NCAA announces new policy on transgender athletes
Somewhat a follow up to one of the Stephens' posts earlier this month.
Link: https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1558728/ncaa-adopts-new-policy-for-transgender-athletes/
Policy takes effect immediately.
transgender participation for each sport will be determined by the policy for the sport’s national governing body, subject to review and recommendation by an NCAA committee to the Board of Governors.
When there is no national governing body, that sport’s international federation policy would be in place. If there is no international federation policy, previously established IOC policy criteria would take over.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
Like the Neutrals on Futurama:
”All I know is my gut says maybe.”
”I have no strong feelings about this one way or the other!”
January 20th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
"If you chose not to decide, you still have made a choice!"
January 20th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
So their policy is they have no policy, and are making it someone else's problem?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^
i have to say, i'm not quite getting the "the ncaa is passing the buck" comments here...i opened the post fearing some terrible tone-deaf policy and was actually pleasantly surprised to see something that feels...well, kinda sensible, imho.
i mean - do i think the ncaa should cease to exist? i do. but, if they do exist, they need to address the issue, and coming up with a policy that applies to the dozens of sports they administer seems impossible. aligning with individual sport governing bodies seems to make sense to me, if for no other reason than those bodies also generally run international / olympic competitions. shouldn't it be the same for the international track federation and ncaa track and field?
January 20th, 2022 at 2:06 PM ^
I read through more of the NCAA's statement and I agree with your take that it is probably the best course of action currently.
My only hesitation is professional sports orgs have had their own share of dubious decisions and politics over the years and I question if aligning to that truly in the best interest of college athletes. From what I have read, the NCAA is not completely punting. They are maintaining the right to make their own decisions should the situation warrant it.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
This isn't directed at you personally, but either create and recognize divisions between men and women, or be a true egalitarian and don't have any divisions at all. Just pick a side already.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Let me know when they can change genetics. I want a whole new deal.........
January 20th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
Our comment is: "No comment."
January 20th, 2022 at 2:04 PM ^
I don't blame the NCAA on this one. You can't win taking either side.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:45 PM ^
This issue is much larger than the ncaa anyway... almost every level of every gender-based competitive sport will be affected. Why should the ncaa pay to fight for it?
January 20th, 2022 at 3:09 PM ^
I sort of agree, but also....this kind of competition takes place in three main places: Olympics, federation competition, and college. The NCAA is a huge stakeholder.
I think the real issue is that litigating in the courts is not going to pit the two actual opposing "sides" against each other. The NCAA is in an insanely tough spot. They can't possibly avoid pissing someone off enough to stave off all eventual lawsuits, and then they're going to have to defend some policy on behalf of someone else.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
You are forgetting professional sports. This could be a major headache for many women's pro sports as well.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:11 PM ^
True, but other than maybe the WNBA, women's pro sports don't have the financial might to carry on a battle of some kind. The IOC and NCAA are probably the two biggest heavyweights in that regard.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:13 PM ^
LPGA & women's soccer? Those are still very significant in terms of annual revenues.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:04 PM ^
This reminds me of the "historic" alliance between the B1G, PAC 12, and ACC.
(fart noise/wanking motion)
January 20th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
Fuck it!
Let’s just punt on 1st down.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
Punting is winning.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:33 PM ^
E-Sports will equalize all*
*except for the blind - maybe the deaf - or those missing hands or opposable thumbs
January 20th, 2022 at 9:59 PM ^
Makes sense - let the governing body for said sport make the call and not try to impose some broad set of rules.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:50 AM ^
For the Olympic sports, it makes a lot of sense since those are the top competitions.
It's tough to craft fair rules out of something that's heavily political these days and that's fair to all competitors.
The hormone cap doesn't make a lot of sense when it comes to transitioning. Plus, it forces the competitor to choose a medical treatment that conflicts with the therapy being given for the transition itself. The Yale competitor who has already had top surgery said he was delaying hormone treatment so that he could continue to compete against women.
And then there are the very rare cases not involving transition, but those who aren't a clear XX or XY or have another hormonal disorder and have been raised as one gender but may develop more of the body structure of the other gender. Like the African runner who was in the news a lot a few years ago.
The best potential solution I've heard is to essentially have a women's division that doesn't accept transgender athletes and employs hormone testing, and an open division. That doesn't solve every potential problem, but I hope it would give as many athletes as possible the opportunity to compete without feeling crappy about it.
I don't blame the NCAA for punting. This isn't like the NIL issue at all.
January 21st, 2022 at 7:00 PM ^
Well, that clears things up.
January 22nd, 2022 at 12:15 AM ^
Thanks for the follow up. I think this whole area is one where it will take time to work out what is fair and reasonable and right. On the one hand, it seems like the NCAA is passing the buck. On the other hand, each area of competition is different, and it makes sense to me that they would defer to the experts for a particular sport.