Kim Jones, a former All-American collegiate tennis player and co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), had a message for President Donald Trump amid criticism that the NCAA’s new policy on transgender athletes still has loopholes.
The president signed an executive order prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports. The NCAA followed up the next day, reversing its policy on trans inclusion in women’s sports.
Jones called on Trump to get the NCAA to rewrite its policy again.
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« Call the NCAA back to the table and tell them to put the policy in the garbage can, light it on fire and start over, » she said on « Fox & Friends » on Wednesday.
Jones was among the critics who have insisted this policy does not go far enough or establish clear enough barriers to protect women’s athletes in the college ranks. The most common criticism has been that the policy allegedly allows trans athletes to bypass the restriction by changing the gender on their birth certificate.
In the U.S., 44 states do allow birth certificates to be altered to change a person’s birth sex. The only states that do not allow this are Florida, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Montana. Meanwhile, there are 14 states that allow sex on a birth certificate to be changed without any medical documentation required, including California, New York, Massachusetts and Michigan.
The NCAA released a statement to Fox News Digital that the governing body will not allow trans athletes to compete in the women’s category based on changed birth certificates.
« The policy is clear that there are no waivers available, and athletes assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team with amended birth certificates or other forms of ID, » the spokesperson said.
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Jones said the NCAA needed to make two things « absolutely mandatory. »
« The first, they must decide that membership on a women’s team is for female student athletes exclusively, » she said. « Secondly, there must be a screening mechanism to ensure that no male athletes can cross that barrier. »
She made clear that Trump’s « No Men in Women’s Sports » order was far from solidified.
« It’s not remotely a done deal, » she added. « The policy that the NCAA released has no accountability and oversight from the NCAA. It has no clear language limiting women’s team membership to female athletes only and it has no mechanism for screening sex. »
Regarding trans athletes practicing on a women’s team, the NCAA considers male practice players a « staple » of women’s sports.
« Male practice players have been a staple in college sports for decades, particularly in women’s basketball and the Association will continue to account for that in the policy, » the spokesperson said.
However, the benefits that are extended to trans athletes practicing on a women’s team does not include scholarships, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
These specifics are not currently outlined on the official NCAA policy page, as it makes no specific references to birth certificate or ID amendments, or women’s scholarships going to trans athletes.
Whether the NCAA makes an official update to address these criticisms has yet to be determined.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/sports/former-college-tennis-star-calls-trump-work-ncaa-better-trans-athlete-policy-light-fire
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Publish date : 2025-02-19 13:32:00
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