NCAA changes transgender policy to limit women’s competition to athletes assigned female at birth

“The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes on Thursday, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.

“The move came one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. The order gives federal agencies latitude to withhold federal funding from entities that do not abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets ‘sex’ as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

“The NCAA policy change is effective immediately and applies to all athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews. The NCAA has some 1,100 member schools with more than 500,000 athletes, easily the largest governing body for college athletics in the U.S.”

“The previous NCAA policy went into effect in 2022 and adopted a sport-by-sport approach, where transgender participation was determined by the policy of the sport’s national governing body.”

“Member schools remain responsible for certifying athlete eligibility for practice and competition. The NCAA also said schools are subject to local, state and federal legislation and such legislation supersedes NCAA rules.”

“The NCAA policy now mirrors that of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which governs sports at 241 mostly small colleges across the country. Last April, the NAIA unanimously approved a policy allowing only athletes whose sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy to compete.”