NCAA prez suggests onus on female athletes to use other facilities if uncomfortable sharing with trans players
NCAA president Charlie Baker sent a message to women's college athletes who are uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with transgender athletes on Tuesday, putting the responsibility of their own safety squarely on the women themselves.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over legalized sports gambling, Sen. Josh Halwey, R-Mo., questioned Baker about the NCAA's policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete on women's teams. When Hawley confronted Baker about the NCAA policy that states "transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity."
Baker, the former Democrat governor of Massachusetts, responded by insisting other athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they're uncomfortable with it.
"Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so," Baker said.
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Baker added that NCAA guidelines give the institutions and organizations that host college sporting events, who he referred to as "locals," the option to accommodate athletes however they see fit.
"I believe our guidelines give people optionality in how they choose to use their facilities," Baker said. "We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments that they need to make accommodations for the people who are playing."
Baker also refused to initially agree with the notion that biological males have physical advantages over female athletes. When asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., if trans athletes are at an advantage, Baker said the idea was debatable.
"There's not a lot of research on it, but it's certainly debatable," Baker said.
Kennedy posed the question a second time, asking if it Baker didn't think "a biological male has an advantage every time competing against a biological female," the NCAA president changed his answer.
"I think the way you defined it, yes, I would agree with you," Baker said.
When Baker was pressed about why he and the NCAA hadn't taken action to amend its policies to prevent trans inclusion in women's sports, he repeatedly cited federal law and recent rulings of federal courts that have enabled it. Kennedy passionately encouraged Baker to do something about it anyway.
"Why don't you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take stand?" Kennedy yelled at Baker.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also lambasted Baker for the NCAA's current pro-trans policies during the hearing.
The Concerned Women for America (CWA) provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing Baker's comments on Tuesday.
"Charlie Baker's time as NCAA President has exposed a scandalous dismissal of the safety and dignity female athletes deserve. His lack of leadership has compromised the integrity of all member institutions, and his carelessness for Title IX protections endangers female athletes. We're grateful for Senator Hawley, Senator Blackburn, and Senator Kennedy's leadership on the issue and we hope Congress takes further action to condemn the NCAA's continued discrimination against women," said the organization's legislative strategist Macy Petty.
During the hearing, Baker referenced "five lawsuits in the last 18 months" that have enabled trans athletes to compete against biological females. However, as Hawley pointed out, there have not been any rulings that have explicitly instructed the NCAA to allow trans athletes to compete against females or share women's locker rooms.
One case Baker mentioned was a ruling by Colorado district judge Kato Crews in November that allowed trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming to compete in the Mountain West Tournament for San Jose State University after an emergency injunction by other players in the conference to have the athlete removed from competition.
Crews wrote the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency delay "was not reasonable" and "would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, (San Jose State) and other teams participating in the tournament."
However, Crews' ruling did not address the issue of trans inclusion at a macro level. It simply rejected a proposal that would disqualify a player, and potentially an entire team, from a conference tournament.
Other federal rulings on this issue in the last 18 months have focused on the issue occurring at the high school and youth level. This includes a ruling in Arizona in September that blocked a state law preventing two prepubescent trans athletes from competing in girls' sports. Another ruling in April in West Virginia that blocked a law in that state which would prevent a 13-year-old biological male from competing in girls' cross country.
Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, both of whom were appointed during the Obama administration, each issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls' soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, while Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia.
Those cases did not address the inclusion of trans athletes at the NCAA level.
Meanwhile, there are currently two ongoing lawsuits against the NCAA over its policies that have enabled trans athletes to compete against women.
Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines currently leads a lawsuit against the NCAA with other female athletes, accusing the governing body of violating their Title IX rights due to its policies on gender identity. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 championships in Atlanta.
San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, along with several other Mountain West volleyball players and former coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, filed their own lawsuit against the university and Mountain West Conference for allowing Fleming to compete as a woman without informing opponents or teammates of the athlete's natural birth sex.
Both of those lawsuits are ongoing.
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