On the eve of National Girls & Women In Sports Day, the NCAA not only continues to fail to implement meaningful nondiscrimination protections for its athletes, it fails to fight for the rights and safety of transgender student-athletes nationwide. This comes after the NCAA recently ratified its new constitution, which removed its non-discrimination policy language, despite the urging of 18 national advocacy groups led by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Athlete Ally to strengthen the constitution’s previously-existing language. The NCAA also announced a new policy regarding the participation of transgender athletes that raises significant concerns and cedes power to the governing bodies of individual conferences and associations – allowing them to make their own rules on how – or whether to – protect marginalized athletes, including transgender girls and women.
While the NCAA says it supports a safe environment for all student-athletes, its recent failure to ensure a safe environment for all athletes is part of a larger pattern. Last year — amidst a historically discriminatory state legislative session — the Human Rights Campaign, Athlete Ally, and WNBA players and coaches called on the NCAA to protect transgender athletes to oppose anti-trans sports ban bills through enforcing their own policy, the same policy they cited for withdrawing from North Carolina in the wake of the HB2 ‘bathroom bill’ in 2016. They promptly did the opposite — announcing championship host sites in states that had recently passed anti-trans sports ban bills.
Since the NCAA announced its new policy, a number of athletes, administrators and national advocacy organizations have come out in the press in condemnation.
Swimming World Magazine: Brooke Forde: ‘I Will Not Have a Problem Racing Against Lia Thomas at NCAAs’
“I have great respect for Lia,” said Forde, a four-time NCAA champion, fifteen-time All-American and Team USA silver medalist in the 800-free. “Social change is always a slow and difficult process and we rarely get it correct right away. Being among the first to lead such a social change requires an enormous amount of courage, and I admire Lia for her leadership that will undoubtedly benefit many trans athletes in the future. In 2020, I along with most swimmers, experienced what it was like to have my chance to achieve my swimming goals taken away after years of hard work. I would not wish this experience on anyone, especially Lia, who has followed the rules required of her. I believe that treating people with respect and dignity is more important than any trophy or record will ever be, which is why I will not have a problem racing against Lia at NCAAs this year.”
Ivy League executive director Robin Harris condemned the changes made to the NCAA’s transgender athlete policy, calling it “unprecedented.” “I was shocked; I was dismayed; And I was angry,” Harris said. “The NCAA has never, in my 30 years, implemented a new policy that could negatively impact a student-athlete’s eligibility immediately. And that is what they’ve done here.”
Daily Beast: Trans Athletes Face an Uncertain Future
“Anti-transgender animus has only increased in the week since the NCAA scrapped its 11-year-old transgender participation policy in favor of a sport-by-sport model favored by the International Olympic Committee. Instead of supporting inclusion with its one-size-fits-all policy, the NCAA announced on Jan. 19 that it had ‘updated’ that policy…”
Dr. Dorian Rhea Debussy, the associate director for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Kenyon College in Ohio, resigned from the NCAA in protest in an open letter, announcing they could not continue as a facilitator of the Division III LGBTQ OneTeam program. One of the stated goals of the OneTeam program is “to ensure all individuals may participate in an athletics climate of respect and inclusion, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”
“I’m deeply troubled by what appears to be a devolving level of active, effective, committed, and equitable support for gender diverse student-athletes within the NCAA’s leadership,” they wrote in their open letter. “As a nonbinary, trans-feminine person, I can no longer, in good conscience, maintain my affiliation with the NCAA.”
USA Today: Here’s how NCAA’s new ‘ridiculously complex’ transgender guidelines complicate hot-button issue
“After ‘monitoring the situation’ around anti-trans sports bills & their own calls for more research before even considering updating VERY out-of-date language in the 2010 policy, NCAA whipped up a ridiculously complex policy that will prove impossible for them to follow,” said Chris Mosier, a Nike pro athlete, two-time men’s national champion and member of Team USA.
“[The] Board of Governors decision is not a solution. The NCAA’s previous policy on transgender participation, while pioneering, was outdated, and yesterday’s decision is a missed opportunity to lead this important discussion. With a billion-dollar budge, designated Sports Science Institute, and subject matter experts, the NCAA can lead in a way no other National Governing Body (NGB) can.”
National Girls and Women in Sports Day, celebrated during the first week in February since its inception in 1987, recognizes women’s contributions to sports and society. As we mark this day, HRC recognizes the many athletes who have stepped up and defended the right of transgender girls and women to participate in sports - athletes like Stanford swimmer Brooke Forde and soccer phenom Megan Rapinoe, among many others.
In the pursuit of greater accuracy and respect, HRC offers guidelines for journalists and others who report on transgender people. For more information about HRC’s transgender justice work, visit hrc.org/transgender.
