The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban transgender students from participating in girls’ and women’s school sports is about much more than athletics. It sends a painful message to transgender young people across the country: You don’t belong.
That’s what makes this ruling so heartbreaking.
The public conversation often centers on elite competition, championships and hypothetical scenarios that have little to do with the lives of most transgender children. The reality is far more ordinary. Most kids simply want to play basketball after school, run cross-country with their friends, join the volleyball team or experience the confidence and camaraderie that sports can provide.
This ruling gives states permission to tell some children that those experiences are off limits because of who they are, but it does not require them to do so. Communities, schools and leaders still can choose inclusion over exclusion and compassion over fear. They can choose to recognize what has always been true: Transgender people have always existed, will always exist and deserve the same opportunities, respect and sense of belonging as everyone else.
As a parent, I cannot imagine telling my 12-year-old child there is nowhere they are allowed to play because adults have decided they don’t belong. This decision also reinforces a dangerous idea: that transgender people are somehow less deserving of full participation in public life than everyone else. It suggests that our humanity can be debated, our dignity negotiated and our place in society determined by politics instead of our shared humanity.
Here in Chicago, we know our communities are strongest when everyone has the opportunity to participate fully. That means ensuring young people feel welcome in classrooms, on playgrounds and yes, on athletic fields.
Sports carry benefits beyond competing to win. They teach teamwork, perseverance, confidence and friendship. They give young people a place to grow, to discover themselves and to build relationships that often last a lifetime. Those are opportunities every child deserves.
We should be asking how to create environments where all young people can thrive, not searching for new ways to make them feel unwelcome.
Nikki Patin, CEO, Brave Space Alliance
Make it a goal to get more Latinos on U.S. soccer teams
I spent my childhood playing soccer in the Chicago Latin American Soccer Association league in Little Village and Brighton Park. I was lucky enough to play for Kelly High School, one of the top high school teams that consisted of mostly Mexican Americans like me. We weren’t alone. There were many other talented mostly Latino immigrant teams at Farragut, Amundsen, Juarez and Washington. Sadly, most of those incredible players never made it to a college or professional league. I often think of it as a lost generation.
Forty years later, the situation for Latino players in the United States has remained unchanged.
I was such a fan of players like John Harkes, Roy Lassiter, Landon Donovan and others, that I was bold enough to wear my U.S. soccer jersey when I would visit my family in Mexico as a child.
That’s why while I was elated to see so many Black players, I was disappointed to see only three Latino players on the U.S. men’s World Cup team coached by Argentinian native Mauricio Pochettino. The number of Latino players on U.S. teams has been historically abysmal and those who make it get very little playing time. Who could forget Diego Luna, who carried the team on his shoulders less than a year ago and was not selected to play in the World Cup?
Soccer, or fútbol, is more than just a sport for Latinos; it’s an integral part of our identity. Whether we’re supporting Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador or Mexico, Latinos unite under one flag, making a profound impact on local soccer, showcasing incredible talent, technical skills, purchasing power and a rich cultural presence.
While Mexico’s national team has successfully recruited talented players with Mexican roots, the U.S. team missed out on making a significant impact in sports and soccer.
Soccer in the U.S. can be expensive, making it difficult for hardworking immigrant Latino families to pay for travel teams and other expenses. Nonetheless, this presents an opportunity for Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation to think creatively and provide scholarships or free development training to promising young athletes from lower-income immigrant communities.
Somewhere in the country, there’s a U.S.-born Latino who has the potential to become the next Lionel Messi and lead the country to a World Cup victory. If that talented youth is not given the opportunity to shine, he will remain in the shadows.
Leandro Rodriguez, Chicago Lawn
Mom-and-pop landlords will suffer under proposed ordinance
I returned to my hometown, Chicago, in 2016. In 2021, having fallen in love with the mid-South Side’s culture and history, I invested my life savings in a Woodlawn condo, which I lived in until recently. Though my career has required me to relocate out of state for a time, I dream of finding my way back to my little urban oasis steps from where our “City Beautiful Movement” once welcomed the world.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed Protecting Renters Ordinance threatens to turn this dream into a nightmare.
Like many mom-and-pop landlords, I did not get into the business to make hand-over-fist profits. I bought in Woodlawn for a stake in my community and independence from actual corporate landlords like Mac Properties, which owns hundreds of units on the mid-South Side. Initially, I rented out one of my condo’s two bedrooms to afford my mortgage. I now lease this unit at a small loss because I envision my future in Chicago.
