on including trans people

in sports.

- I think the world is changing.

You see younger trans
people coming out.

They certainly deserve to
be able to play sports.

- Everybody's scared, you
know, everybody's nervous,

it's just whether
you want it or not,

and if you want it,
you will get out there.

- Transitioning was such
a wonderful thing for

my entire life, and playing
athletics on a team that I love

is, you know, right up there,

and pushed my life forward
in a positive direction.

- So there's a
powerful moment here.

If we can achieve true
trans inclusion in sport,

that we might be able to
have that in other domains.

- I hope that acceptance
on the athletic fields

leads to greater acceptance
in all areas of life.

- Athletics are
important for all people.

We put our differences aside.

Whether we're spectators
of sports, or teammates.

When you're on a court,
it doesn't matter

what your teammate's
background is, and so it is

a good equalizer for
creating social change.