The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics published a policy on Monday that effectively prohibits transgender athletes from playing in women’s sports at its 241 mostly small universities around the country.
The regulation was passed by the NAIA Council of Presidents with a 20-0 vote at its annual meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. The NAIA, which controls over 83,000 athletes playing in over 25 sports, is thought to be the first college sports organization to take such action.
According to the NAIA’s transgender participation policy, which goes into effect in August, all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports, but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and who have not received hormone therapy will be permitted to participate in women’s sports.
According to the organization’s new transgender participation policy, “Only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports. They define “biological sex” as having “distinguishing characteristics and can be supported by birth certificate or signed affidavit.”
A student who has begun hormone therapy can participate in workouts, practices, and team events, but not in intercollegiate competitions.
NAIA programs in competitive cheerleading and dance are open to all students
NAIA programs in competitive cheerleading and dance are open to all students. The NAIA regulation states that every other sport “includes some combination of strength, speed, and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr said he understands the policy may be controversial, but it was deemed best for member institutions for competitive reasons.
“We know there are a lot of opinions and a lot of people have a very emotional reaction to this, and we want to be respectful of all that,” Carr said. “But we feel like our primary responsibility is fairness in competition, so we are following that path. And we’ve tried as best we could to allow for some participation by all.”
Last month, more than a dozen current and former collegiate athletes filed a federal complaint against the NCAA, alleging the sports governing organization of over 500,000 athletes of breaching their rights by permitting transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.