The Texas University Interscholastic League’s constitution requires that student-athletes compete according to the gender on their birth certificate. In February, a 17-year-old transgender male was required to wrestle against females, despite his preference to compete in the boys’ league. He went on to win the Class 6A 110-pound girls’state championship in Texas high school wrestling … Continue Reading
The University of Minnesota football team ended their boycott of the Holiday Bowl after attempting to overturn the suspension of 10 players for alleged acts of sexual assault and agreed to participate in the upcoming December 27th game against Washington State University. After lengthy meetings with University President Eric Kaler and Athletic Director Mark Coyle, … Continue Reading
First it was the National Basketball Association. Then, the National Collegiate Athletic Association joined in. Now, the Atlantic Coast Conference has followed the other governing bodies in taking punitive action against North Carolina in response to a state law that curbs anti-discrimination protection for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The ACC, headquartered … Continue Reading
An Illinois school district has violated anti-discrimination laws by not allowing a transgender student who identifies as female and is on her high school’s girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room, the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has held. The OCR released its findings on … Continue Reading
Legislation to curb sexual assault on college campuses in New York is set to become law. Governor Andrew Cuomo had introduced the bill in January 2015. The “Enough is Enough” bill encourages victims of sexual assault on campus to report the incident and bolsters support services for victims. Significantly, the legislation adopts a statewide affirmative … Continue Reading
“Transgender” is an umbrella term for a person whose gender identity presentation is outside stereotypical gender norms and who may seek to change his or her physical characteristics through hormones, gender reassignment surgery, or other actions. Specifically, one’s internal psychological identification as a boy/man or girl/woman does not match the person’s sex at birth. For … Continue Reading
More than 60 of the top female soccer players, including U.S. stars Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan, have brought a lawsuit against the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA, the international governing body of football, asserting that the organizations’ decision to play the 2015 Women’s World Cup on artificial turf constitutes gender discrimination. A men’s World … Continue Reading
As public school students in California return to school from winter break, school administrators must be prepared to allow students to participate in school activities in accordance with their gender identity under California’s new Transgender Rights law, which took effect on January 1, 2014. The new law, AB 1266 or the Success and Opportunity Act, … Continue Reading
While Jason Collins, the first male professional athlete currently playing on a U.S. sports team to announce he is gay, may have received overwhelming public support, Collins’s personal journey was no doubt a difficult one. Similarly, NCAA basketball player Brittney Griner recently acknowledged she is gay and discussed her experiences being bullied as a child. … Continue Reading
