OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:06 PM – Tuesday, August 6, 2024
GOP Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, along with a Republican-led coalition, wrote to the NCAA organization and urged NCAA president Charlie Baker to update its policies so that transgender athletes, specifically biological men who identify as transgender women, would not be allowed to compete against biological female athletes.
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The Tuesday letter received support from 12x NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines and the groups Concerned Women for America, Heritage Action, and the Independent Women’s Forum, as well as being co-signed by 22 other U.S. Senators.
The letter emerges amidst recent controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where two boxers, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, were criticized after they were both previously banned from competing in International Boxing Authority events due to reportedly having XY chromosomes and the testosterone levels of a man. However, they were still permitted to compete in the games this year.
According to the Olympics committee, the two controversial athletes are not transgender and their birth certificates label them as being female, even though they still have elevated levels of testosterone.
“The science is clear. Males have inherent athletic advantages over females due to their anatomy and biology – including through having larger hearts, higher red blood count, greater lung capacity, longer endurance, larger muscle mass, differences in bone density and geometry, and lower body fat,” Blackburn wrote.
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly known as William Thomas, was previously at the center of NCAA controversy as “she” dominated the competition, becoming the first transgender athlete to win the NCAA Division 1 swimming national championship in 2022. When Thomas had competed alongside biological male swimmers like him the previous year, he never once came close to winning.
Additionally, Thomas made headlines in June for attempting to reverse a ban on trans women competing in the Olympic games in Paris, which ultimately did not come to fruition.
“Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities,” Thomas said in a statement.
“In conjunction with the Biden-Harris administration, the NCAA has turned its back on women by disregarding Title IX,” said NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines. “It’s unfair, unsafe, and discriminatory.”
“While men may have inherent athletic advantages, they have no advantage over women in their level of passion, drive, or desire to compete,” Blackburn continued. “The very bedrock of sport is the exhibition of a commitment to excellence, grace under pressure, and fair play among competitors – all of which is threatened absent an even playing field.”
The NCAA last updated its policies on transgender inclusion last August.
“…Participation in NCAA sports requires transgender student-athletes to provide documentation that meets the sport-specific standard submitted twice annually (once at the beginning of competition season and the second six months following) for one year,” the policy states. “For participation in NCAA championships, transgender athletes must additionally provide documentation of testosterone levels to the CSMAS with laboratory work completed within four weeks of the championship selections.”
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