Texas Bans Transgender Athletes in College Sports
metroweekly.comsigned a similar law into effect last month.The ban on transgender athletes builds upon an existing ban for athletes in grades K-12 that requires school-aged children to compete in sports based on their assigned sex at birth.The collegiate bill, dubbed the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” imposes similar restrictions, requiring athletes to compete based on their “biological sex,” defined as the gender listed on the college student’s original birth certificate.
It also allows cisgender athletes who believe they’ve been disadvantaged by competing against transgender individuals to sue for damages .
Under the bill, which takes effect in September, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees post-secondary education in the state, will draft and adopt rules for athlete eligibility to ensure the law is enforced while also ensuring that state and federal laws regarding the confidentiality of student health and medical information are not violated.Sitting in front of a sign reading “A Win for Women Athletes during a bill-signing ceremony, Abbott hailed the bill’s passage as a victory for female athletes while repeatedly misgendering transgender females as “men,” according to The Hill.“The Save Women’s Sports Act protects young women at Texas colleges and universities by prohibiting men from competing on a team or as an individual against them in college sports,” Abbott said. “Women in Texas can be assured that the integrity of their sports will be protected in our state.”The NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, has historically allowed transgender females to compete on female sports teams if they had received at least one year of hormone therapy prior to competing.
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