Bill barring trans athletes from sports could cost SC chance to host NCAA championships
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said on Tuesday that the NCAA should “mind its own business” after the governing body of collegiate sports announced it may refuse to host championship events in states with anti-transgender legislation on the books.
“I think the NCAA ought to mind their own business,” McMaster told reporters. “If you want to pass laws you need to run for office.”
On Monday, the NCAA Board of Governors rolled out a new policy that “directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected.”
The NCAA continued: “Our clear expectation as the Association’s top governing body is that all student-athletes will be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them.”
NCAA spokesperson Michelle Hosick said the board has not made the decision whether to move events already scheduled. Hosick also said the board has not decided whether the decision will affect every round of NCAA hosted tournaments or just championship games.
Dozens of states have considered, and some have passed, bills that ban transgender athletes from participating in sports, particularly in women’s sports.
The South Carolina House has now twice considered legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from participating in high school or middle school women’s sports.
The first time failed, tabled by the House Judiciary Committee in March. The bill was refiled and given another first approval by a panel of House Judiciary Committee members, and lawmakers say this time the bill may have more support than originally thought.
The bill’s supporters say the legislation is necessary to foster a fair level of competition within women’s sports. They argue transgender women and girls have a biological athletic advantage over athletes who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
But LGBTQ advocates say the bill is discriminatory and will lead to more harm among trans youth.
South Carolina is not slated to host a tournament until June, when the opening rounds of the NCAA baseball tournament begin.
It is unclear how the NCAA’s latest statement might affect that tournament, because it would take a tremendous effort from the lawmakers this year to pass the trans athletes bill by the end of the Legislature’s work calendar in early May.
Should the NCAA impose a moratorium on championship games in South Carolina, it would not be the first time.
From 2001 to 2015, the NCAA banned South Carolina schools from hosting sanctioned championship events because the Confederate flag stood on the State House grounds. The NCAA reversed that decision in 2015, after the Legislature voted to remove the flag entirely from the Capitol complex following the deaths of nine Black Charleston churchgoers killed by a white supremacist.
Reporter Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 12, 2021 at 4:27 PM.
