Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the NCAA, accusing the college athletic association of misleading fans by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s events.
The lawsuit contends that allowing athletes who were assigned male at birth to participate in women’s sports confuses and deceives consumers who attend sporting events that the NCAA has advertised as reserved for female athletes.
“Texas consumers have the legal right to spend their hard-earned dollars on the competitions that matter to them, without being misled. This Court should enjoin the NCAA from its deceptive and illegal conduct in order to protect Texas consumers from the NCAA’s false, deceptive, and deceptive practices,” says the lawsuit filed in state District Court in Lubbock.
In a news release announcing the lawsuit Sunday, Paxton said he wants the court to either bar the NCAA from allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports in Texas or stop the NCAA from commercializing events like being “feminine” when transgender athletes participate.
“The NCAA intentionally and knowingly endangers the safety and well-being of women by deceptively transforming women’s competitions into co-ed competitions,” he said. “When people watch a women’s volleyball match, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women – not biological men pretending to be something they are not. “Radical gender theory” has no place in college sports.”
His statement appeared to refer to San Jose State University women’s volleyball teamwhich was boycotted this year by a handful of opponents who refused to compete because they said there was a transgender player. A federal court last month rejected a blocking request the team member to participate in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
The NCAA declined to comment Monday on the allegations in Paxton’s complaint and reiterated its commitment to upholding Title IX, the landmark federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities.
“College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America, and while the NCAA makes no comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships,” communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick said in an email.
The NCAA did not respond to a question about the number of its transgender athletes. NCAA President Charlie Baker told a congressional hearing last week that he aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes currently competing among more than 500,000 NCAA players.
Transgender inclusion in women’s sports has become an increasingly sensitive subject. President-elect Donald Trump said he wants “transgender madness kicked out of our schools,” including keeping athletes assigned at birth off women’s sports teams. A few Democrats were also critical transgender athletes competing in women’s events.
Since 2010, NCAA Policy required trans athletes who were assigned male at birth to complete at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment before they could be eligible to compete on women’s teams.
Paxton’s lawsuit called it “unfair and dangerous” for trans athletes to compete in women’s sports.
“The inherent unfairness of men competing against women in women’s sports is a significant fact that impacts consumers’ decisions about purchasing goods and services associated with women’s sporting events,” the complaint states.
CORRECTION (Dec. 23, 2024, 6:35 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article contained incorrect information when NCAA President Charlie Baker addressed a congressional committee. It was December 18th, not earlier this week.
Austin Mullen contributed.