A New Hampshire college rescinded its gender-affirming policy for trans student athletes after its hand was effectively forced by the Trump administration.
Franklin Pierce University, a small, liberal arts institution located in Rindge, announced on Saturday that it is revoking its participation guidelines for transgender students who compete in intercollegiate athletics. In 2019, the Concerned Women of America filed a complaint against the policy after FPU student Cece Telfer won the women’s 400-meter hurdles trophy at the Division II NCAA Track and Field Championships, marking the first time a trans student took home the national title.
The Office of Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Education, which has a history of revoking affirming policies for trans students, concluded that allowing athletes like Telfer to compete “denies female student-athletes equal athletic benefits and opportunities.” It has previously threatened to pull federal funding from schools that allow trans students to participate in school sports in accordance with their gender.
In announcing the changes to its policies, Franklin Pierce University said the Trump administration effectively gave them no choice but to relent.
“Franklin Pierce University is committed to an inclusive environment for all of its students,” the university said in a statement posted to its website. “We regret that we were required to rescind the Transgender Participation and Inclusion Policy we adopted and put forward based on the NCAA’s model, but have made this move to comply with a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.”
Concerned Women of America, an anti-LGBTQ+ group which has falsely linked gay people to pedophilia, celebrated the decision in a statement. As was originally reported by New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, PWA President Penny Nance — a notorious right-wing figure who once referred to same-sex marriages as “counterfeit money” — called it “the first victory for college female athletes being forced to compete on an unfair playing field against males claiming transgender status and competing in women’s sports.”
“Federal action against Franklin Pierce University is a warning shot to the NCAA and every college and university in America to back off policies that discriminate against female student-athletes and restore fairness and equity in women’s sports,” she added.
As this website has previously reported, the action is part of a nationwide strategy on the part of conservatives to use trans kids as a wedge issue ahead of the 2020 election. Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is facing a tough reelection fight following an insider trading scandal, introduced a bill last month that would place a federal ban on trans girls participating in school athletics, while Republican lobby groups have run ads in Michigan warning that Democrats want to force cisgender women out of sports.
Tony Perkins, president of fellow anti-LGBTQ+ group Family Research Council, cited the latter argument in his response to the announcement that Franklin Pierce University is dropping its trans-inclusive policy. In a statement, he said the controversy illustrates “another real-life contrast between this White House and its Democratic challengers.”
“President Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden, has already vowed to do away with girls’ sports on ‘day one’ of his administration by pushing the most extreme, anti-freedom piece of legislation ever written: the Equality Act,” said Perkins, who was a leading proponent of Trump’s trans military ban. “Girls’ sports are just the tip of the iceberg. If you care about religious freedom, sex-specific bathrooms and showers, conscience rights, private and religious schools, the free market, faith-based social services — every single one of them is on the ballot with Biden’s promise.”
Biden has, indeed, promised to pass the Equality Act if elected to office, but the notion that its enactment is a threat to cisgender women is a persistent right-wing myth. The bill would guarantee equal access to LGBTQ+ people in the workplace, housing, education, and public accommodations, and such proposals remain widely popular among Americans.
And while the Trump administration continues to fight basic inclusion for LGBTQ+ people, not all schools have given into its demands. Three school districts in Connecticut threatened to file a lawsuit to preserve their pro-trans student athletics policies, and the state’s governor, Democrat Ned Lamont, told the White House to “butt out” of the issue. The Department of Education responded by dropping its complaint against the schools, which are located in Groton, Hartford, and New Haven.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
