The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced a policy Monday that all but bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports at its 241 mostly small colleges across the country.

The NAIA Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote at its annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes competing in more than 25 sports, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.

According to the transgender participation policy, all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy will be allowed participate in women’s sports.

A student who has begun hormone therapy may participate in activities such as workouts, practices and team activities, but not in interscholastic competition.

  • frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io
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    7 months ago

    They’ve punished cis women athletes for having naturally higher testosterone levels, so it’s all fucking bullshit anyway. You have to portray what they feel is an appropriate biological woman (ha!), which is super awkward for those of us without that ‘look’ who are now viewed with suspicion. God forbid you have a hormone insensitivity or non-XX/XY chromosome arrangement.

    • Omega@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57748135

      Holy shit. They’re literally just saying she’s too good to compete. That’s not even close to a grey area. That’s a cis woman’s female natural body.

      I don’t know where I stand on medically inhibited or boosted bodies when it comes to competitive sports. But shit like this makes me just say the fewer restrictions the better and defer to athletes being able to play.

      • eardon@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        You gotta keep in mind, she’s also African.

        There’s a 0% chance the rules would get changed if a white person was beating all the black people.