After months of “closely monitoring” the legislative war against trans athletes, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) may host championship games in states that have banned trans athletic participation after all.
The NCAA released a list last week of 20 potential host sites for the forthcoming Division I Softball Championship games, and the organization will announce on Sunday which 16 locations it has selected to host regional round games. The list includes potential sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, all of which have either signed anti-trans sports bills into law this year or are on the verge of doing so.
The move comes after NCAA president Mark Emmert condemned the slate of anti-trans bills proliferating across the nation.
“This legislation is harmful to transgender student-athletes and conflicts with the NCAA’s core values of inclusivity, respect and the equitable treatment of all individuals,” Emmert wrote in an April letter to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
Though Emmert did not comment on whether the organization would take specific action, he noted that the NCAA “requires championship host sites to demonstrate how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy, and free of discrimination” and that safeguards must be enacted “to ensure the dignity of everyone involved in the event.”
It’s unclear whether the NCAA intends to hold the potential host states accountable for anti-trans legislation or how that accountability might be enacted while still allowing those states to host games.
The NCAA Board of Governors also issued a statement last month, writing that it “firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.” The board also reiterated the NCAA’s policy on choosing sites for championship games and stated that the organization was “committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them.”
The NCAA’s recent statements of support for trans athletes came only after the organization faced intense pressure from student members. Now, advocates are expressing disappointment over the NCAA’s perceived complicity in anti-trans legislation. Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, and Hudson Taylor, founder and executive director of Athlete Ally, wrote in a Monday letter to the NCAA that the LGBTQ+ organizations were concerned about the recent announcement.
“It is disappointing that one-quarter of the schools being considered for this championship are located in states that discriminate,” the letter reads. “To host championships in these states would contradict the NCAA’s recent statements suggesting that it would not hold championship events in states with discriminatory anti-trans sports laws.”
There’s precedent for the NCAA taking punitive action against states with anti-trans legislation. The organization previously relocated championship games from North Carolina in 2016, in the midst of the nationwide outrage against the state for its transphobic bathroom bill, HB2. The law, which was only fully repealed last year, mandated that people could only use single-sex public facilities if that sex was designated on their birth certificate, and banned local communities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances.
UPenn professor and college athletics expert Karen Weaver told the Associated Press that the NCAA’s “wishy washy” stance on the current epidemic of discriminatory legislation was likely due to the name, image and likeness legislation pending in Congress, which would allow student athletes to monetize their public profiles while playing in college.
“They’re trying to not tick off any potential folks who might vote for something that benefits the NCAA the most,” Weaver said.
Thus far this year, 6 states have passed laws banning trans students from competing in school sports, despite lack of popular support among Americans for such measures or evidence that trans athletes cause any disruption to women’s sports.
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