i know you're exhausted from laughing, but "nightline" is next, so try to stay up. goodnight. tonight, the transgender students fighting for fair play. we're with the athletes. >> these trans athletes should have the ability to do what they love in the body in which they know who they are. >> who sparked a national debate on fairness and gender identity. >> i feel like it's strictly about biology and that it's unfair for them to compete in our category. >> inside the wave of lawsuits and the decades-long struggle. from a landmark civil rights case in the '70s to the present-day battle in missouri. >> i'm brandon bull -- >> i know who you are. >> how one father, who overcame his own tolerance, is leading the fight for his trans daughter to compete. >> they may win a few battles, but love always wins the war.

>> this special edition of "nightline," "fair play," will be right back. we do it every night. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water.

♪ thanks for joining us. we've long reported on transgender women under assault. tonight, trans athletes are at the center of a raging national debate. republican lawmakers say it's about girls, sports, and

fairness. but opponents argue it's a fight for trans rights which they say are merely human rights. andrea yearwood was known for dominating in high school track races across connecticut, like this one. loved track? >> i first started running in seventh grade. track was really -- really a support system with my teammates, always there to uplift me, and they've always been there, kind of as a light in the dark. >> reporter: instead of kudos for winning connecticut state championships, she and another runner, terry miller, got criticized for being transgender. long before she began running, andrea knew she was different. >> halloween, i remember dressing up as cinderella when none of the other boys would. i remember playing with my barbie doll. >> how old were you? >> like -- 5, 6, 7. like, pretty young. >> reporter: middle school, she

began transitioning. but andrea's stunning victories didn't sit well against the competition. >> i first raced against the transgender athletes at the state open meet, and i realized how much ahead they were of the other girls. it was disappointing to see how we weren't getting the spots that we rightfully deserved after we trained so many days and so many hours a day. >> reporter: alana smith is a top runner at danbury high school. competition is in her blood. her father, a former pro baseball hall of famer. her mother, a former elite runner herself. what does running track mean to you? >> it means everything to me. it gives me a spot to be myself. when i go to practice, i go and get to hang out with my friends r. also, i love to win. >> reporter: alana says winning felt out of reach. she joined other high school runners in a lawsuit, hoping to ban trans girls from competing against cisgendered girls like her in connecticut. >> i feel it's strictly about biology and it's unfair for them

to compete in our category. there's a broad coalition of people from all different political persuasions that agree that the physical advantages that men and boys have over women and girls is insurmountable. >> reporter: kristin wagner is a lawyer for the alliance defending freedom, a self-described conservative christian nonprofit. they helped file the connecticut lawsuit last year and it marked a tipping point, sparking a nationwide debate about fairness and gender identity. in the past year and a half, seven states passed trans athletes bills. 28 more have legislation in the works. it's become a conservative rallying cry. >> candidate caitlyn jenner, all right. let me get to this issue. >> reporter: caitlyn jenner, now running for governor of california, once supports trans athletes rights to compete in the gender they identify with. but now the lifelong republican and former olympian has changed her position, speaking out on tmz. >> this is a question of fairness. that's why i oppose biological

boys who are trans competing in girls' sports in school. it just isn't fair. >> we should be able to compete on a level playing field. and the policy that we have right now is making biological women be sidelined in our own support. >> she's forced to compete on an unfair playing field, so we're talking about equal opportunities. under title ix, for example, colleges give out a certain number of scholarships to women and a certain number to men. >> reporter: title ix is the federal law that forbids educational programs from discriminating on the basis of gender. critics say trans girls violate title ix because trans girls take opportunities away from cisgendered ones. what do you say to critics who might say you're cheat organize have unfair advantage? >> i ask them to do their research. and further look into who trans people are. also what they go through.

whether medically or socially. and there is more to sports than just winning a medal. >> this sends a horrible message to trans young people and their families that they're not welcome that they're not safe. trans people are scared, their families are scared. >> reporter: chase strangio says this is the latest ground in battle culture wars being waged despite the fact that few if any trans girls are competing in school sports. >> it's deeply hurtful and harmful to the transgendered young people constantly being scrutinized and attacked in this legislation, despite the practical realities which show after decades of data, trans people are not dominating sports at any level anywhere in the world. >> it's inappropriate. it's just not right. >> reporter: heated debate unfolding across the country, like here in the republican-dominated missouri legislature, on whether to restrict trans athletes' ability to compete. >> can i ask you a question?

