Student-athletes competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) will only be allowed to compete in women’s sports if they were assigned the female gender at birth.
The national small college organization released a new transgender policy Monday that bans trans women from competing in women’s sports, with the news broken by CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd.
The new policy is believed to make the NAIA the first national college governing body to mandate athletes to compete according to their assigned sex at birth.
The NAIA’s Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 25-0 vote on Monday morning. The organization sent out a survey to all of its institutions in December, and the results indicated widespread support for the move.
Five of the councilmembers were reportedly not present for Monday’s vote, though the 20-0 margin was more than enough for the policy to pass.
The previous NAIA policy only applied to postseason competition, but the new mandate applies to all NAIA competitions.
“We know there are a lot of different opinions out there,” NAIA president Jim Carr told CBS Sports. ”
For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. … We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You’re allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete.”
In addition to blocking athletes assigned male at birth from competing in the women’s category, it also disallows those who were assigned female but have taken masculizing hormone therapy to transition to women.
Those no longer eligible to compete in the women’s division will still be able to compete in the men’s, Carr said.
“It’s important to know that the male sports are open to anyone.”
The participation of trans women has been a lightning-rod issue in college sports, particularly swimming, over the last two-plus years following the 2021-22 season that saw Lia Thomas, a trans woman, win the 2022 NCAA title in the women’s 500 freestyle.
Thomas, who competed for the University of Pennsylvania men’s team before transitioning to the women’s team for her final season of eligibility, has hired a law firm to challenge the ban made by World Aquatics on the participation of trans women in the women’s category, instead creating an “open” category.
In 2022, the NCAA passed the bucks on finalizing a set of guidelines, announcing it would allow national governing bodies of each specific sport to determine their transgender policies.
USA Swimming published an updated transgender policy in February 2022, using a science-reliant approach that created different guidelines for elite and non-elite athletes.
The NCAA issued the following statement to CBS Sports on Monday:
“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.”
According to CBS Sports, the December survey sent to school presidents and chancellors had 68 respondents (27%), 58 of which were in favor of the policy change.
The policy will come into effect on August 1, 2024.
FULL POLICY
Courtesy: NAIA
Student-athletes may participate in NAIA competition in accordance with the following conditions.
- Participation by students in sports designated as male by the NAIA: All eligible NAIA student-athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports.
- 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. They may participate under the following conditions:
- A student who has not begun any masculinizing hormone therapy may participate without limitation.
- A student who has begun masculinizing hormone therapy may participate in:
- All activities that are internal to the institution (does not include external competition), including workouts, practices, and team activities. Such participation is at the discretion of the NAIA member institution where the student is enrolled; and
- b. External competition that is not a countable contest as defined by the NAIA (per NAC Policy Article XXV, Section A, Item 12). Such participation is at the discretion of the NAIA member institution where the student is enrolled.
An NAIA institution that has a student-athlete who has begun masculinizing hormone therapy must notify the NAIA national office. The national office will take the necessary steps to provide appropriate privacy protections.
This policy will be subject to review in light of any legal, scientific, or medical developments.
Two comments I would like to make:
- Anyone saying this is good because it is keeping men out of women’s sports is ignorant. If anyone studied the trans experience they would know that a transman or transwoman is not physically the same as their pre-transition identity, and that their transitioned self is physically more closely aligned with their self selected gender then their assigned one.
- This is likely the best decision for sporting in general. Even though transitioned individuals are more closely aligned with their self selected gender there are still advantages/disadvantages that cannot be denied. All individuals should have the right to participate, but there should be a reasonable expectation from those same individuals that they there
… Read more »Point one is simply scientifically incorrect. Being scientifically incorrect is… ignorant.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33648944/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33289906/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36195433/
Uhnnn your links don’t actually contradict what he said. They might contradict what you wish he had said, but they don’t contradict what he said.
Finally a reasonable person
This is such a bad look for the NAIA…
As a former NAIA athlete, this feels forcefully backed by the many Christian Universities we competed against. Pushing the agendas into everyone else.
The other Universities who are more accepting will now also lose out on not just potential trans student-athletes, but also others who identify as queer and might not even be trans, but stand in solidarity with fighting the fear-based oppression happening to members of the community.
Couldn’t someone also say that you’re trying to push your own agenda onto everyone else? And what if it they just made this decision because they care about women’s sports? And why would queer student atheletes be discouraged from participating because of this? It’s not like they banned trans athletes altogether. This is clearly the most fair solution to the problem but for some reason people insist that it is some attack. If you keep calling stuff like this oppression people are going to stop taking you seriously. You don’t want to be the swimswam commenter who cried wolf.
Clearly you woefully misunderstood what I was talking about.
I did not say that others would be discouraged from participating. I said that other queer (or allied) potential student-athletes would no longer consider attending/competing for Universities that support this ruling. Or even considering the NAIA altogether.
Some people are not okay with the mentally of “as long as it doesn’t effect me… “.
If you can’t grasp the concept of human empathy and standing in solidarity with marginalized groups, then we have nothing to discuss.
I guess. I’m not really sure how that is so different from being discouraged though. And I would say that I do not have the mentality of “as long as it doesn’t affect me…” which is exactly why I support this decision by the NAIA. And just because you take the side of the smaller doesn’t make you morally right. I feel sympathy for both transgender and female athletes but you have to understand that we’re talking about sports. Sports is not about how people feel its about competition on the basis of fairness. This is why its important for organizations like the NAIA to do what is just and not what makes everyone happy. I know the mindset of… Read more »
Not getting what you want doesn’t equal oppression
Context is key in that statement.
I’d agree if we were talking about the wants of, say, a murderer… And them calling out oppression bc they aren’t getting to do what they want.
