ICONS Files Lawsuit Against NCAA Over Its Transgender Policy; Riley Gaines: We're Fighting For Young Girls
The Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS) has announced that it will be exclusively funding support for a lawsuit against the NCAA and its regulations allowing male athletes to compete in women's sports. OutKick's Riley Gaines, along with 15 other former and current female college athletes, are among those championing the critical lawsuit regarding transgender athletes.
ICONS previously sent a demand letter to the NCAA in 2023 to keep women's sports exclusive to female athletes, but is now taking the next step in the form of legal action.
The lawsuit is seeking an outcome based on common sense and integrity bringing a change to the NCAA's current policies that allow male athletes who identify as transgender to participate in women's sports.
"This lawsuit against the NCAA isn't just about competition; it's a fight for the very essence of women's sports," ICONS co-founder and former national champion swimmer Marshi Smith stated. "We‘re standing up for fairness, for the rights of female athletes to compete on a level playing field. It’s about preserving the legacy of Title IX and ensuring that the future of women’s sports is as bright and as fair as its past."
Gaines, who was forced to compete against biological male Lia Thomas during her swimming career at the University of Kentucky, is continuing her well-worthy fight for future generations of female athletes. She wants this lawsuit to finally push the NCAA into taking accountability.
"What I want to see the NCAA do, and what they haven't done thus far, is take accountability and take responsibility," Gaines told OutKick. "We have seen Charlie Baker [NCAA President] testify before Congress or the Senate a plethora of times and say that ‘we don’t really know what the rules are, we don't really know how we feel about this, we have an issued an apology and we'll just keep working it out on our end.'"
"They're cowards…morally bankrupt, spineless cowards," she continued. "This lawsuit, it is about women, female athletes standing together and demanding that the NCAA changes rules that hurt women. The most important part of the lawsuit is fair competition and safety in women's sports."
What Riley Gaines Wants To Achieve From The NCAA Lawsuit
"We're not just fighting for ourselves; we're fighting for every young girl who dreams of competing in sports," Gaines stated.
The NCAA's current transgender student-athlete policy, which was last updated in April 2023, forces each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that particular sport. In the simplest of terms, the NCAA is deflecting decisions regarding biological males participating in women's sports to other decision-makers so it doesn't get its hands dirty.
READ: Joe Rogan Shocked To Hear What NCAA Put Riley Gaines Through To Accomodate Trans Athletes
The complaint filed to the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta takes direct aim at the NCAA's transgender eligibility policies.
"Through the NCAA’s transgender eligibility policies (the "Transgender Eligibility Policies") the NCAA has aligned with the most radical elements of the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda on college campuses, facilitating the NCAA’s effort to shore up its flagging on campus approval ratings in furtherance of the NCAA’s relentless drive to monetize collegiate sport, and diverting attention from the financial exploitation of college athletes by NCAA colleges and universities, all at the expense of female student-athletes," article 27 reads.
The most-recent update to the NCAA transgender athlete policy also laid out three year-by-year phases for the implementation of new guidelines.
Beginning August 1, 2024, the NCAA is requiring transgender student-athletes to provide documentation no less than twice annually (and at least once within four weeks of competition in NCAA championships) that meets the sport-specific standard (which may include testosterone levels, mitigation timelines and other aspects of sport-governing body policies) as reviewed and approved by the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.