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50 Current and former transgender and nonbinary college athletes sent a letter to the NCAA on Wednesday, pressuring it over its response to the nationwide wave of bills that restrict participation in sports by transgender athletes.
The athletes criticized the governing body’s May 16 decision to schedule new softball regional tournament events in three states—Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee—that have passed anti-trans sports bills. Those laws effectively ban trans girls and women—and in Alabama and Tennessee, for example, also boys and men—from competing in the categories aligned with their gender identity.
“We, the undersigned, are deeply disappointed and hurt by the NCAA’s choice to host Division I softball championship games in states with transgender athlete bans,” began the letter, which is addressed to NCAA president Mark Emmert; senior vice president of inclusion, education, and community engagement Derrick Gragg; and the Board of Governors.