The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which administers collegiate athletics in the U.S., has banned transgender women from competing in women’s college sports.
The ban was adopted following President Donald Trump’s executive order on Feb. 5 that threatens to pull federal funding from higher educational institutions if they allow individuals assigned male at birth to compete on female sports teams.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Previously, the NCAA allowed the governing bodies of respective sports to establish their own criteria for eligibility. Some sports, like swimming and track and field, have banned anyone who has undergone male puberty from participating as a woman.
Other sports established guidelines for how much testosterone could remain in an athlete’s blood following a year of hormone therapy.
The standards differed from sport to sport. For instance, USA Volleyball allowed transgender athletes to compete with testosterone levels four times higher than the maximum level established by U.S. Rowing.
The NCAA’s new policy limits women’s competitions in all sports to athletes assigned female at birth.
Baker previously testified before Congress last year that he estimated fewer than 10 transgender athletes were competing at the collegiate level.
Critics of the ban question whether it will lead to infringing on the rights of cisgender women who are successful or who don’t adhere to traditional beauty standards or stereotypes of femininity.
They argue that there is nothing to stop rival teams from attempting to sideline an athlete by falsely accusing them of being transgender or a school from subjecting a female athlete to invasive questioning or medical exams to “prove” their assigned sex at birth.
Public opinion is mainly on the side of those in favor of the ban. A majority of Americans — including Democrats — believe that transgender women should not be allowed to compete against cisgender women.
In recent years, controversies over the success enjoyed by a handful of transgender athletes have skewed public opinion in favor of restricting transgender participation, with proponents arguing that the inclusion of trans athletes is inherently unfair.
Most legal experts believe that both Trump’s executive order and the NCAA’s new policy will be challenged in court, leading federal judges to determine whether Title IX’s prohibitions on discrimination based on “sex” extend to individuals discriminated against or mistreated due to their gender identity.
In a statement, Lambda Legal expressed disappointment in the NCAA’s actions, arguing the ban is “simplistic” and ignores variations of human development. The LGBTQ organization also accused Trump’s executive order of being based on falsehoods regarding transgender athletes.
“The NCAA’s apparently eager capitulation might be understandable given the heavy-handed coercion –blackmail really — by the President,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Carl Charles said. “But how fast and far this prestigious organization has fallen from its leadership in 2016 against North Carolina’s notorious anti-trans law, HB2, which was explained with similar smears. Then, as a sharp rebuke to the discrimination and fearmongering leveled by state legislators, the NCAA directed the relocation of its high-profile championships to another state. Now, less than ten years later, it offers an empty promise ‘to help foster welcoming environments … for all student-athletes,’ while abandoning those who need that welcome most.”
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