The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is being sued by 12 female athletes over its stance on transgender athletes.
Title IX says that any school that gets federal money can’t treat people differently because of their gender, and this participation policy goes against their rights under that law. That decision came not long after the one that lets transgender athletes participate in the gender category of their chosen gender. The NCAA said that this decision helps to “preserve opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion, and safety for all who compete.”
Sixteen female athletes sued, saying that they were “bringing this case to secure for future generations of women the promise of Title IX that is being denied them and other college women.”
KU swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler said, “The NCAA’s most basic job is to protect the fairness and safety of its athletes, and it has failed on that simple task.”
The case talks about a specific event that happened with Lia Thomas and Riley Gaines, two swimmers from Kentucky. They tied for fifth place in a competition, but Thomas was the only one who could hold the prize on the victory lap. Although Thomas was a transgender woman, she had participated in the male competition the year before.
The lawsuit that the female athletes filed said, “The secret of Thomas’ meteoric rise and dominance in NCAA women’s swimming was retained male advantage.”
The lead lawyer for the group spoke up and said that the lawsuit’s goal is to make sure that the race is fair from the start.
The NCAA said it wouldn’t say anything about a hearing that was still going on, but it would keep pushing Title XI and make sure that the NCAA championships were fair.
Once the case became public, Thomas said that their athletic success had nothing to do with their decision to become gay. Thomas said at the end of her speech that she knew people might not like her, but she doesn’t need “permission to be herself.”
