A group of more than 400 current and former Olympic, professional and collegiate athletes, more than 300 academics and about 100 advocacy groups released separate letters Tuesday urging the NCAA not to ban transgender women from participating in women’s college sports .
The letters were coordinated by LGBTQ sports advocacy group Athlete Ally, and signatories include former U.S. women’s national team soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe, former WNBA star and Olympic basketball player Sue Bird and former NFL defensive end RK Russell.
“We call on you to be on the right side of history and affirm that sport is truly for all of us,” said the letter signed by the athletes bed. “Don’t ban transgender women from NCAA women’s sports.”
In a separate statement from Rapinoe, arguably the most famous athlete to sign, the two-time Olympic medalist said that “bans against trans athletes presented as ‘protecting women’s sports’ do not speak in our favor and do not nothing to protect us.
“Now is the time for the NCAA and the national sports community to speak out and affirm that sports should be accessible to everyone, including transgender athletes,” Rapinoe said in the statement released by Athlete Ally.
Asked about the letters, the NCAA said in a statement that “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 NCAA has allowed transgender women to compete on women’s sports teams under certain conditions. since 2010. In 2022, the association announced that it implement a new sport-by-sport approach. Current guidelines, like those from 2010, require transgender women to undergo at least a year of testosterone suppression, but the new rules largely defer details to each sport’s national governing body.
The new rules set a the media storm that broke out for the first time about a transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania that of Lia Thomas winning streak in the 2021-2022 season.
Tuesday’s letters are part of a broader framework… and very controversial — debate on transgender sports participation. A recent report of Gallup found that 69% of respondents believe transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth.
The NCAA, the largest university sports association with nearly 1,100 member schoolswas a central figure in this debate.
Last month, more than a dozen varsity swimmers and volleyball players sued the NCAAarguing that the sports body violated her Title IX rights by allowing Thomas to compete in the 2022 women’s swimming national championships.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who was one of the plaintiffs in last month’s lawsuit and was mentioned in two of the letters to the NCAA, is tied with Thomas for fifth place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle race at a 2022 NCAA championship meet. and has since become a vocal advocate for trans inclusion in women’s sports.
Asked about the letters Tuesday, Gaines denounced the NCAA’s policies regarding the participation of trans athletes, calling them “discriminatory.”
“Allowing even one male athlete to compete in women’s sports takes away many opportunities for women,” Gaines said in an email. “Female athletes governed by NCAA policies do not accept this.”
Just last week, 17 House Republicans co-signed a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker, urging him to ban trans women from competing in all women’s sports. The letter cited Thomas’ victories and a decision made earlier this month by the sport’s smaller governing body, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, or NAIA, ban trans women from participating in women’s sports around 250 member colleges.
“We urge the NCAA to reconsider its current policy that allows biological males to deprive women of a fair opportunity to compete and succeed in sports,” the letter read. “All women at NCAA-affiliated schools should not fear having their athletic achievements minimized by biological men.”
Conservative lawmakers across the country have also gotten involved in the issue. Two dozen states across the country now ban transgender students from participating in school sports that match their gender identity, according to an LGBTQ think tank. Movement Advancement Project. Injunctions temporarily block some of these laws, including those in Arizona, Idaho and Utah, according to MAP.
The Biden administration on Friday issued revised Title IX regulations, clarifying that the federal Civil Rights Act of 1972 prohibits anti-LGBTQ discrimination in schools. However, the new rule notably excluded a new policy prohibiting schools from banning transgender athletes overall, which the Associated Press reported the administration had initially planned to include.
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