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Most Americans oppose trans women competing in female sports, including 2 of 3 in Gen Z

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For 22-year-old Alex Ann, conversations about transgender women are black and white.

“Trans women are women,” said Ann, who identifies as a nonbinary trans person.

And when it comes to trans women competing in female sports — an issue that the Trump administration has made part of its policy agenda since Inauguration Day — Ann said that trans women should have all the same rights as cisgender women.

“When you are talking about what a woman is, well now you’re talking about checking to see if you’re really a woman,” said Ann, a South Florida resident. “And the kind of violation that in and of itself poses” goes too far, Ann continued.

Ann represents the views of just over a third of Gen Z, or 36%, that trans women should be allowed to participate in female sports, according to the new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey. That level of support, from respondents ages 18-29, was the highest of any generation in the poll of 19,682 American adults.

Overall, 1 in 4 respondents, or 25%, said they supported trans women participating in female sports in a yes/no question. The other 75% of American adults said they do not believe trans women should be permitted to participate in female sports.

Cecilia Pogue, a 21-year-old college student from Virginia, said she believes that allowing trans women to compete in female sports comes at the expense of cisgender women.

“We want people to feel comfortable in their skin, and we want them to have opportunities, but we also need to make sure we’re not taking opportunities away from the majority to please the minority,” Pogue said.

Many Gen Zers who spoke with NBC News about the topic discussed the complexity and nuances around it, such as how going through male puberty or taking hormone suppressants could affect a trans woman’s physical development.

“A lot could be fixed by having a separate column for trans sports,” said Julian Miller, 22, from Texas. “Just like how we separate male and females, we should separate trans males and trans females to compete against each other. I know there might not be a lot of competition at first, but as the sport grows, so will the competition.”

The poll found a significant gender gap between young men and women on the issue. About 3 in 4 Gen Z men (72%) say transgender women should not be allowed to play female sports, compared with about half of young women (56%).

Advocates of trans women competing in female sports say that the marginal number of trans women competing at an elite level makes the topic a nonissue. In December, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified that he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes out of more than 500,000 total NCAA college student-athletes, which would equal 0.002% of this college student-athlete population.

“This is really a distraction,” Ann said. “It matters, but it’s not what is most important right now.”

Jay Baca, a 26-year-old who identifies as nonbinary, noted that when trans men compete in men’s sports “nobody bats an eye about it.” 

“It still comes down to patriarchy, sexism and transphobia,” the Colorado native said.

But despite the criticism and the relatively low numbers of people involved, it has undeniably become a hot-button political issue in recent years.

Critics of trans women in female sports say trans women have an unfair advantage past puberty due to their body composition. Differences in body mass, bone density and height that trans women may have, Pogue said, can create a “dangerous” environment.

“I don’t really want to play soccer against a 6-[foot]-2 person who already went through puberty and then changed late high school or in early college,” she said.

Vito Milino, 22, of California, said trans women should not compete in “full-contact or highly physical sports alongside cisgender women” but sees no problem in other sports.

San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball program became a flashpoint in the national conversation over trans women and women’s sports recently, as has swimming, a noncontact sport. In 2022, Lia Thomas made history when she became the first openly trans woman to win an NCAA championship while competing for the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team. Thomas had spent the first two years of her collegiate career on Penn’s men’s team. 

The NCAA in February changed its rules following an executive order from President Donald Trump, with the collegiate athletics organization instituting a new policy that “limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”

Then, on Monday, the Trump administration said that Penn violated laws that guaranteed equal protections for women in sports by allowing a trans swimmer to compete on the school’s women’s team and into team facilities. The Education Department previously announced an investigation of San Jose State.

Still, some medical experts caution against misconceptions that fuel much of the dialogue around trans women in female sports.

“Trans women are people who want to participate in society as the gender they identify as being — women,” said Bradley Anawalt, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who rejects the notion that trans women are changing for athletic advantages.

