I have been involved in sports all my life and I don't understand how this could even be an issue to allow transgender student athletes to play sports. Who would even waste time on this subject. We are so worried to offend anyone these days no what their wants even if its the most ridiculous thing. Stand up for what is right already and quit catering to these self interest groups. I think our education system needs to start teaching family values and morals to our students and future leaders of this great country before its too late...

ps. I really dislike seeing athletic business printing anything like this in the mag. It makes me not want to read it.

This is terrific news and I commend the NCAA.

Athletic Business, I want you to know that there are many people who appreciate your printing athletic news, whatever the subject. I want to be aware of what is happening so I can make informed decisions.

Dean, this is happening whether there is a policy or not. And to make play fair for all we need to develop policies.

Hey Dean!
Like it or not, transgender issues are here & we have to deal with them. Society changes(For better or worse) & sports eventually changes with it.
Is discrimination one of the family values of which you speak?
It was not that long ago that women could not compete. Are you still mad about Title IX?

There are times when sports move society and times when society moves sports. Thankfully, we have organizations in place who allowed their larger minds and bigger thinkers to set a higher standard for how people shall be treated – and in this case included. Thank you Women’s Sports Foundation and NCAA, and thank you for reporting Athletic Business.

I only have one problem with this ruling. Testosterone suppression or addition and surgery doesn't change one's gender. Check the chromosomes and the DNA. You either have an X or you don't. When a decomposed body is found in the woods they look at the skeletal structure and the DNA to determine the gender. Think about this. A woman who wants to be a man and takes testosterone booster is allowed to compete on a man's team, but if a guy who doesn't produce a lot of natural testosterone wants to add some bulk, he is doping. The woman can get as big as she wants, and because she had some surgery, it is okay under doctor supervision. Look at some of the female bodybuilders. Are you going to tell me that is natural? Right! She might have more muscle mass than the guys she is competing against and all because she is allowed to dope. Now flip the situation. A guy decides he feels like a woman. His frame and bulk is determined by genetics. This includes his bone density, frame size, height, girth, etc. After being fully developed at the age of 21, he decides to 'change', have a surgery, and take testosterone suppressants. Let's say he is 6'6' and weighs 220 before the change. He isn't going to shrink, yet he gets to be on the women's team 1 year from now. This former adult male gets to swim, play volleyball on a lower net, play basketball (how many women can dunk the ball), compete in track and field, tennis, rowing, hockey, or play lacrosse against women who don't have the frame or bulk of this 'woman'. Would you want your 18 year old daughter to have to compete against this 23 year old 'woman' in one of these sports? It is not an issue of trans-gender rights. It is an issue of safety and fair play. What if the guy who wanted to be a woman and compete wasn't having the success on the field. Could 'she' back off on the suppressants and allow a little more muscle to develop? If there are so many transgender athletes, develop a league for them and we can see who has the best doctors and pharmacists. It is a safety issue and yes it does need to be talked about.

Steve nailed it. It's about fair play and safety for all, not just 'your' rights, but also the other player's.

Although I will say that if Athletics is used as an enticement to keep borderline kids in school or to study harder to stay in school, then this permission slip just shot it. CHILDREN who want to play sports MIGHT put off this type of permanent medical procedure until they finish playing sports, thereby also giving themselves longer to mature socially and emotionally. before undergoing such life impacting procedures.

Thanks you, Melanie, well said.

Steve, the ruling states that a trans-female (male to female) may continue to compete on a men's team and may NOT compete on a women's team.

