In a move widely condemned by LGBTQ+ advocates as discriminatory and erasing, 27 Republican attorneys general and the attorney general of Guam have sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker demanding that all titles, awards, and records earned by transgender women under the organization’s previous inclusion policy be retroactively revoked and reassigned to cisgender athletes.
Led by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and joined by Texas AG Ken Paxton, the coalition claims that the NCAA’s past policies, allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports after hormone therapy, created an unfair playing field. They are now calling for those athletes’ achievements to be stripped from the record books.
This demand follows the NCAA’s rule change in February 2025, which now bars transgender women from competing in women’s events. Under the new policy, only athletes assigned female at birth may participate in NCAA women’s sports, though transgender women are still permitted to practice with women’s teams. The AGs also want that exception removed, arguing that training with cisgender women gives transgender athletes an “ongoing advantage,” even outside of competition.
But advocates say the issue is about more than sports policy; it’s about erasure.
“These athletes followed the rules at the time, trained just as hard, and earned their wins,” said a representative from Athlete Ally, a national LGBTQ+ athletic advocacy group. “Our hearts go out to every transgender athlete impacted… This decision… contributes to the erasure of transgender people from existing safely in society.”
While the NCAA’s new policy aligns with a February 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump threatening to withhold federal funding from institutions that permit transgender participation in women’s sports, this latest push marks a sharp escalation. Rather than focusing on eligibility going forward, the attorneys general seek to retroactively invalidate the accomplishments of transgender athletes who complied fully with NCAA rules at the time of their competitions.
Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who won the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle title in 2022, has again been placed at the center of the controversy. The University of Pennsylvania recently agreed to remove her name from school records as part of a Title IX-related settlement. The AGs’ letter calls for similar actions across all sports and schools nationwide.
Despite making up fewer than 10 of over 500,000 NCAA athletes, transgender women have become a frequent target of political campaigns and legal battles. For many transgender people and their families, the message behind these efforts is clear: no matter how hard you work or how fairly you compete, you will not be allowed to succeed or even be remembered.
As the NCAA weighs its response, it faces growing pressure from both sides. But for the transgender athletes who trained, competed, and won under rules the NCAA itself created, the question remains: Will their efforts be honored or erased?
