NAIA Bans Transgender Athletes from Competing in Women's Sports
The Council of Presidents for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) unanimously approved a ban on transgender athletes in women's sports, according to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.
Under the new rule, only athletes assigned as female at birth will be eligible to compete in women's sports.
"We know there are a lot of different opinions out there," NAIA president Jim Carr said to Dodd. "For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. ... We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You're allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete."
Carr acknowledged the NAIA doesn't have a record of a transgender athlete ever having competed in an NAIA postseason event.
A number of states across the United States have passed laws restricting transgender athletes from competition. But Dodd noted the NAIA "is believed to be the first national college governing body to mandate that athletes compete according to assigned sex at birth."
In January 2022, the NCAA announced its policy for transgender athletes, effectively mirroring the approach of the International Olympic Committee. Rather than issuing a blanket ruling, it determined the governing body for each individual sport has the authority to determine the rules for participation.
The NCAA issued a statement Monday in the wake of the NAIA's decision.
"College sports are the premier stage for women's sports in America and the NCAA will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women's sports and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships," the organization said, per the Associated Press' Eric Olson.
Olson pointed to research indicating transgender athletes only account of a fraction of the wider population at the high school level, a group that shrinks further as you rise up the ladder.
"There are some 15.3 million public high school students in the United States and a 2019 study by the CDC estimated 1.8% of them — about 275,000 — are transgender," he wrote. "The number of athletes within that group is much smaller; a 2017 survey by Human Rights Campaign suggested fewer than 15% of all transgender boys and transgender girls play sports."
