Group of lawmakers wants Mountain West Conference to ban transgender athletes from women's sports

A group of Republican lawmakers has urged the Mountain West Conference to ban transgender women from competing in female sports.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, alongside U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, led the penning of a letter to Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. Idaho’s U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and U.S. Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher, along with eight other lawmakers, also signed it.

“We write with serious concerns about the safety and fair competition standards for female athletes participating in the Mountain West Conference,” the letter read. “We urge you to update your student-athlete guidelines to prohibit biological males from competing against biological female students in women’s sports.”

Boise State’s volleyball team canceled two matches against San Jose State this season, the second of which was scheduled for Thursday evening. Boise State didn’t say why it canceled the matches. But earlier this month, two Boise State volleyball players joined a lawsuit alleging violations of Title IX and the players’ First and 14th Amendment rights over San Jose State’s transgender athlete, and saying she should not be allowed to compete in the Mountain West tournament. The lawsuit was filed against the Mountain West, Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and four San Jose State officials.

Several other Mountain West schools — Utah State, Wyoming, and Nevada — also canceled games against San Jose State.

Between Boise State and those three schools, six matches have been forfeited against San Jose State this season. Each forfeit counts as a win for the Spartans, helping them to a 12-5 conference record and second place in the Mountain West.

Risch letter cites Title IX

Risch’s letter also refers to Title IX, which is a federal law that protects students from discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. President Joe Biden’s administration expanded the rule to include sexual orientation and gender identity, but a judge paused the expansion from taking effect in Idaho while it’s being litigated.

“Title IX recognizes the fundamental biological differences between men and women and allows each to pursue educational programs and activities equally, including athletics,” the letter read. “Failure to recognize these biological differences between males and females puts our daughters and granddaughters in harm’s way. The Mountain West Conference is failing to create an environment that allows women to compete without fearing for their safety.”

The Mountain West’s transgender participation policy states that a transgender athlete may compete if they meet the NCAA’s applicable eligibility threshold. Eligibility requirements include a testosterone level test, with transgender athletes needing to be within “allowable levels for the sport,” according to the NCAA.

In Risch’s letter to the Mountain West, lawmakers noted that the Mountain West’s 2024-25 handbook states that “gender equity is the fair distribution of overall athletics opportunities, supported by equitable benefits and resources available to all men’s and women’s teams.” That entry of the handbook was first adopted in April 2005 and revised in December 2023.

“Permitting biological men to play in women’s sports is not equitable; it is an injustice,” Risch’s letter to the Mountain West read. “Under these guidelines, it is only fair that biological males play men’s sports and biological females play women’s sports. Clearly, the Mountain West Conference has dropped the ball.”

The letter points to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ decision to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports starting with the 2025-26 school year. Boise State competes in the NCAA.

Starting next school year, “only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports,” the association’s newly adopted transgender participation policy read.

Nearly two dozen lawmakers wrote a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker in August requesting that the NCAA adopt a similar policy. Risch, Crapo, and other Republican U.S. senators signed the letter.

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