There are no reported instances where a transgender athlete competed in any sport at an NCAA member university in the State of Texas. “College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America,” NCAA Director of Communications Michelle Brutlag Hosick said in a statement on Sunday. “While the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the […]
There are no reported instances where a transgender athlete competed in any sport at an NCAA member university in the State of Texas.
“College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America,” NCAA Director of Communications Michelle Brutlag Hosick said in a statement on Sunday. “While the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships.”
This isn’t the first time the NCAA has been sued over the transgender athlete issue. The Independent Council on Women’s Sports is funding a different lawsuit against the NCAA. That lawsuit argues that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports violates Title IX.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Sunday in a bid to prevent transgender women from competing in women’s college athletics.
“Consumers do not purchase goods and services associated with women’s sporting events to watch men steal medals and records from female participants,” the lawsuit states. “When consumers have purchased goods and services associated with women’s sporting events only to discover a man competing, they have invariably reacted with revulsion and outrage.”
The lawsuit was filed by players in the same conference and some members of the San Jose State team, including a recently suspended coach and a current co-captain. That co-captain, Brooke Slusser, argued her teammate hit the volleyball with more force than anyone else, putting the other team members at risk of sustaining concussions or other injuries if they were hit in the head during practice.
Paxton is asking the court to grant a permanent injunction prohibiting the NCAA from allowing biological males to compete in women’s sporting events in Texas and involving Texas teams or to stop the NCAA from marketing it as women’s sports.
Multiple players filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference, arguing that the league should not allow transgender players to compete due to fairness and safety risks.
“The NCAA is intentionally and knowingly jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women by deceptively changing women’s competitions into co-ed competitions,” Paxton said in a statement. “When people watch a women’s volleyball game, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women, not biological males pretending to be something they are not.”
The lawsuit alleges the NCAA has been engaging in false, deceptive and misleading practices by marketing sporting events as “women’s” competitions. Paxton argues it is deception to bill an event as a women’s competition but allow it to be a “mixed-sex competition” where “biological males compete against biological females.”
Baker additionally said that he was open to working with Congress to create a federal standard.
This fall, women’s volleyball took center stage in the transgender athlete debate, due to a member of the San Jose State women’s volleyball team being transgendered.
A judge rejected the request and allowed the player to continue playing, ruling that the protections of Title IX and the 14th amendment applied to transgender athletes.
Paxton argues the NCAA violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by falsely marketing and selling competitions as “women’s” sports only to provide a mixed-sex event. The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act is used to protect consumers from businesses attempting to mislead or trick them into purchasing goods or services that are not as advertised.
The lawsuit claims the NCAA misleads consumers by not disclosing which athletes are transgender women.
The legislation expands on a 2021 law prohibiting K-12 public school students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
“I think part of our challenge is dealing with a very murky set of court decisions and at the state and federal level around this issue, which creates a certain lack of clarity around our policy because our policy ultimately needs to comply with federal policy,” Baker said.
The lawsuit filed Sunday alleges that the NCAA has been engaging in deceptive marketing practices by allowing biological men to compete in women’s competition.
“Men competing in women’s sports is inherently unfair and unsafe due to their physiological advantages,” Paxton said in the suit.
When grilled by U.S. Senators this week, Baker pointed to a federal judge and appeals court’s decision, which cleared the way for the San Jose State athlete to participate.
In a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill last week, lawmakers grilled NCAA President Charlie Baker over the issue of transgender student-athletes and their participation in female sports.
Several teams refused to play against San Jose State during the season. Boise State and Wyoming each forfeited games twice, while Utah State, Nevada and Southern Utah each forfeited once.
In June 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 15, the so-called “Save Women’s Sports Act,” into law.
The one exception in the law is that women can compete on men’s teams if no women’s team is offered in that particular sport. SB 15 also allows people to file civil lawsuits against a college or university if they believe the institution has violated the law, and provides whistleblower protections for people who report violations at a university athletics program.
Baker said of the 510,000 NCAA athletes, he is aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes in active competition.
The bill requires collegiate athletes to compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex assigned at birth, which means transgender women would have to play on men’s collegiate sports teams and transgender men would have to play on women’s sports teams.
