The NCAA has changed its gender eligibility rules to ban all biological males from women’s sports, in a new policy released on Thursday.
The NCAA has officially changed its gender eligibility policies to ban all biological males from women’s sports one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to address the issue.
The governing body of college sports announced on Thursday afternoon its new participation policy for transgender student-athletes.
“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team,” the new policy reads.
The new policy still allows biological females to compete on men’s teams.
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The previous policy, which had been in place in 2010, allowed biological males to compete in the women’s category after undergoing at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment.
Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room of the White House in front of female athletes on National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Wednesday.
NCAA President Charlie Baker responded to the executive order in a statement later on Wednesday, saying it provided a “clear, national standard,” and that the NCAA Board of Governors would review it and take steps to align the organization’s policy in the coming days.
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“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” the statement said. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.
“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”
Baker addressed concerns over the issue of female athletes having to share teams and locker rooms with trans athletes during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in December.
There, Baker insisted that female athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they’re uncomfortable sharing with transgenders and that the NCAA’s policies that allow trans athletes to compete against women are based on federal standards.
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The previous policy has resulted in multiple lawsuits against the NCAA and its member schools. Former NCAA swimmer and current conservative activist Riley Gaines is leading a lawsuit over her experience of having to compete with and share a locker room with trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 national championships. She is joined by several other women athletes who have also been affected by trans inclusion.
Another lawsuit was filed Tuesday evening, when three of Thomas’ former UPenn teammates came forward with their own experiences of having to share a team and locker room with Thomas and were allegedly gaslit by their university administrators and fed pro-trans ideology.
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Trump’s Department of Education (DOE) also launched an investigation into potential Title IX violations that occurred at UPenn over the Thomas situation, San Jose State University and at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) for separate incidents.
At San Jose State, transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming played three seasons on the women’s team from 2022-24, as one of the Mountain West’s top hitters, leading the team in kills. However, unlike UPenn’s handling of Thomas, SJSU administrators allegedly withheld the truth about Fleming’s birth sex from the other female players on the team, according to a lawsuit filed by 11 Mountain West volleyball players and a former SJSU assistant coach.
Additionally, DOE’s Office for Civil Rights will be actively reviewing athletic participation policies at a number of schools to evaluate their alignment with Title IX protections for female athletes, sources told Fox News Digital.
Last week, the DOE notified K-12 schools and higher education institutions of a return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex.
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
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