Gender of player policy addressed at NCHSAA spring meeting
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors held its spring meeting on Wednesday, which resulted in several policy changes.
The biggest takeaway from the meeting was to the rules governing the gender of players and home school participation in member schools. Other changes include an adjustment to the eight-quarter rule for football, the reduction of the outside participation allowance for offseason football numbers and an adopting an official ball for all rounds of the playoffs in several sports, according to a press release.
“The policies (the Board of Directors) have worked hard to craft have required much input and feedback from our member schools as well as our partners at the State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction,” NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker stated in a press release. “We are excited to be able to take a step forward in the interest of inclusion and participation opportunities for all students in our state.”
The board amended the NCHSAA handbook section as it relates to “Gender of a Player.”
Under section 1.2.4 section B of the amended rules, when a student’s gender identity is different from the gender listed on the student’s birth certificate, the Gender Identity Request Form must be submitted by the school to the NCHSAA before any participation by the student under circumstances that would constitute ineligibility. According to the policy sent out by the NCHSAA, the request should be made based on the gender identification of that student in current school records and “daily life activities in the school and community.
The NCHSAA Gender Identity Committee will approve the request if it finds the student “genuinely identifies as the gender indicated in the Request.”
If a gender identity request is approved, the student will be declared eligible to participate based on the student’s gender identity (Section D, Part I).
This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 1:25 PM.
