NCAA Bans Trans Women from Female Sports After Trump Pressure

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) declared on Thursday that its board of governors has decided to revise its policy on transgender athletes’ participation. This decision comes in the wake of an executive order by President Donald Trump, a Republican, which aims to prevent transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports teams.

The NCAA, a nonprofit organization overseeing sports activities for over 1,100 colleges and universities that serve more than 530,000 student-athletes, has introduced a new rule. It states that “irrespective of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, a student-athlete can join (practice and compete in) a men’s team if they fulfill all other NCAA eligibility criteria.”

Yet, the updated policy specifies that student-athletes who were identified as male at birth, or those assigned female at birth who have started hormone therapy such as testosterone, may continue to train with women’s teams but are not permitted to compete in them.

According to The Hill, “The previous NCAA policy allowed transgender athletes’ participation based on the guidelines established by each sport’s national or international governing body.” NCAA president Charlie Baker, who previously served as the Republican governor of Massachusetts, informed Congress that less than 10 transgender athletes were participating across all three NCAA divisions.

In a statement on Thursday, Baker declared, “President Trump’s order establishes a definitive, nationwide standard,” and argued that the new policy “advances the NCAA’s foundational commitment to provide fair competition in collegiate sports and to safeguard, support, and promote the mental and physical well-being of student-athletes.”

While President Trump hailed the policy revision via social media on Thursday, LGBTQ+ rights advocates have vehemently criticized both the NCAA and the president.

On the social media platform Bluesky, Chris Geidner from Law Dork lambasted the decision, calling it “a staggering display of cowardice with harsh, unnecessary consequences.”

“Fantastic job, NCAA. You’ve effectively joined Donald Trump’s campaign against transgender individuals, aiming to exclude them from public spaces and complicating their lives,” he continued. “Charlie Baker, you are responsible for this.”

Dr. Jack Turban announced his resignation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports on Bluesky, revealing to The Hill that neither he nor other committee members were informed about the board’s decision prior to its public release.

“Trump and the Republicans target a small segment of the population, demonizing them and inciting fear. This is harmful and has tangible impacts,” stated Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on social media Thursday afternoon. “It’s crucial that we discuss and educate about the real issues affecting fairness in sports, but Trump’s actions are not the solution.”

“We need to concentrate on the actual challenges facing female athletes, such as inadequate funding and exposure to abuse, rather than attacking a group that makes up less than 0.1% of student-athletes,” added Jayapal, who is the mother of a transgender daughter. “This crisis is fabricated—a distraction from the fact that Trump and the Republicans, who campaigned on improving wages and reducing costs, lack genuine solutions to enhance your lives.”

“They want you to look away. Don’t,” she concluded. “And to the transgender community—I understand this is extremely tough. I’m deeply sorry you have to endure this, but please know that I see you, I support you, and I will ALWAYS fight for you. That’s a promise.”

The repercussions of the president’s order are already being felt beyond the NCAA’s policy shift. As reported by The Washington Post on Thursday:

Trump’s executive order instructs the Department of Education to notify schools that they will breach Title IX, the federal legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in educational institutions, if they allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’ or women’s sports. Schools that engage in such discrimination will lose eligibility for federal funds.

Earlier on Thursday, the Department of Education commenced investigations into the University of Pennsylvania, San José State University, and a high school athletic association in Massachusetts for alleged Title IX violations. The investigations focus on the inclusion of transgender students in a women’s swimming team and a girls’ high school basketball team in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, respectively. Additionally, several opponents forfeited matches this fall against the San José State women’s volleyball team, allegedly due to a transgender player being part of the team.

The newspaper highlighted that the NCAA’s decision followed a lawsuit filed just two days earlier by former teammates of swimmer Lia Thomas. The lawsuit, lodged in a Massachusetts federal court, accuses Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League, and the NCAA of violating Title IX by permitting Thomas to compete in the 2022 championships.