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Texas AG Ken Paxton Files Lawsuit Against NCAA Over Claims of Misleading Transgender Policy


Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton contended that the NCAA’s policy permitting men who identify as women to compete in women’s sports breaches the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

On December 22, Paxton initiated a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), accusing it of misleading sports fans into believing they were observing a contest solely among players of one gender.

“The NCAA is willfully and knowingly compromising the safety and wellbeing of women by deceptively transforming women’s competitions into co-ed events,” Paxton stated in a press release on Sunday. “When spectators watch a women’s volleyball match, for instance, they expect to witness women competing against women—not biological males masquerading as something they are not. Extreme ‘gender theory’ has no place in collegiate athletics.”
In the lawsuit, Paxton maintained that the NCAA’s leniency towards allowing biological men identifying as women to compete in women’s sports infringes upon the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which protects consumers from fraudulent schemes.

The NCAA had not replied to The Epoch Times’ inquiry for comments prior to publication.

“Most consumers recognize that a ‘woman’ refers to an adult human female,” Paxton remarked, a definition that has been widely accepted “throughout human history,” he added.

By enabling men to participate in women’s collegiate athletics, Paxton argued, the NCAA is depriving women of their rightful positions and misleading consumers regarding the nature of competition in these events.

“When female athletes are compelled to compete against males in women’s sports, they lose out on titles, records, medals, scholarships, and chances to succeed; the ability to compete in a just and secure environment; and the associated benefits that sports participation offers,” he asserted in the lawsuit. “Consumers do not pay for goods and services linked to women’s sporting events to watch men take medals and records from female programs.”

In March, former college swimmer Riley Gaines along with other female athletes sued the NCAA for permitting men identifying as women to participate in women’s sports.
In October, 26 college regents from Georgia called upon the NCAA to prohibit men identifying as transgender athletes from women’s collegiate sports.
In its “Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy,” revised in May 2024, the NCAA claimed it adhered to the student-athlete Olympic Movement, which permits “transgender student-athlete participation to be defined by the policy of the sport’s national governing body.”
If no national governing body exists for the sport, the NCAA’s policy defaults to the International Olympic Committee’s policy criteria, as well as the 2010 NCAA policy, additionally requiring that these athletes “meet the sport standard for documented testosterone levels” prior to competing.
On December 20, the Department of Education rescinded its 2023 proposed rule that would have prevented educational institutions from banning male athletes who identify as women from competing in women’s sports.

The department indicated that due to the intricate nature of public commentary and ongoing legal disputes, it opted “not to impose regulations on this matter at this time.”

Aldgra Fredly and Caden Pearson contributed to this report.



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