The National Collegiate Athletic Association will no longer allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports, the organization announced Thursday.
The decision, effective immediately, came one day after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to rescind funding for educational programs that allow transgender women and girls to participate in women’s school-sponsored sports.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” NCAA president Charlie Baker wrote in a statement Thursday announcing the policy change. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Twelve women’s teams compete at the NCAA Division I level at the University of Maryland.
This university did not immediately respond with a statement to The Diamondback’s request for comment.
The decision still permits athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women’s teams and receive medical benefits, the announcement read. NCAA athletes can practice and compete with men’s teams regardless of their gender or sex assigned at birth, according to the NCAA’s updated participation policy for trans athletes.
“The updated policy combined with these resources follows through on the NCAA’s constitutional commitment to deliver intercollegiate athletics competition and to protect, support and enhance the mental and physical health of student-athletes,” Baker wrote in the statement Thursday.
Baker told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in December that there are fewer than 10 transgender collegiate athletes out of 510,000 total NCAA athletes.
Institutions that do not comply with Trump’s Wednesday executive order would risk violating the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. A Trump executive order on Jan. 20 directed federal agencies to replace any mentions of gender with sex assigned at birth.
Transgender athletes competing in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” Wednesday’s executive order read.
