The NCAA has officially adapted a policy preventing trans women from competing in women’s sports after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning them on Wednesday.
The top collegiate athletics governing body has now implemented new rules that will only allow people to compete in women’s sports if they were assigned female at birth.
In a press release from the NCAA, the body’s president, Charlie Baker, said there are more than 530,000 NCAA athletes. At a senate hearing in December of 2024, Baker said he was aware of ‘less than 10’ are transgender – meaning this policy goes to the lengths of banning 0.0018 percent of athletes.
Just a day earlier, President Trump’s executive order banned trans athletes from competing in girl’s and women’s sports and would allow federal agencies to withhold federal funding from institutions which don’t abide by his administration’s view of Title IX. The Trump Administration’s view of the statute interprets ‘sex’ as the gender someone was assigned at birth, rather than their gender expression.
‘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,’ Baker said in the press release. ‘To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.’
This new NCAA policy goes into effect immediately and applies to all athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the governing body’s previous transgender participation policy.
A mural outside the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. The collegiate sports governing body adapted its rules to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sporting events.
This follows an executive order from President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday
NCAA president Charlie Baker speaks at a conference in Nashville on January 15
According to the NCAA, the men’s category is ‘open to all eligible student-athletes’ but the ‘women’s category [is] restricted to student-athletes assigned female at birth.’
In the press release, the NCAA’s Board of Governors directed staff ‘to help all member schools foster respectful and inclusive collegiate athletic cultures.’
Officially, the new rules state ‘a student athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women’s team’.
However, ‘a student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on an NCAA women’s team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes. Division I leadership is planning to adopt roster limits in place of scholarship limits and new practice squad policies are still in development.’
In some sports, it’s common for athletes competing in women’s sports to practice against practice teams made up of both men and women.
Geno Auriemma notably implemented this policy for his women’s basketball team at the University of Connecticut and went on to build a program that has won eleven national championships. It’s become a standard practice in the sport.
Additionally, the new NCAA rules state that ‘a student-athlete assigned female at birth who has begun hormone therapy (e.g., testosterone) may not compete on a women’s team. If such competition occurs, the team will be subject to NCAA mixed-team legislation, and the team will no longer be eligible for NCAA women’s championships.’
Like the guidance proceeding it, student-athletes assigned female at birth who are beginning hormone therapy are allowed to continue practicing with women’s teams.
Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title in 2022
The executive order from Trump drew widespread praise from his supporters – as well as those who have advocated for a blanket ban on trans women in women’s sports.
Trump also said that he is directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio ‘to make clear to the International Olympic Committee’ that ‘America categorically rejects transgender lunacy.’
‘We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject,’ Trump went on.
Historically transgender athletes have participated in the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released guidelines for their inclusion.
Since his inauguration just three weeks ago, President Trump has signed multiple executive orders attacking DEI initiatives, gender expression among federal employees (both cisgender and otherwise), and is trying to prevent gender-affirming care to those under the age of 19.
Many of these executive orders are expected to be challenged in court.
