NAIA bans transgender athletes from competing in most women’s sports

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) has implemented a new policy that significantly restricts transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. On Monday, April 8, the NAIA Council of Presidents voted 20-0 in favor of the policy, which permits only those assigned female at birth and who have not started hormone therapy to compete in women’s sports.

Under this policy, students undergoing hormone therapy can join workouts and practices but are excluded from competing. Cheerleading and dance are exceptions to the rule, and transgender athletes retain eligibility to compete in men’s sports.

“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.”

According to Pew Research Center, 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary. Carr says The NAIA has had no transgender athletes competing in its postseasons to date.

The NAIA represents roughly 83,000 athletes across 241 primarily small colleges in the United States, is the first collegiate sports governing body to enforce such a policy, set to commence in August.

Shiwali Patel, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, called the NAIA policy an outrage. Adding it is a clear act of discrimination that adversely affects trans, nonbinary, and intersex people, while also constraining the abilities of all athletes. Patel argued that such policies don’t improve competition fairness but rather promote exclusion and perpetuate harmful stereotypes against women.

Last month, over a dozen active and former college athletes filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA. They claim that the NCAA, which oversees more than 500,000 athletes, infringed upon their rights by permitting transgender women to participate in women’s sports.

Following the NAIA’s announcement, the NCAA issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to women’s sports as a leading platform in the U.S., its ongoing support for Title IX, significant investments in women’s sports, and the guarantee of fair competition for all student-athletes across NCAA championships.

The statement saying, “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.”