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Nine governors press NCAA to change transgender student athlete participation policy [1]
['Janelle Stecklein', 'More From Author', '- October']
Date: 2023-11
Nine Republican governors are pressing the nation’s top collegiate sports governing body to overhaul its transgender student athlete policies to “guarantee a fair environment” for female athletes.
In a letter, the governors wrote that the NCAA has “the chance to guarantee an environment where female college athletes can thrive without the concern of inequities” but must overhaul its existing Transgender Student Athlete Policy.
The governors said the NCAA currently leaves it to the national governing body of each sport to determine transgender student-athlete participation.
“But this policy allows the NCAA to avoid responsibility for ensuring the fairness of collegiate sports – therefore it must be changed,” the governors of South Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming wrote in a joint letter addressed to NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. It was also sent to NCAA President Charlie Baker and the organization’s board of governors.
Because of a lack of federal action, the governors said they have become the “last line of defense” for ensuring fairness in female sports. They said many of their states have already passed legislation “to ensure this fairness,” but more can be done.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has not signed on to the letter but signed legislation in March 2022 to ban participation by transgender women in K-12 and college sports, including at NCAA member schools.
In their letter, the nine governors said that it’s “fundamentally unfair” for a biological male to compete against a biological female, and that does not “change when someone declares themselves as being of a different gender.” They said biological men are generally “taller, faster, stronger and have more testosterone than biological women,” and they argued that there’s a scientifically documented athletic performance gap between genders.
“Policies that allow men and women to compete against one another validate an average male athlete stealing the recognition from a truly remarkable female athlete,” they wrote.
The letter also pointed to the performance of track star Allyson Felix who is considered one of the greatest female athletes in her sport. The governors said she once ran a 400-meter race in 49.62 seconds. However, they said high school boys often run faster.
They said Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in activities or education programs that receive federal funding, guarantees women an equal chance to compete.
The NCAA did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
This story was originally published by Oklahoma Voice, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.
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