PIAA removes Transgender policy in accordance with President Trump's executive order
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association approved to remove its Transgender policy in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports."
According to the PIAA's board meeting summary from Feb. 19, the policy change, effective immediately, was amended in the Mixed Gender Participation section of the association's constitution and bylaws.
President Trump signed Executive Order 1420, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," on Feb. 5 with intentions to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports, according to the Associated Press.
The new policy removes references to gender — replacing them with references to a student athlete's biological sex.
The policy change states that in cases where a student's sex is questioned, the school's determination will be accepted by the PIAA. Schools are required to consult with their legal counsel to ensure compliance with the executive order.
In a statement, senior counsel at the Independence Law Center Jeremy Samek calls the move "an important step in restoring safety, fairness, and opportunity in girls' sports."
The statement reads in part, "Schools in Pennsylvania must still ensure their district policy reflects this change. These policies not only safeguard fairness and safety of the female students but also protect schools from potential loss of federal funding."
Samek also urged Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 9, which would put in place protections for female athletes in the state's schools.
While the policy change aligns Pennsylvania's high school sports regulations with the federal order, school districts must ensure their individual policies are updated accordingly to avoid potential loss of federal funding.
Earlier this month three former women's swimmers at the University of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Lia Thomas' records from the record books.
The nearly 90-page suit claims the student-athletes' Title IX rights were violated by Penn, the Ivy League, NCAA and Harvard University when they allowed Thomas, a transgender woman, to use the women's locker room and compete in women's events.