“They are not undergoing gender-affirming hormone therapy to attempt to have greater success in sports,” he said. “Gender-affirming therapy, hormone therapy is not easy. It requires doctor visits, blood tests and frequent doses of medications that might include shots.”

When it comes to body composition, he added, “The competitive advantage of elite male athletes starts with puberty when blood testosterone concentrations increase to adult male levels.”

Alithia Zamantakis, an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, sees the higher Gen Z poll numbers in support of trans women competing in female sports as compared with older demographics as an indicator of a shift in “society at large.”

“We can expect greater and greater support for transgender rights as the myths and anti-trans” rhetoric are demystified, she said. 

Missing from the conversation is a “balancing of equities,” according to Lanae Erickson, senior vice president for social policy, education and politics at Third Way, a Democratic-aligned Washington, D.C., think tank.

“Sports are fabulous ways to learn all kinds of values — teamwork, persistence and healthy habits,” she said. “And just saying that an entire class of people can’t participate in any sport at any level, it really goes against those values and is a real detriment to that group of people.” 

“We also do need rules about participation in sports,” Erickson added.

“But I think those rules should be made based on fairness and safety, not based on animus towards a certain group of people,” she continued.

This NBC News Stay Tuned poll was powered by SurveyMonkey, the fast, intuitive feedback management platform where 20 million questions are answered daily. It was conducted online April 11-20 among a national sample of 19,682 adults ages 18 and over. Reported percentages exclude item nonresponse and round to the nearest percentage point. The estimated margin of error for this survey among all adults is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.



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Doris Lemngole Wins the 2025 Bowerman Award

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12 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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On Thursday evening, Doris Lemngole was awarded with the 2025 Bowerman Title; the most prestigious honor in NCAA Cross-Country/Track and Field.

This year, Lemngole won three NCAA titles for the University of Alabama during cross-country and the indoor/outdoor season, topping it off with a collegiate record-breaking 8:58.15 in the 3000m Steeplechase at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

She most recently defended her cross-country national title at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri.

Lemngole also boasts personal bests of 4:09.28 (1500m), 8:41.83 (3000m), 14:52.57 (5000m), and 18:02 (6k (XC)).

“I would not be here without th Thank you so much to Coach Nick and Coach Dan for believing in me and pushing me beyond what I thought was possible; and to my teammates, thank you for making everyday better and every mile worth it; and to my family, friends, and support staff, and of course Scholarbook,” said Lemngole after receiving her award.

“Running has shaped who I am, I started this sport simply because I love it and along the way, it taught me resilience, patience, and confidence,” she continued with and closed out with “Competing at Alabama has been an incredible honor and wearing this uniform has represented everything I worked for.”

She caps off a historic year with the highest honor in collegiate track and field. Lemngole also recently inked an NIL deal with On back earlier back in August.

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Texas A&M sweeps Pittsburgh in NCAA volleyball semifinal

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13 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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Dec 18, 2025, 09:07 PM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kyndal Stowers and Logan Lednicky combined for 34 points to lead Texas A&M to a 29-27, 25-21, 25-20 sweep of Pittsburgh on Thursday, punching its ticket to the national championship game in women’s volleyball.

Stowers led the way with 18 points and 16 kills on a 53% kill rate, while Lednicky had 16 points and 14 kills on a 45% kill rate. It was Lednicky’s 22nd consecutive match with double-digit kills. Maddie Waak had 47 assists.

The No. 3-seeded Aggies (28-4) reached the final for the first time in program history after never having advanced beyond the Elite Eight. It’s the second No. 1 seed the Aggies have defeated in the tournament after stunning previously undefeated Nebraska in a regional final. Texas A&M also knocked off No. 2 seed Louisville.

Pitt had not been swept this season before Thursday.

Olivia Babcock, a finalist for American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year, led the Panthers (30-5) with 25 points, finishing with 22 kills and a 54% kill rate. No other Panthers player had double-digit points. Brooke Mosher had 31 assists.