brandon bullware -- >> i know who you are. >> reporter: a father on a mission, brandon bullware lobbying on behalf of his trans daughter. >> for years i would not let my daughter wear girl clothes, play with girl toys -- >> reporter: his impassioned speech to missouri law patients going spiral on twitter with more than 7 million views. >> i forced my daughter to wear boy clothes and get short haircuts, play on boy sports teams. as a parent, we don't want to squash our kids' spirit. we don't want to ever silence that flame inside them. and looking back on it now, that's exactly what i was doing when i was forcing my daughter to be someone she wasn't. >> nice to meet you. >> good to meet you. >> reporter: raised conservative, a minister's son, now pleading with lawmakers to have compassion for trans children. >> making the rounds, talking to as many of you as i can -- >> reporter: some don't want to hear it. >> he won't come out? >> no.

>> can't say i'm surprised. thank you. >> you're frustrated? >> i'm very frustrated. this is real. this affects real people. >> reporter: at stake he says is his trans daughter's very childhood. >> she gets the opportunity to be a good. she gets the opportunity to participate on a sports team. to have fun, to play. that's nothing that should be denied to someone. >> reporter: brandon's passion fueled by regret. >> i still have a fair amount of guilt over how i handled the situation early on. and it's part of the reason i do what i do now and advocate for her. there are certain folks in power that have decided that the new target is transgender kids. kids. what i also know is that those efforts always fail. hate and fear always fail, and love wins. now, they may win a few battles. but love always wins the war. >> reporter: but many missouri lawmakers say it's about fairness and the sanctity of the locker room.

like representative doug ritchie. >> what the focus of this bill is here in missouri is to address the minors at the middle school, high school context for just protecting title ix female athletics. >> mr. speaker, this bill protects our students. >> what do you say to folks who say that this bill is anti-trans or trans phobic? >> number one, it's not. it is just, again, an effort to protect female athletics in this context, in the middle school, high school context, as well as protecting our children who, when they're walking off the field, they're entering into that locker, shower room with their teammates, and i think those concerns are legitimate. they wouldn't fall into a phobic context. >> some of your colleagues have said, i don't want my granddaughter in a locker room with boys peeping in. >> do not make my granddaughters

go into a locker room and have to worry about a boy coming into their locker room. >> do you know of any specific instances where that has happened? >> you'd have to speak with them in terms of the individuals who are communicating those concerns. i haven't communicated those concerns myself. >> because your critics would argue that this is a bogeyman that's being conjured up, that it's not actually happening. >> again, you'd have to speak with them, because that's not been a concern that i've voiced. >> reporter: the missouri house bill could be passed by the end of the week. if approved, state senator gregg grazer says he'll fight against it. >> the majority party here in missouri and nationally likes to use these kind of hot-button issues when it comes to election time, to get people riled up. >> reporter: razer is one of six openly lgbtq members of the missouri legislature, the only gay member in the senate. >> i was once a closeted,

scared, suicidal teenager. i know what that feels like in this state. and an attack on lgbt kids and trans kids is an attack on all of us. >> this goes to a deep place in your heart, doesn't it? >> it does. it gets very personal. >> reporter: this issue is also personal for 14-year-old avery jackson, who graced the cover of "national geographic" proudly trans at just 9. >> i have always wanted to do things like volleyball, dodgeball. but if these laws get passed, there's not really any point to doing that. >> reporter: avery has been homeschooled by her mother, debbie jackson, her entire life. she had been thinking about enrolling in a missouri public high school next fall. >> so the laws are having what effect on that decision? >> quite a big effect, whether it's bathrooms, sports, or just denying the fact that if you go here, you can't be who you are. >> is this really just about

sports? >> sports teaches leadership skills and goal-setting. it's self-discipline. there are all these great skills that we need as humans to be successful later in life that you get from sports participation. >> one lawmaker's big concern was that somehow trans girls were nearly boys pretending to be girls so that they could invade the locker room. what do you say to that? >> i think it's kind of ridiculous. >> trans kids are very self-conscious of their bodies already, generally. they don't want to stand out as different. so they're not going to go in and get undressed in front of other people. they're certainly not going in to gawk at other people. >> we're humans, and we're just trying to live our lives. coming up, we delve into the science on trans athletes. what the medical community says levels the playing field. .

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♪ the debate roiling over trans athletes dates back to renee richards, the transgender tennis player who was banned from the 1977 women's u.s. open. >> game, richards! >> reporter: when she refused to take a sex chromosome test. >> when i became a woman, my body had been primed with estrogens for several years. and my musculature is estrogen supported. it's not male hormone, testosterone supported. so i have the muscle mass and

the muscle power of a woman. >> reporter: the new york state supreme court eventually recognized her as legally female, ruling that her civil rights had been violated. she was allowed to compete with women. >> she lost in the first round, but what the public conversation focused on was that, okay, it might be okay now, but the domination of trans girls is around the corner. that was 45 years ago. we're hearing the same rhetoric now, though no one can point to a competing trans athlete, though the science can show the data is not lining up with the claims about categorical dominance. >> reporter: over the decades, elite sporting organizations adapted guidelines to allow trans athletes to compete. but as the transgender community has become more visible, their rights have been pushed into the political arena. >> all of the major sanctioning bodies, including, for example, the international olympic committee, u.s. cycling, the

ncaa, all have had policies on the books for years that are inclusive. >> reporter: dr. madeline deutsche heads transgender care at the university of california san francisco. >> so give me the medical thinking that is reflected in the ncaa policy. >> the treatment involves a blocking of testosterone into the female range. when you do that, you cause blood cell counts to go down into the female range. you cause muscle mass to go down into the female range. and those really are two primary inputs into athletic performance. >> reporter: but the lawyers in the connecticut track case refuse to acknowledge the science behind these established rules. >> i'm sure you're aware that the ncaa has rules for transgender athlete inclusion, including one year of testosterone suppression, and then eligibility. does that seem unacceptable to you? >> it is unacceptable. the science, and there are dozens of studies that confirm,

even after one year of testosterone suppress ants, the physical advantages that men have are insurmountable. they still have larger lungs, larger hearts, bone density, structure. >> reporter: but the bulk of scientific data does not support that argument. >> the scientific community and culture is generally lined up with the fact that transgender females are female. i don't think these things have any kind of significant impact when you think about the fact that blood values move into the female range, and that's been studied. bone density goes down, muscle mass goes into the female range. these are the primary predictors. >> reporter: but one group we spoke with believes the science is still evolving for those who transition after puberty. and some of the guidelines set out by national sporting bodies may need to be re-examined vr. andrea yearwood says she's been undergoing hormone therapy for several years now. >> i think there's this persistent notion that somehow

you as a trans female have a biological advantage. >> every athlete has an advantage to each other. if you have a certain diet, you might be better an another athlete. if you train seven days and they train three days out of the week, you might be better genetics have advantages. i feel everyone might have an advantage, it isn't just specific to me and who i am as a person. >> reporter: the connecticut lawsuit has since been dismissed, but the adf says they plan to appeal on behalf of cisgendered athletes like alana smith, who's still competing and considering various college scholarships. what are your plans for track and field, and what's the dream? >> i want to go to a d-1 school to run track and possibly go pro. >> are the coaches and scouts looking around? >> yeah. >> reporter: andrea is finishing freshman year at north carolina

central university. but she says her running days are over. >> were you offered a scholarship? >> no. no. >> can you explain to me why you think that is? >> uh -- hm. i guess maybe because -- i mean -- maybe because i am trans. schools may not want all that negativity attached to their name, attached to their university. >> what closed that chapter in your life? was that voluntary on your part? >> i think yes and no. all the negativity -- i didn't feel like going through that for another four years all over again. as much as i would like to say it didn't affect me or it wasn't that bad, i mean -- in all honesty, it did i guess get to me a little bit, more than i would have liked it to. trans athletes should have the ability to do what they love in the body in which they know who they are.

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when it comes to trans youths, surveys show only 27% say their families are supportive. if you or someone you know may be struggling, there is help. the national suicide prevention lifeline is open. 800-273-8255 for free, confidential advice. that's "nightline" for tonight. watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.