Under the proposed ordinance, if I returned to living in my property, I may need to pay upward of $5,000 as a “relocation fee” to my current tenants. I would not be paying this amount for evicting them without cause, harassing them or piling “junk fees” onto them — unfair practices that merit regulation. No, I would be paying almost 10% of my net yearly income for declining to renew a voluntary real estate contract despite having fulfilled its terms.
Paying this fee would represent a severe financial burden. Thus, I would likely become a renter again upon my homecoming. The ordinance will, in practice, force a middle-class homeowner in a majority-minority community off of his block, away from his neighbors and out of his home to line the pockets of another — probably corporate — landlord.
Mom-and-pop landlords in analogous situations will try other tactics to circumvent this unreasonable fee. To entice noisy, negligent or dangerous tenants to leave on their own, landlords will ignore maintenance requests, treat their renters rudely and raise rents exorbitantly from lease to lease.
Only corporate landlords who can afford such regulations will benefit from these developments. Their stranglehold on Chicago’s residential real estate market will increase at the expense of our city’s middle class.
Is this what “progressivism” means in 2026?
Kristóf Oltvai, Pittsburgh
Doctor shortage will increase under Trump’s cuts
When the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law a year ago, many in the medical community sounded the alarm about the effects Medicaid cuts would have on healthcare.
But another change that could be equally harmful to the practice of medicine has garnered less attention: cuts to student loan programs that are certain to exacerbate the physician shortage here in Illinois and across the nation.
Effective July 1, future physicians now face a lifetime cap of $257,000 for undergrad and medical school combined. While that’s certainly a formidable sum, it’s no match for the current cost of medical school, which averages between nearly $300,000 on the low end and $408,000 on the higher end, according to the AAMC, formerly known as the Association of American Medical Colleges. And the cuts won’t only affect aspiring doctors. Other health professions — including nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists — will face even tighter lending restrictions.
Meanwhile, a separate program called Grad PLUS that closes the gap between federal loans and the full cost of attendance has been eliminated, cutting off a crucial lifeline when future doctors need it most.
What does this mean for patients?
When prospective doctors are forced to choose between high-interest private loans or skipping medical school entirely, it can only result in one thing: fewer physicians in the pipeline to help treat you.
The effects of the shortage are already measurable: Appointment wait times are up 48% since 2004, according to one analysis. And the AAMC predicts a shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, just as the population of Americans over 65 is projected to exceed 77 million — sending care demands skyrocketing. At the state level, it is estimated Illinois will face a shortage of 6,200 doctors by 2030.
As a physician, I have seen firsthand how these loans create a realistic pathway for people like me who are passionate about serving their community. As a patient, I have watched wait times for specialist appointments stretch to many months.
That’s why I urge Congress to act quickly to reverse these changes and craft policies that strengthen the physician workforce so Americans can access necessary care for decades to come.
Dr. Tripti Kataria, president, Illinois State Medical Society
How I’d improve Garfield Ridge
As an almost lifelong resident of Garfield Ridge, I read the recent Sun-Times article outlining Vittum Park Civic League’s Danny Villalobos’ proposals for the community with great interest. I am active in the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch and other groups, and I was not aware of the survey he passed out.
I was puzzled about his plan to turn Archer Avenue into the neighborhood’s main street, because it is already a main business corridor. I do agree that our streets need to be safer. But anyone having trouble climbing stairs will not benefit from a raised crosswalk. And how many and at what locations would they be installed?
I would welcome more red light cameras/plate readers to go after drivers who are on their cellphones and ignore no-turn-on-red signs and pedestrians, as my husband and I were close to getting hit by a distracted driver.
I also think extra funds aren’t needed to make our area more welcoming if property owners, especially businesses, would do their part to remove the trash on the sidewalks. Also, turning vacant lots into parks doesn’t make sense because our great neighborhood already has a great park district with wonderful programs for all ages.
Marilyn Gilroy, Garfield Ridge
Taylor-Travis tone deaf wedding expenses
It has been estimated that the cost of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding was around $20 million.
For humanitarians who care about people across the planet, this is a disgrace.
According to the World Health Organization, there were an estimated 579,000 malaria deaths in Africa in 2024. Many of these deaths could have been prevented if malaria-grade bed nets had been available.
Bed nets can cost $2 to $7 apiece, so if the cost was $5, $20 million dollars would provide 4 million nets, and most of those would protect children who are victimized much more often than adults.
Given that the U.S. Agency for International Development has been severely downsized by the Trump administration, the cost of these extravagant events, while people, including children, are dying in poorly developed countries, is simply heartbreaking.
Larry Vigon, Jefferson Park