Chris Voelz is right at home in the center of battles over student-athlete rights. As a University of Minnesota athletics director from 1988 to 2002, her voice was as loud as any in Minnesota when it came to gender equity and fair treatment in amateur athletics.

The latest debate on equity in sports centers on transgender girls and whether student-athletes born male should be allowed to compete in girls high school sports in Minnesota. Voelz is watching closely, understands the issue’s complexity and, in a conversation with the Minnesota Star Tribune this week, said too many are failing to recognize the multiple layers of this issue.

The 66-year-old women’s sports advocate stated that she believes in a pathway “where a young person can [be transgender] — and if they choose to be an athlete and involved in sport, that it shouldn’t be taken away from them."

Opportunities for transgender girls to participate in sports are at risk in Minnesota, where current policy “allows participation for all students consistent with their gender identity.” President Donald Trump in February signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports, citing Title IX. On Sept. 30, the Trump administration demanded the state’s Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League change its policy in 10 days or face “imminent enforcement action.”

The apparent deadline arrived Friday, though there was no immediate word of any federal action on the matter.

Voelz doesn’t agree with the all-or-nothing framing of the debate and advocates for the inclusion of science in the conversation.

“It deserves our thoughtful analysis,” she said. “It deserves us trying to focus on the ability for [all] youth to play. It begs science to still monitor this so that we have equal platforms, and that women have access to excellence as we have been fighting for for decades.”

There is precedent for scientific testing, Voelz said. Lab results analyzed by medical professionals would determine if traces of testosterone in transgender females fall within allowable levels, ensuring eligibility in girls and women’s sports. Males typically have greater muscle strength and speed, and testing would verify athletes don’t have male-born advantages. Hormone treatment testing was used for the Olympics, and the NCAA followed suit — until February. Following the Trump administration decision, the NCAA updated its participation policy for transgender athletes to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth.

Voelz, who served as Gophers women’s AD back when the school had men’s and women’s athletic departments, is against “strict bans on transgender girls or women in sports,” she said. “But at the same time, I really want it to be monitored and science-driven. … And in this case, it has to give the birthright woman the opportunity for her to achieve.”

As the executive director of the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards since 2012, Voelz has had a front-row seat to this debate. She sees a lack of sincerity in those yelling loudest.

“It’s no issue until somebody wins,” said Voelz, who is an ambassador for the Women’s Sports Foundation. “The opposition group says let’s have transgender only compete against transgender. That would be fine if they were 33 percent of the population. But they’re 1 percent. Can you put together a softball team, much less a conference, much less a league, much less a national championship of transgender athletes playing mostly transgender athletes? No.”

Doug Wardlow takes a different view. As director of litigation for True North Legal, one of the law firms representing three Minnesota softball players who filed a federal lawsuit against Attorney General Keith Ellison and other leaders to remove transgender athletes from their sport, Wardlow wants the Trump administration’s edict to matter most.

“The MSHSL and the Minnesota Department of Education should take the federal determination seriously and rescind their discriminatory policy so that Minnesota girls can compete on the level playing field that Title IX guarantees,” he said. “Rescinding the current policy means that Minnesota students can participate in sports on teams that correspond to their sex, consistent with Title IX’s purpose to ensure fair competition, safety, and equal athletic opportunities for everyone.”

Complying with the executive order would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the office for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has said.

Interpretations of that act need to be at the forefront of this debate, said Kat Rohn, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy organization OutFront Minnesota.

“Really at the heart of this argument over trans inclusion in schools and in sports is really the argument of whether trans people belong in overall public life at-large,” Rohn said. “The Minnesota State High School League and individual schools are wisely trying to stay out of that more cultural fight. But ultimately schools have to find ways to include and support every student because there are LGBTQ students at every single school, regardless of what the laws and policies are.”

More than anything, Voelz is eager for a fair resolution.

“The attention it has gotten is really out of proportion with the student-athletes who are involved,” she said, adding that she wished “all the people who are saying ‘We want to do this to support women in sport’ would’ve been there the last 40 years trying to support women in sport. I have not seen that.”