Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and 27 other state attorneys general on Tuesday urged the NCAA to restore female athletes’ awards and records that were “wrongfully awarded” to male athletes competing in female NCAA events.
Marshall and the attorneys general wrote in a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker, “We, the undersigned Attorneys General, write today to urge the NCAA to restore to female athletes all championships, titles, wins, awards, records, and other recognitions that were wrongfully awarded to male athletes competing in NCAA women’s category events, as the U.S. Department of Education urged in its February 11, 2025 letter to the NCAA.”
“The policies that were created, promoted, and encouraged by the Biden Administration and the NCAA not only enabled biological men to compete against women in sporting events across the country, but denied deserving women the recognitions they had earned in events that you managed. Since taking office in January, President Trump has made restoring fairness to women athletes a priority. While we appreciate the steps the NCAA has taken since then, there is far more the NCAA can do for the women athletes that have competed and continue to compete in your events,” Marshall and the attorneys general wrote in the letter. “With more than 500,000 college athletes and approximately 1,100 member schools in all 50 states, the NCAA has the opportunity and privilege to impact the lives of so many student athletes in a positive or negative way. There is no doubt that the women forced to compete against biological males in female events were impacted negatively and unfairly disadvantaged. One of the official “Priorities” of the NCAA is to “coordinate and deliver safe, fair, and inclusive competition directly and by Association members.”4 There is absolutely nothing fair or safe about a male competing against a female in a NCAA women’s category event. We appreciate the NCAA’s February 6, 2025 updated “Participation Policy for Transgender Student Athletes,” which limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes “assigned female at birth only.” 5 We encourage you to extend this policy to practice as well. Athletics is not only about what happens during competition. The opportunities to train, hone your skills, and develop the bonds of a team occur on the practice field as well. Further, injuries from unfair biological advantages are just as real in practice. Your policy stops short of full fairness for women athletes.”
The attorneys general continued, “We urge the NCAA to develop a plan to restore all appropriate recognitions to the women athletes who were wrongfully denied all that they earned. We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to hearing from you.”
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