Athletics should be a sanctuary where kids learn how to fall down, dust off, and find their team. Right now, politicians and bad-faith media figures are using sports as a wedge to target vulnerable transgender youth.
Safe at Home is an eight-page zine examining the facts over the fear: the actual science of gender-affirming care, the long history of trans champions, the danger of policing all women's bodies, and why every kid deserves the right to play.
Page 1: The cover
SAFE AT HOME: The strike zone, the gender panic, and every kid's right to play
Designed by Adam Rye (adamrye.com)
Page 2: Dust and Gatorade
"DUST AND GATORADE.
Think back to the physical thrill of the playground: the smell of sunscreen, the sting of a scraped knee, and the absolute desperation to belong.
Kids do not play sports to conquer the world; they play to find their PEOPLE.
Transgender kids are looking for that EXACT SAME dirt-stained sanctuary.
But right now, adults with microphones are trying to lock them out of the dugout, using FEAR and MISINFORMATION to disguise their cruelty."
Page 3: The captains
"THE CAPTAINS.
They use trans athletes as a political wedge, SCREAMING about a 'hostile takeover' that isn't happening. But look at the real captains. Open inclusion isn't a theory; it is history!
RENEE RICHARDS: Yale captain and Navy veteran. Fully transitioned in 1975 at 41. In 1977, she fought her way to the US OPEN.
NYLA ROSE: Former AEW women's world champion. In 2019, she became the 1st openly transgender wrestler to win a major title in an American major promotion.
CAL CALAMIA: A non-binary trans-masculine runner, sports activist, and educator. They were the inaugural winner of the non-binary division of the San Francisco Marathon, proving making space only grows the sport.
Not hypothetical. These champs found their own paths."
Page 4: Sifting the science
"SIFTING THE SCIENCE.
They will tell you it is just basic biology. But biology is beautifully, stubbornly complex.
A 2024 study funded by the International Olympic Committee in the British Journal of Sports Medicine looked at the actual data:
After taking gender-affirming hormones, trans women athletes actually performed worse than cisgender women in lower-body strength and lung capacity tests.
The 'inherent biological advantage' is a myth born from misogyny, rooted in assumption that anyone born male will always be biologically superior.
The science says otherwise."
Page 5: The purity check
"THE PURITY CHECK.
When we police gender in sports, it doesn't just isolate trans kids. It creates a hostile, paranoid culture that harms all women.
Cisgender champions of color, like Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya and Imane Khelif, have been falsely accused, harassed, and subjected to invasive medical checks because they do not fit a rigid, fragile stereotype of what a woman 'should' look like.
When state rule books permit genital inspections on teenagers just to run track, the system is NOT protecting girls.
It is hunting them."
Page 6: The actual fire
"If politicians actually cared about protecting women's sports, the playbook is sitting right there:
Over 20% of female athletes globally experience sexual abuse, nearly twice the rate of male athletes.
Over 30% endure excessive, punitive training. Predatory coaches quietly transfer between gyms because institutions fail to track them.
At the Tokyo Olympics, 87% of abusive tweets targeted women.
Fixing these fires requires actual work. Bullying a tiny percentage of trans kids is cheap political theater to distract us from the REAL ABUSE."
Page 7: Radical solidarity
"RADICAL SOLIDARITY.
The field becomes radical theater when we reclaim it from trauma.
Look at the lineup: Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, and Candace Parker led nearly 200 athletes in a friend-of-the-court brief, saying 'The athletic community grows stronger when we welcome and champion all athletes.'
Look inside the wrestling ring, where CM Punk holds up signs that say 'SUPPORT TRANS KIDS' and 'I WANT EVERYONE TO BE THEMSELVES.'
Taking away a kid's right to play doesn't protect the game. It just robs them of the chance to learn how to fall down, dust off, and be caught by their community."
Page 8: Check the receipts
"CHECK THE RECEIPTS.
Trans people make up about 1% of the population.
Trans people make up less than 0.002% of NCAA athletes (10 out of 500,000).
They make up 0.001% of recent Olympians.
Source: sf.gov/trans-women-in-sports-facts-over-fear
TAKE ACTION:
Women's Sports Foundation: womenssportsfoundation.org
Athlete Ally: athleteally.org
Trans Athlete: transathlete.com
The Trevor Project: thetrevorproject.org/sports"
Behind the zine
Playing kickball with HotMess Sports and captaining Spice Rack reminded me that athletics can be healing, joyful, and deeply queer. I drew Safe at Home to push back against weaponized sports bans with real science, historical precedent, and unconditional solidarity for every young athlete trying to find their footing.
Physical copies are available in person at local sports tournaments, Pride rallies, and community pop-ups across Florida.
