Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe want the NCAA to give Idaho the North Carolina treatment.
The tennis legend and soccer star led a letter Wednesday urging the National Collegiate Athletic Association to move the 2021 men’s basketball championship out of Idaho over House Bill 500, which bars transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
“With the passage of HB500, there can be no inclusive championships and events in Idaho,” said the letter posted on Athlete Ally. “Failure to move championship events out of Idaho would contradict the NCAA’s core values and would be an implicit endorsement of Idaho’s discriminatory law.”
In 2016, the NCAA pulled seven championship games out of North Carolina after the legislature passed House Bill 2, the so-called “bathroom bill.” The state legislature repealed the section of the bill requiring people to use public restrooms corresponding to their biological sex in 2017.
In addition to Ms. King and Ms. Rapinoe, the letter was signed by WNBA stars Sue Bird and Layshia Clarendon, former NBA player Jason Collins, and former NFL player Michael Sam.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued in April to overturn the Idaho law, signed into law in March, on behalf of a Boise State transgender college athlete and a high school student.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which has sought to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of Idaho female athletes, said the NCAA should “ignore calls to punish the state of Idaho,” arguing that the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was “designed to protect fair competition and athletic opportunities for female athletes.”
“It’s profoundly ironic and deeply disappointing that a few female athletes — women who have clearly benefited from the athletic opportunities protected by Title IX — are now advocating to abolish female-only sports,” said ADF legal counsel Christiana Holcomb. “Comparably fit and trained male athletes will always have physical advantages over females; that’s the whole reason we have girls’ sports as a separate category.”
The reality is, Idaho schools no longer qualify to host NCAA events. Idaho’s discriminatory anti-transgender law directly impacts college athletics, violates NCAA values, and undermines the dignity and well-being of NCAA athletes. https://t.co/B04IDSKjEt
— ACLU of Idaho (@acluidaho) June 10, 2020
From @ChristianaADF: Lawsuit threatens opportunities for female athletes https://t.co/yimRpk2ADW via @theidahopress
— AllianceDefends (@AllianceDefends) June 8, 2020
The ACLU also released letters from more than 400 college student-athletes as well as advocacy groups calling for the NCAA to relocate the championship games now scheduled for Boise State University.
“Transgender people belong everywhere — and that includes in sports and in Idaho,” said ACLU campaign strategist Arli Christian. “While the lawsuit against the state of Idaho moves through the courts, it is important for everyone to speak out so that Idaho — and the rest of the country — sees how misguided and dangerous this law is.”
Idaho’s HB 500 was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt, a former Division I basketball player and coach, who has said her college sports career would have ended before it began if she had been forced to compete for a roster spot against biological males.
“If we ignore these clear biological differences, female athletes will lose medals, podium spots, public recognition, and opportunities to compete in the sports they love,” said Ms. Holcomb. “Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was designed to protect fair competition and athletic opportunities for female athletes.”
ADF attorneys have sued Connecticut over its policy permitting transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports on behalf of three female high school track competitors.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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