On Feb. 24, the Nebraska School Activities Association announced that they would comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports team inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.
The NSAA, Nebraska’s only interscholastic activities association, made the decision at its monthly Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 19. The eight-member board unanimously voted to comply with state and federal law “until more clarity emerges.”
Previously, NSAA policy required that transgender athletes undergo an approval process involving their schools, the NSAA Gender Identity Eligibility Committee, and various documents, including the student’s school registration information, a statement by the student, and verification from an appropriate healthcare provider. This policy has been in place for nine years.
According to NSAA Assistant Director Jeff Strauss, The NSAA Gender Participation Committee has received eight applications since 2018. To protect the privacy and legal rights of the students and their families, the NSAA does not release any information regarding the details of an application.
Moving forward, the NSAA will handle all new applications for transgender participation in a way consistent with the Executive Order and state and federal law. Nebraska’s long-standing law allowing females to participate on male teams when there is no female sport, comparable sport or team offered in that sport by the member school will remain unchanged.
The Executive Order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” was signed Feb. 5 by Trump and prohibits the participation of transgender females in women’s sports.
The order calls for enforcement actions to be taken against state activity associations and member schools, which could lose federal funding if they refuse to comply. It also calls for the development of regulations and resolution of ongoing litigation consistent with the order.
This builds on Executive Order 14168, signed on Jan. 20 and titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This order mandates that federal agencies recognize gender as an unchanging male-female binary determined by sex at birth. In addition, it cut all federal funding for gender-affirming care and barred transgender individuals from using federally funded single-sex facilities that align with their gender identity.
Eight days later, Trump also signed Executive Order “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which proclaimed that the U.S. government would neither fund, promote, nor support gender-affirming care for minors, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery.
Nebraska’s Unicameral is also considering further action with LB 89, introduced by Senator Kathleen Kauth of Omaha at the request of Governor Jim Pillen. The “Stand with Women Act” would prohibit all transgender participation and limit activity participation to male and female sports based on biological reproductive function rather than gender identity. It was advanced to the floor of Nebraska Legislature in General File by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee Mar. 20 in a 5-3 vote. Senators Rita Sanders, Bob Andersen, Dan Lonowski, Dan McKeon and Dave Wordekemper voted in favor, and Senators Machaela Cavanaugh, Dunixi Guereca and Megan Hunt voted against.
