STEVENS POINT, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Only students designated female at birth will be allowed to compete in girls sports, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control decided Wednesday.
The decision comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order this month aimed at barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sports.
“Working in consultation with legal counsel, our Board updated this policy to ensure clarity is provided to our membership as they work to comply with new federal guidance from the White House,” WIAA executive director Stephanie Hauser said in a statement.
The NCAA has also updated its policies to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth.
The WIAA’s policy has been met with mixed reactions.
“Women and girls have made tremendous strides, advances since 1972 when Title IX was passed in order to give them equal opportunity to excel,” said Vernadette Broyles, President & General Counsel for the Child & Parental Rights Campaign. “Allowing biological males into our spaces, into our competitions, was rolling back those advances.”
Fair Wisconsin, a LGBTQ+ Civil Rights non-profit, said in a statement:
I find this ruling really disappointing, and frankly antithetical to the values WIAA espouses. Playing sports as a kid is all about getting to be on a team and be part of something bigger than yourself, and it’s how so many kids feel like they belong. That feeling of belonging is so important for a kid’s development, including trans kids. Honestly, I’d say it’s even more important for trans kids because they’re living in a world that really questions them at every turn, where they often feel like they don’t belong. But when a trans kid gets to play sports on a team where they belong, that can make such a huge difference, especially right now when the trans community is under attack from a hostile federal government. Now is the time to show our trans kids love and support, not exclusion.
Last year, Governor Tony Evers vetoed a bill which would have kept biological males from competing on girls sports teams in schools.
Republican Nate Gustafson of Fox Crossing, who helped introduce that bill, applauds the WIAA’s decision.
“I think we need to go all the way to the next step and ensure that we’ll codify that in Wisconsin statutes,” said Gustafson.
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