The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics introduced a coverage Monday that each one however bans transgender athletes from competing in ladies’s sports activities at its 241 principally small schools throughout the nation.

The NAIA Council of Presidents accepted the coverage in a 20-0 vote at its annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes competing in additional than 25 sports activities, is believed to be the primary school sports activities group to take such a step.

According to the transgender participation coverage, which works into impact in August, all athletes could take part in NAIA-sponsored male sports activities however solely athletes whose organic intercourse assigned at delivery is feminine and haven’t begun hormone remedy shall be allowed to take part in ladies’s sports activities.

A scholar who has begun hormone remedy could take part in actions resembling exercises, practices and crew actions, however not in intercollegiate competitors.

NAIA applications in aggressive cheer and aggressive dance are open to all college students. The NAIA coverage notes each different sport “includes some combination of strength, speed and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes.”

NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr mentioned in an interview with The Associated Press he understands the coverage will generate controversy however that it was deemed finest for member faculties for aggressive causes.

“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 mentioned. “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.”

The NAIA’s 2023-24 coverage didn’t bar transgender and nonbinary athletes from competing within the division of their selection within the common season. In the postseason, and with some exceptions for individuals who have had hormone remedy, athletes needed to compete within the division of their delivery intercourse.

There isn’t any recognized variety of transgender athletes at the highschool and school ranges, although it’s believed to be small. The topic has change into a hot-button problem amongst conservative teams and others who consider transgender athletes shouldn’t be allowed to compete on women’ and ladies’s sports activities groups.

Shiwali Patel, senior counsel on the National Women’s Law Center, mentioned her group was outraged by the NAIA coverage.

“This is unacceptable and blatant discrimination that not only harms trans, nonbinary and intersex individuals, but limits the potential of all athletes,” Patel mentioned in a press release. “It’s important to recognize that these discriminatory policies don’t enhance fairness in competition. Instead, they send a message of exclusion and reinforce dangerous stereotypes that harm all women.”

Last month, greater than a dozen present and former school athletes filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the NCAA, accusing the sports activities governing physique for greater than 500,000 athletes of violating their rights by permitting transgender ladies to compete in ladies’s sports activities.

Hours after the NAIA announcement, the NCAA launched a press release: “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.”

At least 24 states have legal guidelines barring transgender ladies and women from competing in sure ladies’s or women sports activities competitions.

The Biden administration initially deliberate to launch a brand new federal Title IX rule — the law forbids discrimination based on sex in education — addressing each campus sexual assault and transgender athletes. Earlier this yr, the division determined to separate them into separate guidelines, and the athletics rule now stays in limbo.

“It’s similar to the NIL stuff with all these different state laws,” mentioned Kasey Havekost, a former Division I athlete who’s now a better schooling legal professional at Bricker Graydon. “The NCAA kind of does something but nothing really happens, and they look to the federal government, and the federal government is slow to put something in place and then we’re left with all these different state laws.”

Havekost expects lawsuits will comply with and problem the NAIA coverage on the premise of Title IX legal guidelines.

“I feel like at some point, it will have to be addressed,” she mentioned. “It’s a really complex issue. It might take a Supreme Court ruling.”

About 190 of the 241 NAIA faculties are non-public, and about 125 of these have spiritual affiliations of various levels, Carr mentioned. Of the 20 presidents who voted, 17 are from faculties affiliated with Christian denominations.

“People have certain views of the world, and even though I believe all our Council of Presidents members are trying to think what’s best for the NAIA, they certainly come to these kinds of issues with their own beliefs and the missions of their institutions in mind,” Carr mentioned. “I would think that had some impact.”

Patel mentioned the NAIA ban, together with the state legal guidelines, “emphasizes the urgency in having clear Title IX rules that expressly prohibit this type of sex-based discrimination, and ensure the rights of all students, including transgender, nonbinary, and intersex athletes, are safeguarded. Trans athletes deserve a chance to play.”

The NCAA has had a policy for transgender athlete participation in place since 2010, which known as for one yr of testosterone suppression therapy and documented testosterone ranges submitted earlier than championship competitions. In 2022, the NCAA revised its insurance policies on transgender athlete participation in an try to align with nationwide sport governing our bodies, following the lead of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

The three-phase implementation of the coverage included a continuation of the 2010 coverage, requiring transgender ladies to be on hormone alternative remedy for not less than one yr, plus the submission of a hormone-level check earlier than the beginning of each the common season and championship occasions.

The third part provides nationwide and worldwide sport governing physique requirements to the NCAA’s coverage and — after a delay — is scheduled to be carried out for the 2024-25 college yr on Aug. 1.

There are some 15.3 million public highschool college students within the United States and a 2019 study by the CDC estimated 1.8% of them — about 275,000 — are transgender. The variety of athletes inside that group is way smaller; a 2017 survey by Human Rights Campaign suggested fewer than 15% of all transgender boys and transgender women play sports activities.

The variety of NAIA transgender athletes can be far smaller.

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AP Sports Writers Hank Kurz Jr., Mark Long and John Zenor contributed to this report.

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AP school sports activities: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports