A group of more than 400 current and former Olympic, professional and collegiate athletes; more than 300 academics; and approximately 100 advocacy groups released separate letters urging the NCAA not to ban transgender women from competing in women's college sports, Yahoo! Sports noted.
LGBTQ+ sports advocacy group Athlete Ally coordinated the letters, which were signed by individuals including former U.S. Women's National Team soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe, former WNBA and Olympic basketball star Sue Bird, former Chicago Red Stars player Tierna Davidson and former NFL defensive end R.K. Russell.
In a separate statement from Rapinoe that Athlete Ally released, the two-time Olympic medalist said "bans against trans athletes framed as 'protecting women's sports' do not speak for us, and do nothing to protect us. The time is now for the NCAA and the nationwide athletic community to speak up and affirm that sports should be for everyone, including transgender athletes."
The NCAA has permitted transgender women to compete on women's sports teams under certain conditions since 2010. The current regulations, like the initial guidelines, require trans women to undergo at least one year of testosterone suppression; however, the new rules largely defer the specifics to the national governing body for each sport.
—Andrew Davis