An athletic body for small colleges announced Monday that it will prohibit transgender-identifying men from competing in women’s sports.
In a unanimous 20–0 vote, the Council of Presidents of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) approved a policy to make the female division exclusive to those who were assigned female at birth. The decision followed a December survey that showed widespread support for preventing male intrusion into the women’s category. Of the 68 schools that gave input, 58 demanded the policy.
The NAIA oversees the athletics of 249 mostly small colleges across the country, such as Ave Maria University in Florida and Columbia College in South Carolina, that don’t fall under the NCAA’s three competition divisions.
“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.”
In its policy, the NAIA avoided the common cop-out of other national sports-governing bodies to restrict hormone levels of male participants in an attempt to level the playing field. The NAIA outright disqualifies men from women’s sports regardless of testosterone suppression. It also bars biological women who have started masculinizing hormone therapy from entering the female division.
In stark contrast to the NAIA approach, the NCAA in 2022 deferred to individual sports to set their own transgender rules. A group of female athletes in March sued the NCAA for allowing men into their sex-specific sports and private spaces. Spearheaded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, the lawsuit accuses the NCAA and Georgia Tech — the site of the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships, where male University Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won the 500-meter freestyle — of knowingly violating Title IX. That federal statute prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive federal funding, serving as the basis for sex-segregated school athletics.
The NCAA defended its record following the NAIA decision.
“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,” the NCAA told CBS Sports.
The NAIA Council of Presidents and St. Ambrose University president Amy Novak told the outlet in a statement that the organization had deliberated about the issue for years, trying to protect women’s sports while factoring in transgender athletes.
“The task force spent nearly two years reviewing research, meeting with experts to better understand potential policy challenges, and obtaining feedback from multiple membership groups,” she said. “With this policy, the NAIA has made its best effort to allow for the inclusion of transgender athletes in any way which does not impact the competitive fairness of women’s sports. Our priority is to protect the integrity of women’s athletics and allow them equal opportunity to succeed.”