To each their Sport: Support for Trans Inclusion and Fair Play Concerns

While minority rights research suggests that attitudes towards the minority group play a key role in framing one’s policy view, recent descriptive studies on trans inclusion in sports suggest that the resistance to trans inclusion might be grounded in fairness concerns rather than trans negativity. This research aims to clarify the causal relationship between trans attitudes, fairness concerns, and policy views. Based on a theoretical framework grounded in sports ethics literature and previous research on fairness in different sports competitions, a 2 × 3 (low and high fair play concern; inclusionary, partial, and exclusionary policy) vignette survey experiment is introduced to test the proposed moderation model. The online survey was conducted in the US in 2024 (N = 1218, Mage = 48.42, sd = 16.97). On average, the public is more willing to support trans inclusion in a low fair play concern competition (shooting) compared to a high fair play concern event (steeplechase). Fair play concern moderates the relationship between attitudes and support for trans inclusion, with trans negative individuals being more willing to support trans inclusion in shooting compared to similarly prejudiced individuals in the steeplechase condition. Concerns for fairness influence one’s willingness to support inclusionary sports policy on par with attitudes, producing a moderating effect rather than existing as an either/or principle. The results suggest that it might be beneficial to address fair play concerns directly in an attempt to increase support for trans inclusion policies.