Education Dept. urges NCAA to reverse transgender athletes' records, titles and awards


Education Dept. urges NCAA to reverse transgender athletes

Feb. 12, 2025, 2:28 AM GMT+5 The Education Department on Tuesday urged organizations overseeing high school and college athletics to strip records, titles and awards from transgender women who competed in women’s sports. The department sent a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) calling on them to “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories,” according to a news release from the department. Candice Jackson, deputy general counsel for the Education Department, said women athletes “have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades.” “The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes,” Jackson said in a statement. The department added that “correcting the record” is consistent with the NCAA’s new policy prohibiting trans women from competing in women’s sports. The NCAA’s policy change came the day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week barring trans girls and women from competing in female sports. The order threatens to revoke federal funding from schools that don’t comply. The order does not bar trans boys and men from playing on male sports teams, and the department’s letter to the NCAA and NFHS does not mention reversing awards won by trans men. The Education Department’s release Tuesday quoted Riley Gaines, a former swimmer for the University of Kentucky who now advocates against including trans women in women’s sports. In 2022, Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All American, tied for fifth with Lia Thomas, a trans woman who swam for the University of Pennsylvania, in the women’s 200-meter NCAA championships. That same year, Thomas became the first trans woman to win an NCAA championship when she won the 500-yard freestyle.