The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) <a href="https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/7/1/km8kb6o1n99bdn/TG_Policy_for_webpage_v2.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">announced</a> Monday a transgender policy effectively banning transgender athletes for all women’s sports other than for two co-ed sports, competitive cheer and competitive dance. The decision, made by the NAIA’s council of presidents, comes just two days after South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said she’d welcome transgender players on her team.<br> Like the NCAA, the NAIA is a national association of member colleges that oversees intercollegiate sports and sponsors national championships. The NAIA is smaller, however, with under 250 member schools and their approximately 83,000 athletes. Its members are primarily private colleges, many of which are religiously affiliated, along with a group of public universities. <div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-1"> <div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="300"> <div style="" class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text" data-priority="10" > <div id="gpt-sprt-dsk-tab-midarticle-uid0" class="adw-300 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad=""> <script type="application/javascript">
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</script> </div> </div> </div> </div> <br> The new transgender policy, the NAIA states, reflects the association’s support of “fair and safe competition opportunities” and adherence to Title IX, a federal law that commands gender equity in <a href="https://www.sportico.com/t/college-sports/" id="auto-tag_college-sports_1" data-tag="college-sports" >college sports</a>. Going forward, while male sports in the NAIA will continue to be open to all eligible athletes, female sports must only feature athletes “whose biological sex is female.” The NAIA defines “biological sex” as “distinguishing characteristics and can be supported by birth certificate or signed affidavit.” <br> The NAIA says that a member school with an athlete who begins “masculinizing hormone therapy” must notify the association’s national office. Such an athlete can, with their school’s approval, continue to practice and work out. However, this athlete will be ineligible to play in games against other schools.<br> An athlete at an NAIA school whose eligibility to play a sport—and potentially their eligibility for an athletic scholarship—has been lost on account of the new rule could sue the NAIA. The athlete would likely seek a restraining order that would permit them to play and argue their exclusion violates constitutional safeguards for equal protection and due process.<br> Last month, a group of athletes, including former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer Riley Gaines, <a href="https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2024/riley-gaines-sues-ncaa-transgender-policy-1234770946/" >sued</a> the NCAA and the University of Georgia for alleged violations of Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause and the right to bodily privacy. The plaintiffs contend the NCAA, by permitting the eligibility of transgender athletes, unlawfully denies opportunities for women athletes to play and win athletic awards and obtain other achievements. <br> Although there are few transgender college athletes—last fall, of 480,000 athletes playing at NCAA colleges, <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/03/09/national-ban-on-transgender-athletes-in-girls-sports-passed-by-u-s-house-panel/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">only</a> 32 were transgender—the eligibility of transgender athletes remains a source of legal and political dispute. Advocates and opponents offer conflicting interpretations of how Title IX and constitutional protections ought to apply. Advocates argue the athletes identify as women and thus should be eligible, whereas opponents insist it is unfair for athletes whose assigned sex at birth was male to compete. According to the Movement Advancement Project, 24 states <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/youth/sports_participation_bans" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">ban</a> transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. <div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-2"> <div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="300"> <div style="" class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text" data-priority="10" > <div id="gpt-sprt-dsk-tab-mid-article2-uid1" class="adw-300 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad=""> <script type="application/javascript">
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</script> </div> </div> </div> </div> <br> The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on the eligibility of transgender athletes. However, in <em>Bostock v. Clayton County</em> (2021), the Court interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit employment-related discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. <br> Justice Neil Gorsuch <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a> that “an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex … sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.” Whether the Court would rule similarly in a case involving transgender college athletes remains to be seen.<br> Staley, whose Gamecocks defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes in Sunday’s national championship game, generated headlines Saturday when asked during a media session if she would allow a transgender athlete on her team. “I’m of the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play,” Staley said. “If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play.”<br> The NAIA reported $13.3 million in revenue in fiscal 2022, according to its most recent available tax return, compared to the NCAA’ $1.22 billion in revenue that same year. It was a jump from $11.9 million the prior year.<br> “The NAIA understands that legal action being taken to challenge the policy is a possibility,” an NAIA spokesperson told Sportico on Monday. “[B]ut this policy is one our membership and board felt like was the right decision.”<br>Get our latest stories in the feed of your favorite networks<br>We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our anonymous form.<br>Sign up for our daily newsletter<br>Sportico is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Sportico Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.<br><br><a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNwb3J0aWNvLmNvbS9sYXcvYW5hbHlzaXMvMjAyNC9uYWlhLWJhbnMtdHJhbnNnZW5kZXItYXRobGV0ZXMtbGVnYWwtMTIzNDc3NDQwNC_SAV9odHRwczovL3d3dy5zcG9ydGljby5jb20vbGF3L2FuYWx5c2lzLzIwMjQvbmFpYS1iYW5zLXRyYW5zZ2VuZGVyLWF0aGxldGVzLWxlZ2FsLTEyMzQ3NzQ0MDQvYW1wLw?oc=5">source</a>
