Paul Hammel and Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s high school sports will comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams inconsistent with their sex at birth.
The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA), the governing body for most high school sports, announced Monday that its eight-member board of directors had unanimously adopted a resolution last week stating that it would comply with the President’s order “until further notice” and follow state and federal law.
Trump signed an executive order Feb. 5 that pledges to rescind federal funds from any “educational program” that fails to comply with his ban. The order asks federal agencies to interpret Title IX — the civil rights law that bans sex-based discrimination — so that federal funding could be withdrawn if transgender athletes were allowed to compete.
The decision means that NSAA will scrap, for now, its 9-year-old policy that had allowed trans athletes to compete if they met several criteria, including proving, via a medical examination and physiological testing, that they did not possess “physical or physiological advantages over genetic females of the same age group.”
To win approval under the NSAA policy, a transgender girl also would have to show at least one year of hormone treatment related to gender transition or have gone through gender reassignment surgery.
Since 2018, eight students had applied under the NSAA policy, according to a spokesperson. The organization declined to say how many students had been approved to play under the policy.
An official with OutNebraska, which lobbies for LGBTQ rights, said the NSAA’s position change was understandable “given the current push at the federal level to exclude all trans youth from sports.”
Abbi Swatsworth, OutNebraska’s executive director, said the organization opposed the NSAA policy when it was first introduced. Advocates had said the NSAA policy could dissuade some families from applying for sports participation.
“As I recall, no one was happy with the policy on either side of the issue … we understand the NSAA’s position at this time,” Swatsworth said.
In a tweet on X, Gov. Jim Pillen said he was pleased that NSAA would comply with the president’s order, as well as an executive order he signed in 2023 that established the “Nebraska Women’s Bill of Rights,” which defined male and female for state agencies, not all areas of government.
“Nebraskans want their sisters, daughters, and granddaughters to have a fair shot in girls’ sports, and don’t want boys invading girls’ locker rooms and playing fields,” Pillen wrote.
Online responses to Pillen’s tweet were mostly positive, with several saying it made common sense. Some detractors questioned why state lawmakers weren’t dealing with “real issues,” like property tax relief, and why NSAA said it was complying “until further notice.”
Attempts to clarify what that part of the NSAA announcement meant were unsuccessful, as NSAA officials did not immediately respond to a Monday afternoon email message.
The governor backs a proposal this year, Legislative Bill 89 from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, that would broaden a past effort focused on sex-based restrictions for K-12 school bathrooms and sports teams to cover colleges and all areas of state government and define “male” and “female” in state law.
Kauth has praised executive action but also has said her law is needed because executive orders can change under new administrations.
Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt, who has championed transgender rights while in the Legislature and is a member of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee handling LB 89, said that NSAA’s decision to comply with the Trump mandate might nullify the need for the bill.
“But I also think opponents to equality like (Senator) Kauth won’t be happy until prohibitions exist in Nebraska law, too,” Hunt said.
Ralston Sen. Merv Riepe also said that Trump’s order may make LB 89 “irrelevant.” Riepe added that he doubted that LB 89 has the support right now of 33 senators needed to fend off a promised filibuster and pass.
“The feds always win and they have the funds,” Riepe said. “If Trump’s executive order can stand for the four years of his term, then LB 89 can wait four years.”
Riepe, who opposed a Kauth bill in 2024 limited to sex-based sports participation in K-12 sports, said he didn’t yet know how he’d vote on Kauth’s latest bill.
His “bottom line” is protecting organized women’s sports, which he said he isn’t sure that includes youth sports in grades K-6. The committee has taken no action on the bill.