Where we can’t agree is claiming that something as simple as equal rights and representation in all aspects of life, can be marked up to just whining and pushing an agenda.
You might hate this comparison, but it’s as simple as saying – should the Suffragets wanting the right to vote be told they can’t claim oppression bc its a right JUST reserved to men. They can still live their lives, but should stop trying to be included in gov decisions. That isn’t their place and “scientifically”… Read more »
What weird comparisons lol , It’s funny I just got out of rehab for 3 months and became best friends with a trans girl ( male converting to female ) and we would have discussions about these types of things and all sorts of other topics but sure as hell when she would speak honestly she would say it’s not fair or right to women born as bio women . This trans girl and I speak almost everyday since I left to check in on each other . Many things she educated me on and this is just one thing where even she laughs at “saviors” of trans . Idk it’s my personal example so take it with a grain… Read more »
grossed out but not surprised by this decision (especially from an athletic association that thrives off of conservative, christian, right-wing institutions). swimming numbers are down, lets exclude more people!
regardless, the comments on swimswam posts about anything to do with transgender athletes seem to be flocked with people who display disgusting transphobic opinions.
swimming has historically tended to be a safe(r) space for gay and queer individuals, especially gay men, and to see the turn it (and often times its community) takes towards folks who are trans is disheartening and disgusting.
Historically as of the Post-Aids-crisis era, sure. But prior to that its been historically a very unsafe space for any races that were not white.. And any identities that were not heterosexual.
I feels to unfortunately have been, apparently, a ruse tho. Based on the hate spewed in these comment sections.
concur in regards to post-aids, important distinction i didn’t mention!
You look kinda silly if you call any opinion you don’t like transphobic. Do you honestly believe that people support this decision because they dislike trans people? I do feel for trans athletes but this is what is fair for female athletes. We shouldn’t sacrifice the many in favor of the few.
there’s a lotttttt of transphobia that feeds into this. naturally people think it’s a buzz word or whatever but calling it transphobic when in many/ most cases and clearly evident in some of these comments, that is what it is.
okay so what does transphobia even mean cause I’m clearly missing something
To be as clear as possible with the literal definitions.
Transphobia –
1. harmful or unfair things a person does based on a fear or dislike of transgender and non-binary people (= people whose gender does not match the body they were born with).
2. dislike of or strong prejudice against transgender people.
Prejudice –
1. preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
2. an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc.
Thanks for the definitions. I think that it might be helpful for you to read and understand what they mean. I think that it is a little silly to think that this decision by the NAIA was made simply because they fear or dislike trans people. I know its probably a common view on twitter or tiktok but really and honestly think about it. Does it really seem fair to you for transgender athletes to compete against women? People support this decision because they believe that men and women should compete separately because men have different advantages over women. That is all this comes down to. I get that it is hard for individuals who identify as something that they… Read more »
Thank God for the NAIA promoting a level and equal playing field! I’m all for any gender of athlete having opportunities to compete in their sport, so long as it is EQUAL.
Not particularly surprising, considering the bulk of the member institutions in the NAIA are affiliated with conservative Christian organizations. I imagine they’re coming at this from the social-issues side of the entire phenomenon: many of the institutions are not at all LGBTQ-friendly in anything that has to do with student affairs.
THAT SAID, it is a stance that, while not nuanced at all, is the right direction to go. There are definite physical advantages after puberty in those assigned male-at-birth. There’s no argument there. HOWEVER, I think the issue at hand is not happening at a wide-scale, maybe fewer than 3-5 people nationwide, and we haven’t heard of instances like the Lia Thomas situation since that season’s NCAA championships.
As… Read more »
Instead of being exclusive, the NAIA had an opportunity to lead the way by creating an inclusive Open Division.
In team events, points scored by athletes in an Open Division could contribute to the team’s overall score. However, for individual events, while athletes could win medals or recognition, their performances would be compared within the Open Division to avoid direct competition with traditional gender categories for record-setting purposes.
Implement a conversion factor for times achieved by trans women in the Open Division that simulates placing in the men’s category and then applies that placement equivalently in the women’s event for scoring purposes. This conversion would need to be carefully calculated by sports scientists and experts in the sport to ensure… Read more »
Do you really think anyone is gonna compete in an open division bruh. Like didn’t FINA try the same thing and ended up with zero entries
A wildly consistent 6 people dive in the NAIA. Some excluded teen would hear about an Open Division and maybe? want to participate, given the welcoming notion one happens to exist and they might be able to compete in an environment they won’t be jeered at.
This is a complicated topic with governing bodies kicking the can all over the place. NAIA made a decision, but led with exclusion. They out of anyone can afford to try something new.
I guess. But if numbers are already so low I feel like there’s no point in creating a whole new category for the possibility of a single person joining. I don’t hate the idea of an open category I just don’t really see the incentive for it, at least from the perspective of the NAIA
The NAIA policy states that “all eligible student athletes may compete in the men’s division.”
Do you think a logical solution here would be to simply rename the “Men’s” division as “Open”?
This would create two divisions:
Female Sex — Open to people assigned female at birth, regardless of gender identity
Open — Open to anyone regardless of biological sex or gender identity
Seems to address the biological fairness issue, creates a division where everyone is allowed to participate, and uses more inclusive language (nobody who identifies as a woman is forced to compete in a “men’s” event, nobody who identifies as a man is forced to compete in a “women’s” event).
I know that the social component and team camaraderie is also important to a lot of people. The trend towards combined programs really helps here. Everyone (without regard to sex or gender identity) can be part of one team. At meets you would have separate heats for Female Sex and Open. Heck, you could even combine them (create heats by seed time) and just separate the divisions in scoring. That’s how many masters competitions work.
The NAIA made the correct choice. Keep males out of female sports.
Thank God somebody is thinking clearly!