US would bar full ban on transgender athletes but allow exceptions
Schools and colleges would not be allowed to impose blanket bans on transgender athletes playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, according to a new tentative rule unveiled by the Biden administration Thursday.
The Department of Education’s proposal, if approved, would make official changes to Title IX — the 51-year-old law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded schools. However, it is likely to face several legal challenges before becoming policy.
The new rule was announced the same day the Supreme Court ruled a 12-year-old transgender female in West Virginia can continue competing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while a legal fight over a state law that bans transgender female athletes from girls’ teams continues.
At least 16 states have enacted bans covering at least high school interscholastic sports, while some others have bans extending to intramural, club or college sports.
Enforcement of bans in at least three states has been put on hold by court challenges, and another has adopted a ban that doesn’t take effect until July.
The new proposal would forbid schools who receive federal funding from implementing a “one size fits all” policy for athletes, but does allow discretion to impose team eligibility rules that would restrict a transgender student’s participation in certain sports if it serves “important educational objectives” — such as competitive fairness and reduction of injury risk.
Limits on transgender students’ participation would be considered by level of competition. For example, elementary school students would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity, but high school and collegiate sports could add limits.
Schools that choose to impose limits must “minimize harms” to students who lose out on athletics opportunities, the proposal says.
“Preventing students from participating on a sports team consistent with their gender identity can stigmatize and isolate them,” the White House said. “This is different from the experience of a student who is not selected for a team based on their skills.”
“The Biden Administration is trying to have their cake and eat it too: inject gender identity into athletics while placing the onus upon school districts to determine whether doing so would be problematic or not,” said Nicole Neily, president and founder of conservative watchdog group Parents Defending Education. “Without a doubt, institutions are going to err on the side of ‘inclusion,’ because they fear the wrath of the Education Department – thus, achieving the Department’s end goal while allowing them to maintain plausible deniability that they coerced districts into doing so.“
Transgender female participation in sports has been a point of controversy nationwide, with critics arguing that they have a built-in advantage over cisgender women in competitions.
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas triggered outrage last year after she became the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming title.
The NCAA, college sports’ governing body, adopted a sport-by-sport approach to transgender athletes in January 2022 which would bring the organization in line with the US and International Olympic committees, though it delayed full implementation until the 2023-24 academic year.
At the same time, international sports organizations are instituting policies that ban all trans athletes from competing in track and field and effectively ban trans women from swimming events.
Last year, the Education Department proposed a federal rule that would extend Title IX rights for LGBTQ students, claiming that a Supreme Court ruling barring workplace discrimination against gay and transgender employees extended to students in federally funded schools.
That proposal — which drew sharp opposition from conservatives — is expected to be finalized as soon as next month.