The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may be only pretending to comply with an Executive Order keeping men out of women’s sports that was signed by President Trump on Feb 5.
Jennifer Sey, who is a former U.S. gymnastics champion, says the NCAA’s new policy claims to comply with Trump’s order, yet leaves itself two loopholes through which men who identify as women may continue to participate as student athletes in women’s sports.
One loophole in the NCAA’s new policy is a clause that allows them to duck accountability by stating that “member schools will remain responsible for certifying student-athlete eligibility for practice and competition.”
This means that it is up to the schools to determine who is eligible to participate in women’s sports and that the NCAA can also defer to the schools being subject to local, state and federal legislation that supersedes the rules of the NCAA.
An even bigger loophole which is called out by Sey, is that the NCAA’s new policy states that they will determine who is what sex based upon an athlete’s birth certificate, which can be changed in all but 6 states.
Sey states:
A birth certificate is a record of fact. And it can now be altered to change — literally — facts. All that is required is a “signed statement of identity” and a photo ID for the mother or father listed on the birth certificate. What??
This practice of changing one’s birth certificate is called a “gender marker correction” but Sey says, “It’s not a correction. It’s a lie.”
Sey points to the fact that some governors, like Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson, are touting how they are giving priority to individuals who wish to change their sex on their birth certificates.
The bottom line, according to Sey, is that, “The NCAA policy is no policy at all. There are holes upon holes upon holes, and mostly the NCAA wants to appear to satisfy the Executive Order while allowing the gender ideologues and whiny scream-y failed male athletes to still have their way and validate their kooky identities.”