The NCAA is known as perhaps the worst and most corrupt governing body in all of American sports. With their treatment of collegiate athletes and their refusal to compensate them at all, amongst other horrible things, they truly are dishonorable. The blatant lie told about their treatment of states who ban transgender athletes is another transgression in a long list. Just a month ago, the NCAA did the right thing and said it would pull championship events from states that pass laws banning transgender women from participating in female sports. Their actions on Sunday however, completely went against this and they granted regional sites in three of those states.
For the softball tournament field, games will be played in notoriously anti transgender states Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. These three states have all passed anti-transgender sports laws for women’s sports. A mere month ago, the NCAA was talking completely differently, and their board of governors said it would be difficult to hold championship events, including regional tournaments, in states that have such anti-transgender sports laws. “The NCAA has a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports,” the NCAA said in a statement. “Our approach — which requires testosterone suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women’s sports—embraces the evolving science on this issue and is anchored in participation policies of both the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected,” the board stated. “We will continue to closely monitor these situations to determine whether NCAA championships can be conducted in ways that are welcoming and respectful of all participants.”
Several states in the south have introduced legislation that would ban transgender girls from competing in high school sports, and Republican governors in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia have already signed such bills into law. Three of these states listed above (Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia) have extended that ban to collegiate sports.
