Washington (AFP) – The governing body for US collegiate sports changed its policy for transgender athletes on Thursday, allowing only those assigned female at birth to compete in women’s sports. The move by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) came one day after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. The order allows federal agencies to deny funding to groups that do not consider birth-assigned genders in determining sex.
The NCAA comprises 1,100 colleges in all 50 states with more than 530,000 student athletes. “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.”
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Trump took a victory lap on social media, saying he had saved women’s sports. “Exciting news! Due to my Executive Order, which I proudly signed yesterday, the NCAA has officially changed their policy of allowing men in Women’s Sports – IT IS NOW BANNED!” Trump posted.
Baker mentioned that last year he knew of only 10 transgender NCAA athletes, but three former teammates of University of Pennsylvania transgender women’s swimmer Lia Thomas sued the NCAA and the school over Thomas competing at Ivy League and NCAA championships. San Jose State University also had teams decline to compete against its women’s volleyball team over unconfirmed claims that there was a transgender player on the roster.
The NCAA’s prior rule on transgender athletes had been to default to the position of the sport’s US national governing body or international federation competition rules. “The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration,” Baker said. “The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student athletes affected by changes in the policy.”
Under the policy changes, a student assigned female at birth who has started hormone therapy such as testosterone cannot compete on a women’s team but can continue to practice with a women’s team and receive benefits such as medical care while practicing. “This policy is effective immediately and applies to all student-athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the NCAA’s prior transgender participation policy,” the NCAA said.
The NCAA governors directed staff to help member schools “foster respectful and inclusive collegiate athletic cultures,” including making mental health services and resources available to student athletes. The NCAA also said individual schools have the autonomy to determine athletics participation on their campuses and that the policy does not apply to mixed men’s and women’s team sports such as rifle.
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