- The NCAA has banned transgender student-athletes in a switch-up of its policy. The decision follows an executive order from President Donald Trump.
- Around 1,100 schools take part in the NCAA and more than 500,000 athletes.
- Until now, the NCAA followed a sport-by-sport approach, working with each sport’s national body.
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In swift action, the NCAA changed its transgender student-athlete participation policy following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from women and girls’ sports. The NCAA’s policy change is effective immediately and applies to all athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews.
How could this impact teams?
About 1,100 member schools are part of the NCAA, with more than 500,000 athletes, making it the largest governing body for college sports in the U.S.
The president’s executive order allows federal agencies to withhold federal funding from entities that do not abide by Title IX as the Trump administration sees it — that “sex” is the gender someone was assigned at birth.
What was the NCAA’s previous policy?
Until now, the NCAA’s policy, which took effect in 2022, had a sport-by-sport approach. That means transgender participation was determined by the policy of the individual sport’s national governing body.
If a sport did not have a national governing body, that sport’s international federation policy would be the guideline. If there is no international federation policy, the criteria used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would be used.
Will IOC criteria change?
The new executive order stipulates the Trump administration will work with sports governing bodies, including the IOC, to ensure his guidance is followed in noneducational settings, as well.
The IOC has allowed transgender athletes to participate at the Olympics since 2004, but it wasn’t until 2021 that the first openly transgender athletes competed in the Summer Games.
