Alabama’s GOP senators push stricter NCAA policies for trans athletes

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Alabama Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville signed a letter, led by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, urging the National Collegiate Athletic Association to update its participation policies on student-athletes allowed to compete in women’s sports.

The 23 GOP senators wrote to Charlie Barker, the president of the NCAA, discussing other organizations like the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Court of Arbitration for Sport that have already taken the steps they’re calling on him to enact. They ask him to “follow suit and take similar action to promote fair play.”

In April, the NAIA passed a policy that essentially banned transgender athletes, but the organization only represents about 250 member colleges across the country, five of which are in Alabama. The NCAA represents about 1,100 member colleges.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport recently ruled against Lia Thomas, saying she lacked standing to challenge the policies between her and this year’s Olympics.

The letter’s endorsement includes Concerned Women for America, Heritage Action, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, Independent Women’s Forum, the Independent Women’s Law Center, Champion Women, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and the Our Bodies, Our Sports Coalition.

Riley Gaines, a vocal advocate against trans inclusion in women’s sports who previously sued the NCAA for allowing Thomas to compete, also endorsed the letter.

The letter highlights the main points of the physical differences and safety in allowing transgender athletes to compete, saying that “science is clear.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading. “Consistently, when adult males’ athletic performance is contrasted with adult females’ athletic performance in sports relying on endurance, muscle strength, speed, and power, males dominate, outperforming females by 10 to 30 percent,” the senators’ letter reads.

Britt and Tuberville took to social media to denounce the current NCAA policies. Britt said a new policy was necessary to “ensure women’s sports continue to provide opportunity for future generations of women and girls.” Tuberville echoed that sentiment by saying “It’s unsafe, it’s unfair, and it’s just plain WRONG.”

The NCAA has had policies in place since 2022. Currently, their policy mirrors that of the Olympic Movement. The NCAA calls for transgender student-athlete participation in each sport to be determined by the policy of the national governing body of that sport. If there is no national governing body, the NCAA defaults to the international federation of the sport.

Earlier this year, more than 400 athletes, current and former, signed and submitted a letter with the opposite views of the letter sent by senators yesterday, asking them to “stand on the right side of history.”

“We implore you to focus efforts on developing policies driven by research, education, collaboration, and policy to promote a healthy and safe environment for all athletes, NOT discriminatory attempts to sideline an entire group of athletes from the sports they love,” the letter from athletes read.

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