US colleges impose new limits on transgender athletes

The new rules, approved after a unanimous vote, follow lawsuits filed by women who were forced to compete against transgender athletes.

Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, during the 2022 US collegiate championships. Picture: AFP

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the governing body for small US colleges, has announced a policy that effectively bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

In a move that was approved by a 20-0 vote of its council of presidents, the NAIA ruled athletes will only be allowed to compete in women’s sports if they were assigned the female gender at birth.

Transgender athletes may still participate in college sport, but only in male categories.

A student who has begun hormone therapy may participate in activities such as workouts, practices and team activities, but not in inter-scholastic competition.

The NAIA oversees about 83,000 athletes in 249 mostly small colleges across the US.

The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in college sport, but it does not affect the more high-profile National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which oversees student athletics across 1100 schools and about 500,000 student athletes.

“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.”

The NAIA issued a statement after the decision: “With the exception of competitive (cheerleading) and competitive dance, the NAIA created separate categories for male and female participants,” it read.

“Each NAIA sport includes some combination of strength, speed and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes. As a result, the NAIA policy for transgender student-athletes applies to all sports except for competitive cheer and competitive dance, which are open to all students.”

The Washington Post reported that the NAIA ban has sparked “concerns” that the NCAA might follow suit.

In March, a more than a dozen current and former college athletes filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing the sports governing body for more than 500,000 athletes of violating their rights by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

The issue rose to prominence in 2022 when Penn University swimmer Lia Thomas became the only openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship.

That year, Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4min33.24sec, beating out Olympic silver medallist Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds.

Thomas had previously competed for the university as Will Thomas for three years and was ranked No.462 in the NCAA.

Title IX gives women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions that receive federal government funding.

The Biden administration had planned to overhaul the legislation but has so far stalled on finalising laws that would provide stronger support for transgender and non-binary students, as well as victims of sexual assault.

Former president Donald Trump has promised to ban trans women from women’s sports if re-elected.