Nevada schools ban trans athletes from girls sports in major reversal for state
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) voted on Tuesday to adopt a new gender eligibility policy that bans trans athletes from girls sports. Now, only biological females can compete in the girls' category in the state.
Nevada Lieutenant Gov. 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 change marks a reversal from the state's previous policy that enabled trans athletes to compete in girls and women's sports, which resulted in multiple controversial incidents of it happening in recent years.
The state's constitution was revised in 2022, when Democrat lawmakers voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to its list of diversity classifications that are protected under state law.
The law prompted a nationally publicized feud between the University of Nevada, Reno and its women's volleyball players in October.
The players approached university administrators privately to express their desire to forfeit a match against San Jose State University, which rostered a trans athlete. But the university did not honor that request and instead released a statement insisting it would play the match. Nevada also insisted its players would be allowed to skip the contest without facing discipline.
The team ultimately forfeited the day before the match was scheduled to be played, due to not having enough players. However, the university has said it had discussions with the players about potential "legal issues" that would emerge if the match were 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.
The dispute between the players escalated into a national controversy that even garnered mainstream political attention in the weeks leading up to November's election.
Meanwhile, at the youth level, a Nevada middle school girl, 13-year-old Ava Chavez, recounted an experience of having to face a trans athletes in a letter she handed to state lawmakers 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.
Another girl, 17-year-old Kendall Lewis, has also experienced having to face a trans volleyball player due to the state's policies, she previously told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Now, Nevada joins 26 other states in the U.S. that forbid trans athletes from competing in girls sports and is the latest to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order to address the issue.
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