Ad Disclosure
The NAIA Bans Transgender Athletes from Women’s Sport
Published:
This is pretty significant:
BREAKING: The @NAIA is banning transgender athletes from women’s sports competitions
— Sportico (@Sportico) April 8, 2024
“Only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.”
There are a couple of caveats listed there, but under this new guidance, a Lia Thomas situation would not take place. A biological man would not be able to swim competitively with biological women, no matter the status of any kind of hormone of testosterone level.
Thomas, of course, swam for Penn, which is under NCAA governance. The NAIA oversees a little less than 250 smaller schools in other parts of the country. The only NAIA school in our region is Penn State Schuylkill, up near Pottsville.
But the obvious question here is whether or not this decision will influence the NCAA to follow suit. A number of states have their own laws that limit participation for transgender women, and the NCAA is currently facing a federal lawsuit.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com