In response to Steve's argument we need to teach family values and morals it sure sounds like you want your family values and morals taught in schools Steve, as I know all kinds of families that value inclusion for everyone and they find it a moralistic trait of who they are as an individual and family to welcome everyone. As for 'these special interest groups' you mention Steve again I'd like to know who you are referring to? If we think about it, all groups are probably special interest groups as we all want whatever group(s) we belong too to have opportunity and thus society asks organizations like our government, the NCAA, state legislators, city counsels etc…, to come up with policies that can meet the most interests of all parties (not that we always succeed at this) to create the best laws, practices or experiences for its members. In this case, the NCAA got it right as a transgender athlete (i.e. a special interest group) deserves the right to play sports just as any other female athlete (special interest group), male athlete (special interest group) or a paraplegic athlete (yet again another special interest group). Also Steve, DNA is used to determine the SEX of individual, NOT the gender of an individual. Gender is an internal identity (I feel like a man, I know I am a woman, etc...) and thanks to an evolving society today that is becoming more blended in terms of race, religion, orientation, gender expression, etc... the blending/diversity of gender expression (most of society defines gender as either masculine or feminine) and how we define gender is not nearly as cut and dry as it sounds like you probably would like it to be. One's sex may be binary (most of us are born biologically men or women), but one's gender expression can certainly be expressed over a very wide spectrum (The first U.S. president George Washington wore panty hose, hair ribbons, make-up and a fluffy white shirt - a gender expression today that we can still find in society, but probably much more common in how women express themselves than in men). Athletic Business I also want you to know these are exactly the kinds of issues you need to let your readers know about, as this stance by the NCAA challenges us all to think, grow and ask tough questions and while issues of transgender athletes is only a fraction of all sports participation, this issue deserves just as much attention to getting it right as do issues such as the right for women to play sport or for men to drink beer while watching college football. Thank you for challenging your readers to grow.

Melanie, you can compete with women as long as you change the classification to co-ed or mixed. Check any college and see how many intramural teams are co-ed. Softball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, basketball, and there has to be a minimum number of women, but this can unfairly unbalance the number of women on the team. You will probably comment back these intramural teams don't count because you are only talking about the intercollegiate teams. It is still competition and goes to safety issues.

Brian, your comments are typical post-modernistic thought. You will change your opinion with whatever new thought comes along or with what Hollywood puts in front of you in an attempt to appear 'open minded', 'tollerant' and accepting of anything. Your are afraid to offend anyone with your views because you are afraid of being rejected. It means you have no moral compass. You don't believe in right or wrong as an absolute and there is no black and white, only gray. Well I have news for you. If there is no right and wrong, society cannot exist in peace. If stealing works for me and not you, we have a problem. This will probably come as a shock to you, but I am a Christian and the Bible is my moral compass. I teach my children morals and in no way expect the school, state, or Hollywood to do that job. In fact I often use Hollywood to show how what they portray is incorrect and not right. You will respond that Jesus was tolerant. No he wasn't. He was accepting of everyone who recognized their sin and wanted to turn away from it. No one is perfect except Jesus. He called a spade a spade. He told the prostitute and the tax collector to turn from their sin and follow His example. He knows no one can earn their way and that is why He had to die. The perfect sacrifice. Everyone is welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven who recognizes they can't do it on their own and accepts Jesus' sacrifice as the payment for their sin. He accepts the sinner, but not the sin. His death is the payment for that sin. Lets look at what you said about the sex of an individual and gender. When you fill out a form at the doctor or submit an application, gender and sex are terms used interchangeably. They don't ask what your sex is and what you feel like in terms of gender. Gender expression in terms of how you dress is fleeting and does change. Yes, your are correct George Washington did dress as you described...and so did all the men if they had the money to buy a wig and stockings. Their attire was considered extremely masculine and aristocratic. You may think he dressed like a woman, but what did the women dress like at the same time? They were in dresses. There was no confusion as to who was who. If you look in the middle east at the men who wear what you might call a dress, it too is considered the masculine wear. You won't see a woman in an orthodox muslim country wearing pants and a tank top or a man wearing a burka. We are not talking about how one dresses as an expression of how they feel in this discussion. Every society has different dress depending on climate, work, religion, or class. Typical post-modernistic thought tries to confuse the issue and deflect attention away from the argument. My whole point on this is the safety of the athletes competing. You say 'most' of us are born binary. Yes there is a micro-percentage of individuals who are born with an extra chromosome or are a hermaphrodite. I truly feel sad for these individuals and can understand their gender confusion issues and the pain they must go through in trying to choose a gender to be. They need our love and support. But again this isn't the argument. Science desparately wants to prove we are born homosexual, but not one study to date has proved this. You will probably find the 2 studies that say they did, but they authors of the study even admit their research was flawed and came to an incorrect conclusion. This isn't even a theory like evolution. The more science delves in to this issue of GLBT the more they find it is nurture, not nature. These groups of people need our love and support, much like someone who is an alcoholic or compulsive gambler. I applaud Athletic Business for opening this topic for discussion and Brian and Melanie, I am glad you are willing to discuss it, but from someone who works in the sports medicine field, I have to disagree with the ruling on the matter of safety. The NCAA ruled the way they did because they are an organization afraid of a lawsuit from the ACLU.

