The NCAA has updated its policy on transgender student-athletes, limiting women's competitions to only include "student-athletes assigned female at birth only." The decision comes after President Trump issued an executive order calling for a ban on transgender women from competing in women's sports.
The NCAA's new policy, which aligns with Trump's order, will permit anyone, regardless of sex, to compete in men's sports, while women's sports will be limited to biological women. The NCAA's prior transgender policy had come under scrutiny in 2022 when then-University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who is transgender, competed in and placed in events at that year's NCAA Division I national championship for the sport.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who competed against Thomas in that championship, has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA's former policy that allowed Thomas to swim against biological women. Gaines celebrated the NCAA's rule change, stating that "no girl will ever have to experience what my teammates and I did."
Trump celebrated the NCAA rule change and suggested that the International Olympic Committee should also bar biological males from women's sports. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, which Trump will oversee during his term in the White House.