Does Bad Data Make Good Policy?

How an open database of transgender athletes’ accomplishments has been used to advocate for transphobic public policy.

Photo by Lauren Mitchell on Unsplash

I first became aware of the “She Won” website through a video from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It’s worth watching the whole 40 minutes because it reveals a true and troubling bias in reporting news and advocating for public policy. Right-leaning news anchors calling trans athletes in sports “the Civil Rights story of the hour” shows a troubling trend in news. But, news aside, it shows a troubling trend in public policy from the far edges of the political spectrum.

Here’s the video:

In the video, John Oliver mentions a report submitted to the United Nations on the “unfairness” of trans athletes in sports, particularly transgender women in sports. The report has been called a “United Nations report” when it was not produced by the United Nations. It was submitted to the United Nations, and it used an interesting source of information.