A week after a smaller collegiate athletics organization made the decision, a group of House Republicans pushed the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) to outlaw transgender-identifying male athletes from participating in women’s sports.
Representative Claudia Tenney and sixteen other members of Congress demanded in a statement letter that NCAA president Charlie Baker reject the organization’s current transgender student-athlete policies to uphold “the critical Title IX protections for women’s sports.”
As per the NCAA policy, the national governing body of each sport has the authority to decide whether male and female student-athletes may compete in that sport.
Only biological females
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Council of Presidents unanimously endorsed a policy that limits the female division to biological females and excludes individuals who identify as female. This is the reason why the lawmakers are requesting this regulation.
The NAIA’s policy states: “…appropriately recognizes the natural advantages that biological men have in certain athletic competitions.” She cited a 2022 study that concluded “many anatomical sex differences driven by testosterone are not reversible” and found that “estrogen therapy will not reverse most athletic performance parameters.”
With this in mind, transgender-identifying guys have a considerably higher advantage on the athletics field compared to their female counterparts.
Moreover, the representative also referenced a recent statement made by University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who claimed transgender men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Coach Staley declared: “I’m of the opinion of, if you’re a woman you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play.” However, Tenney disagreed with the coach’s sentiments.
“As such, we urge the NCAA to reconsider its current policy that allows biological males to deprive women of a fair opportunity to compete and achieve athletic success,” Tenney said.
The NCAA stood by its current policies in the face of criticism.
Cover Photo: IG
Source: MSN