Texas A&M will play the winner of Thursday’s late match between Wisconsin and Kentucky.



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Doris Lemngole Wins The Bowerman

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28 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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GRAPEVINE, Texas – Alabama track and field phenom Doris Lemngole has been named the recipient of The Bowerman, as announced Thursday at the Gaylord Texas Resort & Convention Center. It marks the first time in program history that a Crimson Tide student-athlete has captured collegiate track and field’s most prestigious award.

The program’s ace, from West Pokot County, Kenya, topped an impressive group of finalists that included Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico and Savannah Sutherland of Michigan. All three student-athletes were their school’s first-ever finalist for The Bowerman.

Thursday marked the sixth time in the last seven years that a female athlete from the Southeastern Conference has won The Bowerman. Lemngole joins 2024 winner Parker Valby (Florida), 2022 winner Abby Steiner (Kentucky), 2021 winner Athing Mu (Texas A&M), 2019 winner Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU) and 2018 winner Keturah Orji (Georgia).

Doris Lemngole – 2025 Track and Field Résumé

  • Two national titles

    • Indoor 5,000m

    • Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase

  • National runner-up

  • Three SEC titles

    • Indoor 3,000m

    • Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase

    • Outdoor 5,000m

  • Two collegiate records

    • Indoor 5,000m

    • Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase

  • USTFCCCA National Women’s Athlete of the Year

  • Honda Sport Award finalist for Track and Field

  • Additional accolades during the 2025 season include:

    • Finished fifth at the World Championships in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, representing Kenya

    • Two-time SEC Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year (indoor and outdoor)

    • Named the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Women’s Track and Field Academic All-America Team Member of the Year



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Pitt loses to Texas A&M in NCAA volleyball final four

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29 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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Pitt lost 3-0 to Texas A&M in the final four of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament on Thursday.  

The No. 1-seeded Panthers lost to third-seeded Texas A&M in the national semifinal match at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Pitt’s season ended in the final four for the fifth consecutive season, while Texas A&M is headed to its first-ever national championship. 

NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championships - Semifinals

Olivia Babcock #5 of the Pittsburgh Panthers spikes the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies during the Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Semifinals at T-Mobile Center on December 18, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images


Pitt lost the first set 29-27, lost the second set 25-21, lost 25-20 in the third set. It was the first time this season that Pitt was swept. 

“An incredible season comes to an end in the National Semifinal,” Pitt volleyball posted to social media after the match.

Pitt defeated UMBC, Michigan, Minnesota and Purdue to reach the final four. The Panthers finished the season 30-5, claiming at least a share of their fourth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Texas A&M will play the winner of Wisconsin-Kentucky on Sunday for the championship. 



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The top moments from Bowerman winner Jordan Anthony’s 2025 season

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44 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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Arkansas’ Jordan Anthony won the 2025 Bowerman as the most outstanding man in track and field. Anthony is the third athlete in Arkansas history to win the Bowerman, joining fellow men’s Razorback winners Jarrion Lawson (2016) and Jaydon Hibbert (2023). 

Anthony swept the NCAA titles in the short sprints across seasons, winning the 60 meters and 100 meters. He also ran the second-fastest all-conditions 100 meters in NCAA history.

RELATED: A complete history of the Bowerman

Anthony had a fantastic season filled with great performances. Here are some of her top moments from her award-winning season.

SEC Indoor 60m 

Anthony won his first title of the 2025 season with a 6.54-second finish to win the SEC Indoor 60 meter title. It was a sign of more titles to come in 2025.

Prelims Indoor 60m 

In a 60 meter race for the ages, Anthony ran 6.47 seconds in the semifinals at the 2025 NCAA indoor championships. That time is the third-fastest ever ran in collegiate history, but Anthony finished second in the race.

USC’s JC Stevenson runs second-fastest NCAA men’s indoor 60m EVER — in the prelims

Indoor 60m title 

After a fast semifinal round, all eyes were on the title race in the men’s 60 meters. Anthony didn’t dissapoint with a 6.49-second finish and the win.

