NCAA updates policy on transgender athletes following Trump's executive order
News Channel 3 | By Autumn Pitchure
Published February 6, 2025
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Thursday, the NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes, following an executive order that President Trump signed Wednesday.
The new policy allows people who were born biologically male to practice with women's teams; however, it limits competition in women's sports to athletes biologically born female.
The change will take effect immediately, according to the NCAA.
President Trump's executive order that bars transgender girls and women from women's sports is causing controversy throughout the country.
If a school that gets taxpayer dollars violates the order, named "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," Trump said they will lose federal funding.
Some in West Michigan expressed concern about the executive order, which is part of a lengthy list of other executive orders signed by the president in recent weeks.
"I think it's an overreach of government," Christopher Terkos, executive director of OutFront Kalamazoo, said. "They're using it as a tactic to stir up and upset people...Queer and trans folks, we carry a lot every day. The pressures of not being accepted, so it's just going to exacerbate that further."
Abigail Markle, a Kalamazoo resident, said she is worried about her transgender friends who play sports.
"My friends are transgender. They compete in sports, and having this ban be implemented, it infringes on so many rights. It's just terrible," Markle said.
However, State Rep. Gina Johnson (R) said she is in favor of the executive order.
"Men and women are not all biologically the same," she said. "Women need to be in women's sports and men in men's sports."
The lawmaker added that she thinks this order is about fairness in sports.
"This is common sense, this is part of his common sense package to restore fairness, safety and privacy for women," Johnson said.
Currently, there are fewer than 10 athletes who publicly identify as transgender competing in college sports across the nation, according to the NCAA.