EXCLUSIVE — A top women’s sports advocacy group is pushing a Nevada county school district to adopt measures that would block transgender athletes from participating in women's sports by creating a category specifically for biological females.
In a letter sent to the Washoe County schools, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports urged administrators to “take decisive action” and implement new policies that ensure “fair competition and compliance with Title IX.” The letter comes in response to recent reports of biological males who identify as females participating in women's sports, which the group argues is a risk to athlete safety and may lead to sex-based harassment.
“Severe injuries have already occurred from allowing male players in girls' volleyball,” the group wrote in the Sept. 11 letter that was obtained by the Washington Examiner. “These outcomes are foreseeable and preventable, and Nevada girls should not be subjected to such risks.”
ICONS Letter to Nevada Schools by Cami Mondeaux
The letter cites recent instances of injuries in other states where schools have allowed transgender athletes to play in girls’ sports, including a “season-ending traumatic concussion” at a Northern California school and a “career-ending paralysis and brain damage in North Carolina.”
The group also pointed to recent concerns from Washoe County parents who reported concerns about transgender athletes having access to female locker rooms, arguing it could lead to discrimination or harassment.
As a result, the group is urging the county to adopt an updated policy by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics that would designate men's sports as “open” to all athletes while restricting women's sports to “those born female and not on testosterone.” Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R-NV) has urged the National Collegiate Athletics Association to adopt that policy for college sports since last year, although the NCAA has not done so.
“This policy is straightforward and could serve as a model for your district,” the group wrote in its letter to Washoe County administrators. “Policies allowing males to compete in female categories or access female locker rooms are untenable.”
Instead, the NCAA operates under a three-phase participation policy, first implemented in January 2022, that would allow transgender student-athletes to play in their desired sports so long as they meet certain requirements. Among those requirements is documentation that proves testosterone levels were below the maximum allowable levels for any given sport.
The letter cited a quote from sports attorney William Bock, a former member of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, who argued the absence of such policies would “undermine the primary ethical rationale for competitive sport.” Bock resigned from the NCAA earlier this year, the Washington Examiner first reported , citing the policy to allow biological males who identify as female to compete in women’s sports as a primary reason for his departure.
“Although I may not have agreed with the wisdom of every rule in the NCAA rulebook, I believed the intent behind the NCAA’s rules was competitive fairness and protection of equal opportunities for student-athletes,” Bock wrote in his resignation letter. “This conviction has changed as I have watched the NCAA double down on regressive policies which discriminate against female student-athletes.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports has spent years working with female athletes and lawmakers to implement policies to “defend the respect and fair treatment of women in sports,” according to its website.
It is unclear whether the county will move to adopt new policies. When reached for comment, the school district told the Washington Examiner it is a member of the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association, which requires the district to follow the NIAA Transgender Participation Position Statement that mandates students to play "on a gender specific sports team that is consistent with the public gender identity of that student for all other purposes.”
Local News
