The NCAA has banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s college sports in a broad new policy that can be applied to less than 10 athletes nationwide.
In a statement Thursday, the sports organization said it will soon be effective and only athletes assigned a woman at birth will be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Transathletes can still practice with a female team and take advantage of medical care and other benefits, the NCAA said. The policies enacted to comply with President Donald Trump, a executive order signed a day ago, do not apply to trans men.
The NCAA previously postponed its transathlete policy to the national governing bodies of each sport.
Over 500,000 student-athletes play NCAA sports. Of that number, fewer than 10 are trans, NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate committee in December. He didn’t say whether those athletes were trans women or trans men.
Since taking office two weeks ago, Trump has signed four executive orders aimed at trans people. His latest order, “Women’s Sports Men,” bans trans women from competing in US women’s sports and fulfills one of the promises of the 2024 campaign. While signing the bill, he misinterpreted a trans woman and a cisgender woman, Imane Khelif, an Olympic gold medalist boxer from Algeria.
Proponents of such a prohibition argue that trans women, despite the lack of research on the subject, have biological properties that give them an unfair advantage over CIS women. However, the data shows that trans people face intense discrimination in almost every life sector in the United States, including sports.
Opponents of such sports bans are likewise disproportionate, considering the relatively small number of trans girls and female athletes, their anger towards their participation is disproportionate and could “dominate” the sport. They claim that they are claiming that they are claiming. Trans people from public life.
