The Seattle Times says there’s ‘no serious scientific evidence’ trans athletes have an advantage over women

The article criticises a Seattle Times report for saying there is no serious scientific evidence that transgender women have an athletic advantage over cisgender women. The report discussed Washington voters’ support for Initiative 638, which bars transgender girls from girls’ K-12 sports, and considered whether the result reflected fairness concerns or prejudice.

The article cites research suggesting that strength, power, size and aerobic-capacity differences can persist after testosterone suppression, including a review reporting an average 5% reduction in muscle mass after a year and a study finding transgender women in the US Air Force ran 12% faster than female counterparts after two years of hormone therapy. It also acknowledges that hormone treatment can reduce athletic performance and that studies do not all point in the same direction. The supplied article text ends mid-sentence while discussing swimmer Lia Thomas, so its account of that example is incomplete.