NCAA Changes Transgender Rules

Conservative News DailyJanuary 21, 2022

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1) NCAA Changes Transgender Rules

The Topline: In a decision similar to that of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), the NCAA announced a new approach to the debate over transgender participation in sports.

Quote Of The Day: “We need to protect women’s sports and the NCAA needs to make the right decision tomorrow and I think that’s probably to stop this right now, rethink it.”

– Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner

Hunter Martin/Contributor/Getty Images

NCAA

The NCAA announced Wednesday that the Board of Governors voted to adopt a sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation, mirroring the policy of the IOC.

Each national governing body of an individual sport will determine the eligibility of a transgender athlete who wants to compete. If a sport does not have a national governing body, the sport’s international federation would be followed. The new policy begins with the 2022 winter championships.

Regarding testosterone requirements, the NCAA said, “Transgender student-athletes will need to document sport-specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport’s championship selections. Starting with the 2022-23 academic year, transgender student-athletes will need documented levels at the beginning of their season and a second documentation six months after the first. They will also need documented testosterone levels four weeks before championship selections.”

Context

The IOC said in November they are moving away from their testosterone testing approach and allowing each sport’s governing body “to determine how an athlete may be at a disproportionate advantage against their peers, taking into consideration the nature of each sport.”

While the IOC is going away from their previous methods, they do appear to allow for the testing of testosterone levels by individual governing bodies. So, once again, it will be up to each individual sport to make that determination.

In November, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas smashed the record in the women’s 200 freestyle time and scored the second-fastest 500 freestyle time, with both times breaking Penn program records. Thomas then won the 1650 freestyle by 38 seconds, the 500 freestyle by 12 seconds, and the 200 freestyle by seven seconds. Following the dominant wins, some of Thomas’s teammates spoke out, revealing friction within the team.

According to OutKick, one teammate who spoke out feared she would not be able to find employment after college if she shared her honest opinion.

Chip Somodevilla/Staff/Getty Images

2) White House In Damage Control After Biden Press Conference

The Topline: President Joe Biden held his first solo press conference in nearly ten months this week, where he faced questions on his handling of inflation, COVID, and foreign policy. Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to defend the President’s comments during a Thursday morning appearance on The Today Show.

Quote Of The Day: “Did the president give the green light to Vladimir Putin to take a piece of Ukraine?”

– Savannah Guthrie to Vice President Kamala Harris

The Press Conference

President Biden has not spoken to the media alone in over 300 days. For much of the 2-hour press conference, he called names from a pre-approved list of reporters, but he still faced difficult questions.

The president was also asked about the Democrats’ new election bill. He said if it was not passed, the 2022 midterm elections “easily could be illegitimate.” Many critics of the president said those comments were hypocritical given how he responded in the past to former President Donald Trump’s accusations of elections being illegitimate.

The comments which drew the most attention came in regard to Russian and Ukraine. He said, “Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do…”

That comment immediately drew criticism from people on both sides of the aisle. Ukraine’s President tweeted “there are no minor incursions and small nations.”

Damage Control

The White House went into damage control mode on Thursday. President Biden read a prepared statement trying to clarify his remarks, and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the Today Show in an attempt to further explain the president’s comments.

Vice President Harris spoke with Savannah Guthrie, who pressed her to clarify President Biden’s comments on a few topics. Guthrie challenged Harris, which created tension. Guthrie also pressed Harris on the president’s suggestion that the 2022 elections could be illegitimate in some states.

The damage control continued when White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made a rare appearance on Fox News, showing how the Biden administration appears to be worried about how the American people perceived the press conference.