NCAA bans transgender women student-athletes from women’s teams

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Student-athletes who are transgender women will no longer be able to play on women's sports teams under a new policy issued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 6, the NCAA issued a press release announcing changes to its transgender student-athlete participation policy.

Under this new policy, only student-athletes who were assigned female at birth will be able to compete on women's sports teams.

Those who were not assigned female at birth will be able to practice with women's teams and receive benefits, like medical care, when practicing -- but they will not be able to play in any competitive games, according to the NCAA. A women's team that features any student-athlete who either was assigned male at birth or is on hormone therapy -- such as testosterone -- will not be eligible for NCAA women's championships.

"Division I leadership is planning to adopt roster limits in place of scholarship limits and new practice squad policies are still in development," the NCAA said.

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All student-athletes, regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, are allowed to compete on men's sports teams, according to the NCAA.

This would technically include transgender men. Under this policy, they would qualify for a men's team if they met all other eligibility requirements and, if taking testosterone for gender-affirming reasons, completed the NCAA's medical exemption process, as testosterone is a banned substance.

These restrictions do not apply to mixed men and women's NCAA championships, such as rifle championships.

This decision comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order meant to keep those assigned male at birth from participating in girl's and women's sports.

"The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes," said NCAA President Charlie Baker. "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. To that end, President Trump's order provides a clear, national standard."

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The NCAA added that its Board of Governors "also directed staff to help all member schools foster respectful and inclusive athletic cultures."

"Individual schools have the autonomy to determine athletics participation on their campuses," the NCAA said.

To read the full NCAA press release, click here.