Men’s 60m – 2025 NCAA indoor track and field championships

First sub-10 at Mt. SAC 

Jordan Anthony previewed what would be his fastest season yet when he ran under 10 seconds for the first time of his collegiate career at Mt. SAC relays with a 9.98 (+1.2) finish.

SEC sweep 

Anthony solidified hisself as a national title threat by sweeping the sprints in the hardest conference in track and field, the SEC. Not only did he sweep the 100 and 200 meters, he also set PRs.

9.75 shocks the world

The race the got the world’s attention. When Jordan Anthony ran 9.75, everyone stopped to check the clock. While the wind reading said +2.1, the time itself was correct. Anthony put the world on notice.

Arkansas’ Jordan Anthony runs 9.75! Watch every men’s 100m quarterfinals from 2025 NCAA outdoor track and field championships

Jogs 200m in “Incredible” fashion

After running a 9.75, Anthony still had to qualify for the 200 meters at nationals. He took his time with this race, finishing in 20.20 seconds while looking very relaxed.

From Lane 9 for the win 

After only finishing fourth in his heat, Jordan Anthony was placed all the way out in Lane 9 for the 100 meter final. It’s a far spot for a favorite entering the championship meet and can be missed from the action in the middle of the track. Anthony snuck up from the outside to win the title, surprise many who forgot about the Razorback.

Men’s 100m final – 2025 NCAA outdoor track and field championships

Full recap

Here’s a look at all of Anthony’s accomplishments this year:

Championships:

  • NCAA Indoor 60m champion
  • NCAA Outdoor 100m champion
  • SEC Indoor 60m champion
  • SEC Outdoor 100m champion
  • SEC Outdoor 200m champion
  • SEC Outdoor Team champion

Collegiate Records and All-Time marks: 

  • No. 2 fastest all-conditions 100m in NCAA history
  • No. 3 fastest 60 meters in NCAA history

Stan Becton joined NCAA.com in 2021 and has since served as a college football, FCS football, track and field, cross country and HBCU beat reporter. He has covered numerous NCAA championship events, including the FCS Championship, DI Track & Field Championships and Men’s Frozen Four. Additionally, he has covered the College Football Playoff and HBCU sporting events like the Celebration Bowl, MEAC/SWAC Challenge and Legacy Classic. Stan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, earning a degree in Professional Writing and playing football as a five-year letterman. You can follow him on Twitter @stan_becton.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.





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Shanley volleyball coach Taylor Preston steps down after 2 seasons – InForum

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46 minutes ago

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December 19, 2025

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FARGO — Fargo Shanley volleyball head coach Taylor Preston is stepping down after two seasons.

Shanley activities director Mark Hollcraft announced the resignation late Wednesday night.

“Shanley volleyball coach Taylor Preston has submitted her resignation, and I have accepted it,” Hollcraft said in the release. “I am grateful for her three years of coaching our Shanley girls, including the last two as head coach.

“Taylor expressed much appreciation in getting to know the girls through coaching but believed it was time to take new steps forward in her life.”

092724.S.FF.Shanley.WFSheyenne.Volleyball.10

Shanley volleyball head coach Taylor Preston gives instructions to her team during their game against West Fargo Sheyenne on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, at Sheyenne High School in West Fargo.

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

Preston initially joined the Deacons staff as an assistant in 2023 under former coach Alexis Bachmeier. Shanley finished 26-11 that season and included runner-up finishes at both the East Region and Class A state tournament.

Preston took the reins of the program ahead of the 2024 season. The 2024 campaign saw the Deacons finish 29-7 overall, including 20-2 in the Eastern Dakota Conference for the regular season conference title. Shanley also qualified for the state tournament for the second straight year.

This past season saw Shanley finish 23-14 overall. Overall, Preston compiled a record of 52-21 over two years leading the program.

Hollcraft said the search for Shanley’s next head coach will begin immediately.

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