As a Christian, I dont think Jesus would want His name dragged into this circus. This isnt about love or homosexuality, acceptance, tolerance, or lawsuits. THis is about what is right, not what is popular or setting laws/rules based on how many people want it their way. Legal doesnt make it right, I mean. This SHOULD be about what is safe. period.

As a Christian,I do believe Jesus would not mind being dragged into this 'circus'. As a follower of Christ, and a sinner myself, when are we as Christians going to stand up for what is right. If you believe the Bible, it states that God made them male & female. To me there is no confusion in 'gender identity' with that statement. As a society that is straying farther away from God & wanting to toss Him aside, we can expect more & more of these controversial issues. As Christians we need to share the Truth in a fallen world. Don't be afraid of that Truth, Lynne.

All of this is a part of the anti-Christ agenda. The Bible states that light and darkness can't have fellowship. So the world knows that if they want the presence of God removed from this country then all they have to do is incorporate this through law, sin. Daniel 11:37 says that the anti-Christ will be homosexual. They are making the way for the anti-Christ agenda to attempt to subdue the Spirit of Christ and His people.

Fine, they (whatever 'they' are) have a right to play. But I feel they should have their own distinct competitions and leagues. Men and women should not compete against one another, particularly in contact sports. If one chooses to change their physical identity and sexuality (disguise?) they have chosen to differentiate themselves from others who have not been medically altered.
These altered people (choice) should then have to compete with themselves. Essentially they are changing the rules to accomdate personal choices they have made, not due to any legitimate medical need.
I never will believe that a 'former' male should compete with, change, or shower with females. Call me old fashioned and traditionalist, I take pride in those long lost values.
No, no, no!!!

I wish Athletic Business would remove this religious rhetoric from the discussion board. Religious fanatics like those that have commented here are the cause of this world's problems. Religious extremists brought down the world trade center towers and have started countless wars through their own hate mongering. They do not deal well with differences and believe that a story book now referred to as the Bible comes from some deity, yet they have no proof of this existence. They just 'believe' cast their closed-minded views on others. This educated and well-respected forum is not the place for such biased comments regarding Jesus and 'His' way. By the way, who ever said Jesus was a man? And wouldn't many of these same people keel over when they realize that science suggests the individual referred to as Jesus was very likely a black Jew. This issue is about safety and fairness to all and has nothing to do with religion. Let's remove religion from our 'moral' compass. Was it not the Jesuits that killed indiscriminately 'in the name of God'?

Everyone has the right to express his, her or its opinion on the AB web site so long as their comments are not libelous, explicitly hateful or intended to incite violence. And — this is just my opinion — your anti-religious diatribe is as disrespectful as the comment to which you were responding.

It is honorable that the NCAA is finding a way for all humans to participate in their competitions. If there are people whose religious beliefs are such that they do not want to play with or against a transgendered athlete, they have the freedom of choice to step away from the competition. That would be far more honorable than to ban others from playing.

And by the way, we are maybe talking about one-thousandth of one percent!! This will not be a fad...this is not a way for some guys to find a team where they can excel or get next to the women. There will be NO abuses of this policy. Seriously, WHO would change their sex for sport? No one. People change their sex based on their internal gender identity when it doesn't match their physical sexual organs.

When I was raised as a Christian the over-riding message was to love our neighbor as we love ourselves or our family. Still sounds like a good idea to me.

