Gaines v. NCAA

As part of its 50-year mission defending the rights of women and girls under Title IX, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed a motion in federal court today seeking to intervene in defense of transgender athletes in a lawsuit demanding the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ban transgender women from participating in women’s college sports teams and using restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.

In Gaines v. NCAA, several athletes and former athletes allege the NCAA’s already strict policies governing sports eligibility for trans student-athletes discriminate against cisgender women. Under political pressure, a few years ago, the NCAA hastily scaled back its own long-term, previous policy that offered a clear path to inclusion for trans women in college who were receiving gender-affirming medical care. Yet, the plaintiffs--falsely purporting to speak on behalf of a national class of all past, present, and future NCAA women athletes--want to force the NCAA to categorically ban women and girls who are transgender from playing sports. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Georgia, and Cooley LLP, NWLC asked to be officially joined as a party to the case and filed a motion to dismiss in May 2024, citing severe flaws in legal and factual statements presented in the complaint.

Women athletes from across the country have voiced support for the inclusion of trans college athletes, including the iconic Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and the reigning champion NCAA Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley.