June 10, 2020: GLAD and other advocacy groups signed onto a letter calling for the NCAA to remove events in Idaho in response to new anti-trans legislation. The letter can be found below, and the fully annotated version is available in PDF here.

Click here for sample social media posts to share, encouraging the NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho.

Dear NCAA Bid Selection Committees,

We are writing to request you relocate all NCAA events, including the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship games, from Idaho due to the state’s recent passage of dangerous anti-transgender legislation that prohibits certain groups of student athletes from participating in school sports.

Given Idaho’s adoption of a discriminatory law that directly impacts college athletics, violates NCAA values, and undermines the dignity and well-being of NCAA athletes, Idaho schools no longer qualify to host NCAA events.

On March 30, 2020, Idaho enacted House Bill 500 (HB500), a law that bans transgender girls from competing on college teams, including at Idaho’s NCAA member schools. This law also forces women and girls to be subject to invasive medical procedures simply because they are, or are suspected to be, transgender. Idaho is the only state in the country with such an extreme, harmful, and discriminatory blanket ban on the participation of transgender women and girls in sports. This law is in direct conflict with NCAA Championship policies. In fact, Idaho’s law is so extreme that it prompted the NCAA to speak out against its passage.

Idaho’s law blatantly targets an already-marginalized community in athletics and decreases their participation in sports. Transgender students already participate at significantly lower rates and feel unsafe in athletic spaces. Further, while the harm of this law explicitly falls on transgender girls, the impact extends even further. Idaho’s new law is the first in the country to categorically ban transgender girls from sports statewide, but past research has found that when states adopt policies that create new barriers for transgender athletes to participate in sports, the number of participants in sports among all LGBTQ youth drops. This harms the NCAA’s goals of protecting athlete wellbeing and promoting diversity and inclusion in athletics.

As a law that expressly violates the NCAA’s values, HB500 disqualifies Idaho schools from hosting the seminal NCAA event. According to the NCAA’s anti-discrimination policy, the NCAA “must and shall operate [their] championships and events in alignment with [their] values as [they] strive to promote an inclusive atmosphere in which student-athletes participate…”. This includes NCAA Championship sessions, series, and final events. When North Carolina passed HB2 in 2016, the most extreme anti-LGBTQ law in the country at the time, the NCAA recognized that a law targeting transgender people’s access to restrooms went against their values, and subsequently relocated championship games from North Carolina.  Like HB2, HB500 strikes directly at the core of the NCAA’s values, going even further in excluding students from college athletics. All NCAA sponsored events therefore should be removed from Idaho immediately.

Further, Idaho should not be permitted to host an NCAA event while HB500 is in effect. With this sweeping discriminatory law in place, they simply cannot reflect NCAA values and treat all athletes with the dignity and respect expected of NCAA membership schools.

We appreciate the NCAA’s commitment to inclusion and anti-discrimination. In keeping with these values, we encourage you to take immediate action to ensure the integrity of NCAA events and the wellbeing of all athletes.

Sincerely,

  • National Center for Transgender Equality
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Leadership Conference on Civil and
  • National Women’s Law Center
  • American Association of University Women
  • Athlete Ally
  • Atlanta Pride Committee
  • Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative
  • Center for American Progress
  • Center for Disability Rights
  • CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
  • Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
  • Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
  • Equality California
  • Equality Federation
  • Equality North Carolina
  • Equality Texas
  • Family Equality
  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • Fenway Health
  • FORGE, Inc.
  • Freedom for All Americans
  • GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
  • GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Inclusion Playbook
  • Japanese American Citizens League
  • JustUs Health
  • Lambda Legal
  • Legal Voice
  • LGBTQ Allyship
  • Lou Weaver Consulting
  • Mazzoni Center
  • Minority Veterans of America
  • Modern Military Association of America
  • National Black Justice Coalition
  • National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • National Coalition for LGBT Health
  • National Education Association
  • National Equality Action Team
  • National LGBTQ Task Force
  • National Partnership for Women & Families
  • Oasis Legal Services
  • OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
  • One Colorado
  • OutNebraska
  • PFLAG National
  • Planned Parenthood Federation of America
  • SAGE: Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders
  • Silver State Equality-Nevada
  • SPLC Action Fund
  • The Trevor Project
  • The Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, Inc.
  • Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico
  • True Colors United
  • Whitman-Walker Health and Whitman-Walker Institute
  • Women’s Sports Foundation

 

The accompanying letter from student athletes is here: https://www.athleteally.org/student-athletes-ncaa-idaho
The accompanying letter from professional athletes is here: https://www.athleteally.org/athletes-ncaa-idaho

 

Take action by showing your support on social media!

Here are some sample social media posts for you to share:

Twitter:

I urge the @NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho, where lawmakers passed a bill banning transgender youth from playing high school sports. ALL young athletes should be able to play the sport they love and be part of a team. #SupportTransAthletes

Transgender student athletes simply want to play the sport they love and be a part of a team, just like any other student. That’s why I urge @NCAA to move their events from Idaho, which passed #HB500, banning trans youth from participating in high school athletics.

Facebook:

I’m standing up for ALL youth athletes—including those who are transgender, and simply want to play they love and be part of a team. Our laws should protect trans youth, not encourage discrimination against them. That’s why I’m urging the NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho, where lawmakers passed a bill banning trans youth from participating in high school athletics. I hope the NCAA continues to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion by taking swift action.