NCAA mulls changes to trans athlete policies as Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act advances

The head of the NCAA has signaled that the organization could use help from Congress to navigate any potential changes to current policies on transgender-identifying athletes.

NCAA President Charlie Baker told reporters outside the organization's annual meeting on Tuesday that more legal clarity is needed, according to The Athletic.

The head of the NCAA has signaled that the organization could use help from Congress to navigate any potential changes to current policies on transgender-identifying athletes.

NCAA President Charlie Baker told reporters outside the organization’s annual meeting on Tuesday that more legal clarity is needed, according to The Athletic.

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“There is no clarity on this from a legal point of view,” he reportedly said after delivering remarks at the conference in Nashville.

Baker’s remarks come the same day as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would bar men from competing in women’s sports at colleges that receive federal funding.

The Athletic also reports that Baylor University president and chair of the NCAA’s board of governors Linda Livingstone said that the board has had discussions about amending the current NCAA transgender athlete policy. Livingstone made a brief mentioning of the topic prior to introducing Baker at the conference on Tuesday.

“I would say that the kind of public attention to that issue has been very significant in recent years, and we do recognize that as we look at what’s going to potentially happen with Title IX regulations, when we look at potential legislation at the federal level, when we look at what’s happening in the courts around the country, and then frankly, what we might anticipate that the new administration will do, it puts it definitely on the radar screen for us,” Livingstone reportedly stated.

”We want to make sure that what we’re doing is in compliance with federal law, and if we anticipate that that could potentially change, we want to be prepared to address that,” she continued. “And so that’s why it was mentioned specifically, because everybody’s talking about it, everybody knows it’s an issue out there, and we don’t want to look like we’re not paying attention to it and taking it seriously.”

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In 2016, then Massachusetts Governor Baker signed a bill into law that extended anti-discrimination protections to athletes who identify as transgender.

“No one should be discriminated against in Massachusetts because of their gender identity,” Baker stated at the time.