On Monday, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) made a pretty significant move against transgender athletes as the organization officially announced a ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
The NAIA governs college athletics for many smaller schools across the country, overseeing roughly 83,000 athletes at schools across the country. In a 20-0 vote, the organization decided that anyone may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and who have not begun hormone therapy will be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
“Participation by students in sports designated as male by the NAIA: All eligible NAIA student-athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports,” the organization said according to Fox News.
“Participation by students in sports designated as female by the NAIA: Only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.”
Obviously, this effectively bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports throughout the NAIA as the is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.
It’s worth noting that the NCAA, which governs major collegiate athletics at bigger schools, has not moved forward with such a ban on transgender athletes.
[Fox News]
