OAN Staff James Meyers
1:32 PM – Wednesday, April 2, 2025
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) voted on Tuesday to implement a gender eligibility policy that restricts transgender-identifying male athletes from participating in female sports. The regulation mandates that only individuals assigned female at birth are eligible to compete on female sports teams within the state.
Advertisement
Nevada Lieutenant Governor (R-Nev.) Stavros Anthony praised the decision, in a statement.
“I commend the NIAA for taking this important and courageous step,” said Lieutenant Gov. Stavros Anthony. “Today’s vote sends a clear message: Nevada values and protects opportunities for female athletes. Girls deserve a level playing field, and this action helps ensure they can compete, grow, and succeed without having to compromise safety or fairness.”
The new policy in the Silver State is a reversal from the previous policy, which allowed transgender athletes who identify as female to compete in girls and women’s sports.
In 2022, the state’s Constitution was revised after Democrat legislators voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, adding gender identification to its list of diversity classifications that are protected under state law.
The law prompted a national stir after a dispute transpired between the University of Nevada, Reno, and the school’s women’s volleyball team. The players approached university administrators privately to tell them that they wanted to forfeit a match against San Jose State University — since San Jose’s volleyball team had a biological male on their roster.
Meanwhile, left-wing critics argue that the pro-trans policy that was in place was both uplifting and inclusive for those in the LGBTQ+ community — despite the fact that biological female athletes were at risk of worse injuries or having wins and crucial scholarships being taken away, instead going to biological males.
However, the university did not honor that request and instead released a statement insisting it would play the match. Nevertheless, the team forfeited the day before the game was scheduled to be played, due to not having enough players who would agree to play.
The university also noted that it had discussions with the players about potential “legal issues” that could arise if the match was not played.
“University administrators met with the Nevada volleyball team and discussed scenarios of what could happen if they chose not to play. One of the scenarios that was discussed revolved around possible legal issues for violating the Nevada Constitution,” read a statement that was provided exclusively to Fox News Digital by the University of Nevada, Reno.
At a lower level, a Nevada middle school girl, 13-year-old Ava Chavez, also recently recalled an experience of having to face trans athletes in games — in a letter she handed down to state legislators last week.
“When the ball is on the other side of the net, they have a chance to swing, and we have a chance to block. This can be dangerous for us because if the blockers can’t block the boy’s hit, I could get dangerously hurt. This scares me because boys are naturally bigger, faster, stronger and have a higher vertical,” a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News Digital read.
Nevada will now join 26 other states in the U.S. that do not allow trans athletes to compete in female sports. It is also the latest to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to address the issue.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below
