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 11:59 AM ^
So East Germans are disqualified
January 20th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
HHHHEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
January 20th, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
Only in swimming since their massive weight lifting muscles make them sink.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
Buffalo Bill is gonna dominate
January 20th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
Did they abolish the tuck rule?
January 20th, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
Woodson hopes so!
January 20th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
1) In other words, pass the buck.
2) I can't imagine how this thread could possibly go south.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
Would anyone expect anything different from the ncaa?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Frankly I'm surprised the NCAA took the time to step away from counting cash to pass the buck on this one. I'm seeing growth.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
Pretty much the same thing since this was deliberately done by the NCAA to avoid costly litigation.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
Yup. Didn't matter what they did, someone was going to sue. The fact that they even made any kind of change at all suggests that a lawsuit is in the works and they knew it.
Ironically, I feel like they're just going to get sued even more now. Some sports will have a policy that makes transgender advocates unhappy and some will have one that makes womens' advocates unhappy and I think a court would look unfavorably on a governing body that refuses to govern. They're still in charge.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:43 PM ^
2) Yeah no way this one could go off the rails at all... or as it is better known, IBD.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
Am I misguided in thinking the best solution is to have XX and XY sports? If you’re in the tiny fraction of people who don’t fall in either category, you can choose which one to play. You can be XY and identify as a girl if that’s right for you, but you compete with the girls and boys on the XY team.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
At the very least I think that would be incredibly expensive to govern. Who is responsible for the cost of checking the chromosomes? The athlete? The school? Does this extend to high school athletes?
I think having a simple set of parameters such as: What do you identify as? Does that match the gender assigned at birth? Have you begun/how long have you been on hormone therapy?
Set a criteria for the amount of time needed to be on hormone therapy to level the playing field within reason.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:20 PM ^
Well, that's more or less what the NCAA did, and in the case of Lia Thomas, it failed to work, because Thomas blows away the competition beyond all reason, and clearly has the body shape of a man.
One might suggest a longer period of treatment, but NCAA athletes only have so much eligibility and time in school.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^
Partially. You assume your sex chromosomes are what they are because you have no reason to believe otherwise. However, there aren’t simply two sets. It’s more complicated than that. Even your own example doesn’t account for people born with androgen insensitivity syndrome, XY people who do not have the ability to process testosterone and subsequently are born with XX genitalia. Most people with this condition don’t know they are XY until they find out that the reason they do not have a menstrual cycle is because internally they do not have a uterus. So what team do they play for?
This is why the NCAA punted the issue. The IOC has their own rules, and so do professional sport governing bodies.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
I looked at some stats for these the last time this was brought up. You're talking about 0.07% of the population, approximately, according to intersex society, I believe. There's anl pubmed article that says 0.018%. What are the chances a significant number of these people are state/national level athletes with bodies that don't develop normally due to hormone receptor abnormalities.
Throwing these people in is an absolute "Yeah, but... What if?" situation of extremely low likelihood. The likelihood of these people being in this position is much much much much much much less than someone who used to be a male transitioning to becoming female and having incredible innate advantages over biological women who identify as women.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
You’re correct in saying that. I was simply saying that chromosomes don’t necessarily define biological gender. To expand more on your point, how many people are transgender? Also less than 1%. How many trans people have been in the Olympics (as their gender identity) since 2004, when trans people were first permitted to compete? A total of 1. How many of them have medaled? Zero. The NCAA doesn’t have time to craft policies that would run counter to the National and international organizations. Easier to follow than to lead. We can debate all day about whether or not trans people should compete as the gender they identify, but that’s what these organizations are paying people to figure out - how to be inclusive and how to make it fair.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:47 PM ^
This is not an attack on you.
Sometimes people make decisions that close other doors. Transgendering from male to female should close the door to high level competition. By its very nature, trying to maintain inclusivity destroys fairness for everyone else involved. Transgendered should be allowed to compete in the sports as the gender they were born.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:38 PM ^
Are there rules against women participating in men's sports? It obviously wasn't enforced for football kickers.
