The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the governing body for small colleges, announced their new policy that bans transgender athletes from women’s sports.
On Monday, the NAIA’s Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote. The NAIA oversees around 83,000 athletes at schools across the U.S. is the first college sports association to initiate a policy concerning the issue.
The NAIA transgender participation policy states that athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex is female and have not started hormone therapy will be permitted to participate in women’s sports.
A student athlete who has started hormone therapy may participate in workouts, practice’s and team activities, but not in official competition.
“With the exception of competitive cheer and competitive dance, the NAIA created separate categories for male and female participants,” the NAIA said. “Each NAIA sport includes some combination of strength, speed and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes. As a result, the NAIA policy for transgender student-athletes applies to all sports except for competitive cheer and competitive dance, which are open to all students.”
The topic has growing issue who believe transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete on girls’ and women’s sports teams. Many feel the issues lies specifically why Title IX was created in the first place. In 1978, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, mandated the provision of equal opportunities to men and women in all educational institutes. Title IX requires all educational institutions in the US to reward male and female athletes equally.
Last month, more than a dozen current and former women’s college athletes filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing the college sports governing body of violating their rights by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
