NAIA for Small Colleges BANS Transgender Women From Competing in Female Sports
Favicon 
www.newsbusters.org

NAIA for Small Colleges BANS Transgender Women From Competing in Female Sports

Well take a win when we can get it.The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)‚ which many smaller schools are part of‚ announced Monday that only biological women will be allowed to compete in womens sports.CBS Sportsreported the news Monday afternoon and indicated that the NAIAs Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote following a survey from December that indicated widespread support for the move.The NAIA is a national athletic governing body for 249 colleges across the country who arent part of the NCAAs three divisions. NAIA covers mostly private schools.This is huge for protecting both fairness and safety in schools‚ and NAIA president Jim Carr agreed with that sentiment. 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.Carr pointed out that the decision doesnt stop anyone from playing in the men';s category as that is open to anyone‚ regardless of sex or gender identity. That makes sense since the men who want to compete in the womens categories are often the ones who couldnt rank in the mens category. I mean look at Penn States Lia Thomas who failed epically as Richard Thomas but became a champion when competing against girls.NAIA Council of Presidents chair and St. Ambrose University president Amy Novak 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.As CBS News pointed out‚ the NAIA is believed to be the first national college governing body to mandate that athletes compete according to assigned sex at birth.Hopefully the NCAA follows the steps of the NAIA and recognizes how unfair and unsafe it is to have biological men in womens sports.