By Tyler Arnold
Washington, DC Newsroom, December 27, 2024 / 9:00 a.m.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), alleging that allowing men to participate in women’s sports is a “false, misleading and deceptive” advertising practice.
The NCAA, which is the largest collegiate athletic association, allows biological males who identify as transgender women to compete in women’s-only athletics if they lower their testosterone levels with testosterone suppressants.
Below NCAA rulesEach specific sport has a maximum level of testosterone for a biological male to compete in women’s competition. Athletes are required to provide documentation several times a year to show their testosterone levels.
The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA “advertises and sells goods and services” as women’s sporting events, but actually offers “co-ed sporting events where men can compete against women.” It alleges the practice is “designed to confuse consumers” and constitutes a deceptive trade practice in violation of state law.
In a declarationPaxton accused the NCAA of “intentionally and knowingly endangering the safety and well-being of women by deceptively transforming women’s competitions into co-ed competitions.”
“When people watch a women’s volleyball game, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women, not biological men pretending to be something they are not,” said Paxton.
When contacted by CNA, an NCAA spokesperson declined to comment on the specific litigation, but provided a statement saying its policies promote Title IX – a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in sports. schools, colleges and other K-12 educational institutions. .
“College sports are the premier stage of women’s sports in America, and while the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and to ensure fair competition in all areas of the NCAA championships,” the release said.
Paxton’s lawsuit claims, however, that “most consumers know that ‘woman’ means an adult human female,” adding that “what matters most is how Texas consumers understand the word.”
The lawsuit states that consumers who purchase goods and services related to women’s sports “enjoy watching women compete with women” rather than “men compete with women” and that they “make these purchases to support empowerment of women and fair competition between women.
“The impact of women’s sports on the self-esteem, academic achievement, future employment and development of women and girls is profound and lasting,” the lawsuit continues. “Men participating in women’s sports is inherently unfair and dangerous because of their physiological advantages.”
Paxton’s lawsuit further alleges that consumers fail to support women’s sports “only to see men steal medals and records from female participants.” He adds: “When consumers have purchased goods and services associated with women’s sporting events only to discover a man competing, they have invariably reacted with revulsion and outrage. »
“The NCAA fails to disclose that certain of its women’s sporting events are co-ed events in an effort to induce consumers seeking to support women’s sports to purchase the associated goods and services,” the lawsuit continues. “Many consumers would not purchase goods and services associated with NCAA women’s sporting events if they knew biological males were participating.”
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, asks that the court prohibit the NCAA from allowing biological males in women’s sports for any sporting events that take place in Texas or involve Texas teams or from requiring of the NCAA to stop marketing events with the word “women” if biological males are allowed to participate.
About half of the nation’s states limit high school and college girls’ and women’s sports competitions to only biological girls and women, but many states allow biological males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports competitions if they identify as girls or transgender women. .
US President Joe Biden’s Department of Education (DOE) issued regulations in April, which redefined Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination to include a ban on discriminating against a person’s self-asserted gender identity. The administration considered further changing the rule to explicitly require schools and colleges to allow biological males to participate in girls’ and women’s sports competitions — if they identify as girls or transgender women — but abandoned that effort.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Several state attorneys general sued the DOE over its April reinterpretation, claiming the interpretation was inconsistent with federal law passed in 1972. having blocked enforcement of DOE rules in 26 states. A few lawyers have warned that the rules could have overridden state laws that restrict women’s sports, locker rooms, bathrooms and dormitories to only biological girls and women.
Tyler Arnold is a reporter for the Catholic News Agency, based in the Washington bureau of EWTN News. He previously worked at Center Square and has been published in various media outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.