Hundreds of athletes call on NCAA not to ban transgender athletes from women’s college sports

More than 400 former and current college, professional and Olympic athletes have urged the NCAA not to ban transgender athletes from women’s college sports, according to a letter sent Tuesday.

“We implore you, the highest governing body of the NCAA and members of an organization focused on supporting the well-being of not just athletes but the sport itself, to focus on the long-documented needs of NCAA athletes of all backgrounds. genres,” the letter said. “We implore you to focus efforts on policy development driven by research, education, collaboration and policy to promote a healthy and safe environment for all athletes, NOT discriminatory attempts to alienate an entire group of athletes from the sports they love.”

The letter was signed by former NFL defensive end RK Russell, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Johnny Stanton, former WNBA basketball star Sue Bird and U.S. women’s national soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe.

In response, the NCAA said that “college sports are the center 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 students- athletes at every NCAA championship, according to NBC News.

NCAA issued new guidelines in 2022 on trans women’s participation in NCAA sports. The updated requirements have three phases. With the new rules, cases are referred to the “national governing body”, while maintaining that transgender women must have at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment.

The debate over trans women’s participation in sports has been a controversial issue.

The majority of Americans, 69 percent, said transgender athletes should only participate on teams that match their birth sex, according to a study. Gallup survey from June last year.

Independents, Democrats and Republicans, are “modestly less” supportive of transgender athletes competing on teams corresponding to their current gender than they were two years ago, Gallup noted.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a body covering about 250 member schools, this month approved a policy that would ban transgender athletes from playing women’s sports.

“As athletes, we know firsthand that sport has the power to change lives,” the athletes said in a letter on Tuesday. “Allowing transgender NCAA athletes to participate in the sports they love as who they truly are, alongside their teammates, fulfills the true spirit of Olympism that we all ascribe to.”