The NIAA amended its transgender participation position statement and policy, during its spring Board of Control meeting Tuesday.
The policy follows the latest changes at the federal level and executive orders signed by President Trump, keeping athlete participation based on the sex in which athletes were born.
Students who wish to participate in athletics will have to have a doctor designate birth sex on their physical evaluation form and physicians will have to check a box to deem an athlete “medically eligible for girls sports.”
The amendment updates the NIAA’s previous policy, which was adopted April 6, 2016.
The old policy allowed athletic participation based on the gender identity of said student and their school’s approval.
The vote passed 8-0 with three abstaining votes. Pam Sloan, Gregg Malkovich, Jay Kenny, Wade Poulsen, Deanna Riddle, Rayanne Sorensen, Alex Woodley and Keith Wipperman all voted in favor.
Rollins Stallworth, Linda Cavazos and Colin McNaught abstained from voting.
Christina Brockett was not present.
The motion was later amended to have an emergency meeting in May and passed 10-1 with McNaught as the lone dissenting opinion.
REASON FOR CHANGE
The NIAA has been steadfast in its desires to update the policy.
Falling out of compliance with the federal government was the chief concern, officials said.
“There are many laws that the United States has had over the years that were changed. Sometimes change is difficult,” said NIAA executive director Tim Jackson. “We have a federal law in place and I do not think it would behoove us as a body to willfully violate a federal law.”
In February, the U.S Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced investigations into the athletic associations of Minnesota and California after the organizations announced plans to defy the federal law.
In the Board of Control packet available on the NIAA’s website, the association cites multiple sources used in the executive order “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” signed by Trump on Feb. 5.
“This proposed position statement does not discriminate against anybody, OK. A transgender student is allowed to participate, but they have to participate in sports with their biological peers,” said Paul Anderson, NIAA legal counsel.
In the nine years under the previous policy, Anderson stated the NIAA had “never had a level two appeal in regards to a transgender student.”
Across the United States, 38 states currently have policies in place limiting or restricting transgender participation in athletics.
NEW PROBLEMS
The NIAA’s adjusted policy states that those wishing to participate in athletics, starting in the fall 2025, will need to have their “unaltered” birth certificate for their physical in order to prove their identity at birth.
Having a physical copy of a birth certificate was a point of contention among a few board members.
The concern prompted the Board of Control to amend their motion, having an emergency meeting in May to further define what will qualify as an adequate birth certificate if one is not available.
“There may be issues with undocumented individuals. Perhaps, there are other revisions we can make to this policy where the birth certificate does not become an issue,” said Anderson, “but we are going to have to tighten others to make sure that what we are dealing with are determinations of biological sex in a particular student.”
McNaught felt the burden of enforcement is another addition onto the workload of athletic administrators at schools.
Wipperman — who is the principal at Centennial High School and voted in favor of the new policy — also had concerns.
“There are still a lot of details that I am concerned about how we are going to make. We have several schools here that have a very high Hispanic population. For that reason alone are going to be unable or unwilling to provide (a birth certificate),” said Wipperman. “I just want to make sure that is said. From a practicality standpoint of living in this world, there are some large concerns that I don’t know how we are going to answer, even in May. Even though I agree, as I did with my vote publicly, I am concerned about how I am going to put it into practice.”
That process will be the purpose of May’s emergency meeting.