Riley Gaines leads contingent of female athletes assailing NCAA’s duplicitous “loopholes” in trans sports policy
Following President Trump’s “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order signed on February 5, 2025, the NCAA updated its transgender participation policy on February 6, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth. While hailed as a victory by some, prominent female athletes, including former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, have slammed the policy for containing significant loopholes that undermine its intent.
Gaines, a leading advocate for protecting women’s sports, argues that the NCAA’s new rules fail to comply with Trump’s order. She points to two primary flaws: the policy’s reliance on birth certificates to determine eligibility and its delegation of responsibility to individual schools. In most states, birth certificates can be amended to reflect gender identity rather than biological sex, potentially allowing transgender women—whom Gaines and others refer to as biological males—to compete.
“The new NCAA policy is NOT in compliance with President Trump’s beautifully and thoroughly written Executive Order,” Gaines stated. “It’s in direct contrast.”
Jennifer Sey, a former U.S. gymnastics champion and founder of XX-XY Athletics, echoes this sentiment, calling the policy “no policy at all.” She highlights that verifying sex via birth certificates is ineffective when 44 states permit changes with minimal scrutiny, rendering the restriction toothless. Sey also criticizes the NCAA for shifting accountability to schools, which could lead to inconsistent enforcement and continued participation by transgender women under lax institutional oversight.
Other athletes, like Kim Jones, a former collegiate tennis player and co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, share these concerns. Jones warns that the policy’s vagueness leaves female athletes unprotected, accusing the NCAA of dodging responsibility rather than ensuring fair competition.
Critics argue this ambiguity contradicts the executive order’s aim to safeguard women’s sports by withholding federal funding from non-compliant institutions.
Gaines, who has long campaigned against transgender inclusion in women’s sports after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022, calls the NCAA “cowards” for crafting a policy she deems “as clear as mud.”
She urges Trump to hold the NCAA accountable, suggesting that federal funding be revoked if the organization fails to close these loopholes. As of February 19, 2025, the debate intensifies, with athletes demanding a stricter, unambiguous standard to protect the integrity of women’s collegiate sports.