Ken Paxton sues NCAA over trans athletes in women’s sports

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women’s competitions.

Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.

Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women’s sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women’s sports.

“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,” said NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick in a statement.

Paxton’s lawsuit comes just after NCAA President Charlie Baker was grilled by lawmakers during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. Baker later said he is only aware of “less than 10” transgender athletes among the more than 500,000 athletes in NCAA schools.

Many Republicans have eagerly taken up the fight against transgender women’s participation in sports as one of their top priorities in recent years, with many candidates highlighting their opposition in political ads that aired in the leadup to the November elections.

The attention on the issue prompted some Democratic candidates to declare they did not support trans athletes in women’s sports. Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, calls for the Democratic Party to distance itself from socially progressive issues like transgender rights has grown stronger.

As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, his administration withdrew a proposed rule that would have prevented schools from outright banning transgender athletes under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, though it would have allowed for some limits. U.S. Department of Education officials said the decision came after receiving tens of thousands of comments “with a broad spectrum of opinions” about the proposed policy change and amid several legal challenges.

Last year, Texas approved a law that bars transgender athletes from participating on college teams that match their gender identity.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.