NAIA all but bans transgender athletes from women's sports. NCAA vows to ensure 'fair competition'

Freed-Hardeman guard Quan Lax wears the championship banner after the NAIA men's national championship college basketball game against Langston, Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. Freed-Hardeman won 71-67. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the governing body for mostly small colleges, announced a policy Monday that all but bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The NAIA’s Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes at schools across the country, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.

According to the transgender participation policy, all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy will be allowed participate in women’s sports.