The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Board of Governors this week fired a warning shot aimed over the heads of state legislatures, saying it will conduct college championships only in states where transgender student-athletes can participate.

The NCAA warning comes as several states, including Texas, are considering bills to require students to compete in sports only with teammates who are of the same gender at birth.

The NCAA said in a statement: “Inclusion and fairness can coexist for all student-athletes, including transgender athletes, at all levels of sport. Our clear expectation as the association’s top governing body is that all student-athletes will be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them.”

Lawmakers in Texas have filed six bills that target transgender students’ sports participation — but only two of those bills would affect colleges and university sports. One bill recently advanced out of the Senate State Affairs Committee to the full chamber. The bill would require the University Interscholastic League, which runs K-12 sports, to amend its rules to only let students play sports with students who match their biological sex as determined at birth or on their birth certificate. If passed, it would go in effect Sept. 1.

Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, has authored one of the two bills affecting college and university student athletes. Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-Spring, has filed the other, which is called the Fair Play in Women's Sports Act.

"This is about fairness and common sense. I am proud to stand with our female athletes in Texas, and I refuse to abandon them. Biological males are free to compete in sports in Texas, but not in sports exclusively for girls. We must pass the Fair Play in Women's Sports Act, HB 1458, now."

Similar legislation has been passed in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, which bars transgender girls from participating in women’s sports. More than 30 states are considering similar bills, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Texas lawmakers also are considering a bill that would classify providing children with puberty suppression drugs or performing gender reassignment surgery as child abuse. Another bill would revoke a doctor’s medical license if they perform a sex reassignment surgery for the purpose of gender reassignment to people younger than 18 years old or prescribe “puberty blockers.” The bill would also prohibit gender-confirming surgeries and hormone therapies. The Senate State Affairs Committee heard testimony on both bills Monday but took no action.

The recent NCAA women’s basketball tournament was held in San Antonio. Games in the 2022 NCAA men’s tournament are already scheduled to be played in Fort Worth and San Antonio.

During previous legislative sessions, Texas Republicans, like those in other states, unsuccessfully pursued so-called “bathroom bills” that would prevent transgender people from using the bathroom that matched their gender identity. Business leaders at the time came forward with their opposition to the anti-transgender legislation —a trend that is re-emerging this session.

Equality Texas held a press conference outside the Capitol this week, where transgender Texans and parents of transgender children spoke about their efforts to stop the passage of anti-trans legislation.

“We hope that Texans realize what’s really happening, which is essentially adults in power bullying trans kids,” said Emmett Schelling, the executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas.

“What they are doing is just unconscionable. These bills are just bad lawmaking,” said Lisa Stanton, a Houston resident and the mother of a transgender girl. “Instead of focusing on issues that focus on and affect all Texans, these legislators are trying to pass bills that harm children, rather than help them.”

It was unclear early this week whether similar legislation will find support in the Texas House. In the past, Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, has pushed back against bills that would weaken protections for LGBTQ people.

(Source: Texas Tribune)