It's my impression, not saying it's correct, that technically speaking college has women's sports and sports /teams open to both genders that essentially only men compete in.
Maybe football is an outlyer because there is no women's option.
Quick Google search found 2021 SI article that a record six women suited up for college baseball teams.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:53 PM ^
It's the X's and the Y's, not the Tonya's and the Ty's
January 20th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
Outside of the summer of 2012 (Penn State sanctions), when he was front and center on that issue, "pass the buck" and "leading from behind" has essentially been the summarization of Mark Emmert's 11+ year reign as NCAA Executive Director.
January 21st, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
The NCAA should win the Ray Guy Award.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
I imagine this thread is going to be civil...
January 20th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
Surprisingly, when this topic was discussed in a previous thread earlier this month, the comments were civil and there was some very good insights shared. Hopefully the same will happen here (and so far, so good).
January 20th, 2022 at 2:16 PM ^
It was civil...for a while.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
Definitely a pass the buck scenario here. Here is the response from the Coaches Association of the sport where this issue has become front and center this season:
January 20th, 2022 at 2:01 PM ^
Failure to lead is a summation of the NCAA quite perfectly
January 20th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
Shouldn't the title read: "NCAA announces non-policy on transgender athletes"?
So the clowns at the NCAA are punting on this issue, the same way they did with NIL (it's up to state law)?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:44 PM ^
Don't insult clowns.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
That's called "punting," or alternatively, "passing the buck," "copping out," "ducking the issue," etc...
January 20th, 2022 at 1:05 PM ^
January 20th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
Come on man, there's no ball in swimming!
Well except for water polo and water volleyball, so NM, sigh.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:54 PM ^
I see what you did there...
January 20th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Juwanna Mann is in play then, got it!
January 20th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
Wow, that's a first class non-decision, though in fairness it is an extremely difficult topic. It does make some sense to defer to the governing bodies in each sport. I assume that this issue affects riflery differently than hockey, for example.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
The answer is obvious.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
Emmert earning his $3 million a year.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
What does Emmert care? There are NO transgendered people in the SEC footprint, as far as he knows...
January 20th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
But until Florida softball announces their next recruiting class.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
To those saying it's passing the buck....yes....AND would you really want the NCAA to have an opinion on this given their sterling track record?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
In this case, username does not check out.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
True, and also for the more minor sports shouldn't the NCAA best work to prepare athletes for the 'next level'? Why would we want them modifying the playing field from where athletes will be headed? The same debate is getting ruled on at the larger level, I suppose the only argument could be an NCAA ruling could bring more discussion / exposure to the issue.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
Anyone but us!!!
PLEASE!!! ANYONE BUT US!!!
That's some first class leadership & governance. smh
January 20th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
I still cant understand what they said...Im trying but I cant
January 20th, 2022 at 1:22 PM ^
In short, my opinion is they said exactly nothing.
Although I would normally be mad at the NCAA for doing their usual window dressing when the interior of the shop is crumbling, in this circumstance I cannot. I could not even fathom trying to sit down and make (supposed) hard and fast rules about anything that pertains to this subject because it seems like there is little consensus about what the rules even should be and no matter what rules you make a decent size group of people will be upset and will consider/proceed with legal action.
I hope that this can stay civil and I am not going to voice my opinion to try and keep it that way, but if you were to poll 100 random people about what the "correct" course of action should have been dealing with Caster Semenya and Laurel Hubbard and come up with something "fair" to not only them but their competitors I would be shocked.
I get that the NCAA has an obligation to make rules on tough items but on this one I can understand the inevitable punt that took place.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:34 PM ^
"We will follow the sport's national governing body guidelines . . . unless we decide not to follow them."
January 20th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
"We have decided that we will decide nothing."