NCAA says its transgender athlete policy will stay in place after Supreme Court ruling

The NCAA does not expect to revise its policy on transgender athletes after the US Supreme Court upheld state bans on transgender girls and women in female school sports, NCAA president Charlie Baker said.

In a 1 July interview with CBS News, Baker said the association’s current rules were introduced in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in early 2025. The policy bars athletes assigned male at birth from competing in NCAA women’s sports, while leaving men’s competition open to all eligible athletes.

“We adopted and comply with the standard that was put forth by the administration,” Baker said, adding that state-level rules were “a different question”.

His comments came days after the Supreme Court upheld laws in Idaho and West Virginia that exclude transgender girls and women from female school sports, finding that the bans do not violate Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education.

The ruling is expected to affect similar laws already in force in more than two dozen US states, while legal challenges continue in other cases.

Asked about the number of transgender athletes in college sports, Baker pointed to the figure he gave Congress in 2024: he said he knew of only 10 transgender athletes among the NCAA’s more than 500,000 student-athletes.

He also said he believed the current policy remained inclusive and that he did not think “many of our schools” objected to it.

When asked where the issue ranked among the NCAA’s other priorities, Baker said: “I can tell you that having talked to people on both sides of this issue – to those who are involved in it, it matters a lot.”

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He added: “I don’t have a problem … with the way that policy currently operates. And frankly, I don’t think many of our schools do either.”

The Supreme Court decision is likely to remain significant for trans athletes and broader LGBTQ+ rights debates in school and college sports, where access and eligibility continue to be contested across the United States.