Dawn Staley – Transgender athletes ‘should be able to play’

CLEVELAND– Caroline from the south Women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday she believes transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

At a press conference a day after his game against the No. 1 Gamecocks NC State During the Final Four drive to advance to the national championship game against Iowa, the legendary coach was asked his thoughts on the matter.

“I’m of the opinion that if you’re a woman, you should play,” Staley said. “If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play.”

Hours later, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was asked the same question.

“I understand that this is a topic that people are interested in,” Bluder said. “But today I’m focusing on tomorrow’s game, my players. It’s an important game we have tomorrow, and that’s what I want to be here to talk about. But I know it’s an important question for another time.”

The debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete consistent with their gender identity has intensified within states, courts, sports governing bodies and the court of public opinion over the past few years. last four years.

The NCAA first adopted a policy governing the participation of transgender athletes in 2010, providing a pathway for participation for transgender women and men consistent with their gender identity. It changed its policy on January 19, 2022, to be sport specific, as determined by each sport’s national governing body, the international federation or the 2015 Olympic standard.

This policy change came amid controversy surrounding University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who competed in women’s swimming and won a national championship in the 500-meter freestyle.

The NCAA currently requires transgender women wishing to participate in women’s sports to submit documentation, including their testosterone levels, to the NCAA Committee on Competition Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. The committee’s medical review panel determines eligibility.

For basketball, the NCAA relies on the 2015 Olympic guidelines to determine the allowable testosterone threshold, which is less than 10 nanomoles per liter. No known transgender women compete in NCAA Division I basketball.

Since Idaho passed HB 500 in 2020 – the first law that barred transgender girls from being eligible for participation in girls’ and women’s sports – 23 additional states have passed similar legislation, including South Carolina and the Iowa, which passed laws in 2022. no federal legislation regulating the eligibility of transgender athletes.

How Title IX applies or does not apply to existing laws and policies is the subject of litigation in several states. On March 14, 16 current and former NCAA athletes, led by former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, a cisgender woman, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta against the NCAA, claiming its policies violate their rights under Title IX.

World Aquatics, the cycling federation (UCI) and World Athletics are among the international federations that have updated their policies to be more restrictive towards transgender women in recent years. All three federations prohibit transgender women from competing in the women’s category if they have undergone testosterone-driven puberty.

Staley acknowledged the political nature of the question and the potential backlash to his answer.

“So now the Barnstormer people are going to flood my calendar and distract me on one of the biggest days in our game,” she said. “And I’m OK with that. I really am.”