Transgender student-athletes in New Jersey will no longer have to endure a medical consultation before they join a team.
The New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association on Wednesday announced new rules for transgender student-athletes that increase sensitivity around issues specific to those reevaluating their gender identity. Under the new regulations, a transgender student is defined as a student “whose gender identity differs from that student’s birth sex.”
Students are not permitted to switch genders from season to season.
Schools have also been given additional tools under the new rules, including the ability to appeal cases on an individual basis “on the grounds that the student’s participation in interscholastic athletics would adversely affect competition or safety.”
According to a report from News 12 New Jersey, the new policy also allows for a review of a student-athlete’s case should they be found using banned substances for the purposes of hormone therapy.
NJIAA executive director Steven Timko said in a statement that NJIAA “has a duty to address major issues impacting the student-athletes we represent.”