Thank you Andrew.

I am a gay Christian and while I don't agree completely with the 'religious rhetoric' I did find the anti-religious rant offensive. The Bible is a book about love that teaches acceptance of others different from you. Any educated Christian knows Jesus was a Jew and that, because of his nationality, it is virtually impossible for him to have been white. The point of this article was not a values lesson; it was education.

Kudos to the NCAA for taking on such a sensitive topic with diligence and for coming up with a FAIR policy. A male/female transitioning identifies with that respective sex and wishes to be accepted as such. And if your concern is safety, I would be more concerned for the unfortunate male-to-female student athlete who competes in whatever towns the religious bigots above live in. She will compete in a hostile environment during the most emotional time in her life surrounded by people who think she's not human. Congratulations, you have just become cyber bullies. Take those thoughts to church with you this week and pray on how Jesus would treat these young people. If you honestly believe Jesus would say anything like some of what you have above, then you might not be as educated as you think. Might I suggest first re-reading the policy so you actually understand what it says before going on inaccurate rants. This is a professional magazine and your comments are anything but.

Someone brought up a very good point about showering. That seems like a simple issue but much more will be involved down the road for these athletic departments. Where will these student-athletes shower (i.e. is it wise to shower with a homosexual teammate?), when traveling will they need a separate room ($) because the team members have a problem sharing a room with someone of the opposite gender/sex. Who will front the $ to have the student-athletes hormone levels checked to make sure they are continuing their treatments (sports medicine, athletic department, or personal expense).
Steve made a good point, just because you lower the testosterone with meds (male to female), when they begin to workout and train, these are anabolic activities! Testosterone will be produced. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

With some intercollegiate programs financially strapped this is added dollars they will be forced to budget.
I'm all for equal opportunity but maybe we should have separate trans-gender teams for each sport at some point.. Hey, Title X (LOL) get it? or Title X factor. Just like these emerging sports...not every school has them. Maybe the schools that can afford to front that $ can start a trans-gender league.

Anyway, since faith was brought into this as well...God created us different for a reason...reasons only he knows. Let's celebrate those differences and quit putting boxes around what male and female characteristics mean. Just because George Washington wore a pony tail didn't mean he was effeminate. Just because a girl drives a race car doesn't been she is trying to be butch. We are the ones confusing people by our stereotypes. I could go on.

Stacey: Speaking as a transgender student athlete, I would like to say that my teammates have no problem sharing a hotel room with me or showering in the same room as me (we don't shower in the same stall, that would probably be uncomfortable for any of us). Bathroom/shower stalls are single person for a reason. Please do not assume that others share your discomforts/prejudices, because at least in my case, none of my teammates are remotely transphobic.
Also, homosexual is not the same as transgender and is actually completely irrelevant in this discussion.
If I understand this policy correctly, getting doctor's notes in order to be cleared to play is made the responsibility of the student athlete, just as it is for any other medical issue. Therefore the medical expense is for the student athlete. The policy itself is not included here, but I recommend fully reading it for those who may not have.
It isn't logical to have transgender teams. There aren't nearly enough transgender student athletes to warrant that.

Although homosexuality and transgender are separate issues, those who consider themselves to be Christ's followers (Christians) simply cannot ignore the very clear bible teaching that living an unrepented and active homosexual lifestyle, is contrary God's standards - just the same as adultery, prostitution, stealing, or any other sin. The bible does not teach love and acceptance of these perversions of God's standards, it clearly teaches to lovingly call that person to repentence and after which God offers His forgiveness. Any attempt to teach that the bible say differently is deception. I am glad the NCAA is taking measures to accommodate this small minority of the population, but please let's not assume that this lifestyle or that of homosexuals translates into acceptance by God. God didn't cause these exceptions to happen any more than He caused a child to develop cancer. Its the deterioration of the human body/condition through the years as well as nurture and choice in some cases.

After working with college athletes for 15+ years, most athletes i have discussed this with privately express being uncomfortable around homosexual and transgendered athletes, but because of the pressure to be 'accepting', they say they are fine with it.