WIAA: No transgender athletes in girls sports

STEVENS POINT — The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees most high school sports in Wisconsin, announced on Feb. 19 that it is changing its policy regarding the participation of transgender athletes in girls sports. “Today the WIAA Board of Control voted to update the organization’s policy regarding student-athlete eligibility — affirming its compliance with federal directives that only students designated as females at birth will be allowed to participate in girls competitions,” Stephanie Hauser, executive director of the WIAA, said in a release. “Working in consultation with legal counsel, our Board updated this policy to ensure clarity is provided to our membership as they work to comply with new federal guidance from the White House.” The ruling follows similar actions taken recently by the NCAA, which adjusted its transgender student-athlete participation policy on Feb. 6. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month intending to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s athletics.  The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth. The NCAA changed its policy for transgender athletes, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth, the day after the president signed the order. The policy was not applied to men’s teams, where the NCAA says any athletes regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity can play if they meet all other eligibility requirements. Transgender men taking hormones, such as testosterone, can practice with women’s teams but can’t compete on a women’s team without risking the team’s eligibility for championships.