A small colleges association is banning transgender athletes from women's sports competitions.
Athletes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics will now only be allowed to compete in women's sports if their gender was assigned female at birth, CBS Sports reported Monday.
NAIA's council of presidents unanimously approved the policy after a December survey indicated widespread support, the outlet noted. The new directive applies to all competitions of the NAIA — a governing body for 249 mostly small — and private — colleges that are not part of the NCAA's three divisions of competition.
The decision does not apply to NCAA competitions.
"We know there are a lot of different opinions out there," NAIA president Jim Carr told the outlet. "For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. ... We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You're allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete."
NBC Sports reported it’s believed to be the first national college governing body to mandate that athletes compete according to assigned sex at birth.
According to Pew Research Center, 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary, the outlet noted.
In addition to ruling out athletes who are male at birth, the policy also blocks those who were assigned female but have begun masculinizing hormone therapy to transition to men.
"It's important to know that the male sports are open to anyone," Carr told the outlet.
In 2022, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the only openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship.
"College sports are the stage for women's sports in America, and the NCAA will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women's sports and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships," the NCAA said in a statement to CBS Sports.