This weekend, South Carolina women’s hockey coach Dawn Staley went viral by stating without a doubt that trans athletes may be permitted to engage in children’s activities.
After being questioned by Dan Zaksheske, a writer for the traditional sports business OutKick, Staley said she supported trans athletes during a press conference prior to the Gamecocks’ NCAA Tournament finals game.
Zaksheske asked Staley her mind on the addition of “biological guys” in children’s activities.
“If you are a person you really play”, Staley responded. “You should be able to play if you consider yourself a person and you want to play sports or evil opposite.”
Staley said she didn’t care, but that she did understand the significance of her statement and, perhaps, the attempt to bait her. “So I’m okay with the crowd of people now flooding my timeline and distracting me from one of our game’s biggest time,” she said. I truly am”, she said.
The next day, the Gamecocks went on to win the NCAA women’s sports tournament, defeating Iowa 87-75.
Liberal lawmakers and organizations have attacked the cooperation of trans athletes in sports at all levels, from elementary school to college athletics.
Two days prior to a fresh setback for transgender participation in sports, Staley’s comments were made.
On Monday, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which governs around 83,000 student sports, announced a plan that effectively bans all trans athletes from competing in women’s activities. It is thought to be the first school gymnastics program to establish this rule.
All NAIA pupil athletes are permitted to compete in female sports, according to the new policy. However, the policy states that only student athletes can participate in women’s sports if they haven’t started any “masculinizing hormone therapy.”
The scheme, which was approved 20-0 by NAIA’s Council of Presidents, will go into influence Aug. 1, 2024.
On the other hand, the NCAA has allowed transgender athletes to compete if they follow the rules set by the world’s sports governing body, but it has usually been quiet about pressure to move activities from claims that forbid trans athletes from competitions.
The NCAA will continue to support Title IX, make extraordinary investments in women’s athletics, and guarantee good competitors for all student-athletes competing in all NCAA championships, the NCAA said in a statement released shortly after the NAIA news.
The existence of transgender sports has dominated the news cycle since 2019, when the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that has written numerous anti-trans charges, first sued a Connecticut school for allowing trans athletes to play sports.
To date, 24 states have passed regulations barring transgender women and girls from playing in women’s athletics, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
