The NCAA banned males from female competition five months ago, but the organization is coming under pressure to take the next step by removing them from the women’s record books.
Twenty-eight Republican attorneys general urged NCAA President Charlie Baker in a Tuesday letter to restore “all championships, titles, wins, awards, records, and other recognitions that were wrongfully awarded to male athletes competing in NCAA women’s category events.”
“Biological men should have never been allowed to compete against biological women in the first place. But thankfully, we are starting to see the country and our policies turn back to a place where women’s rights matter,” said West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey in a statement.
“Restoring these records to these women is the least schools can do to return what was stolen from them,” he said. “This is the right thing to do.”
The precedent has already been set. Earlier this month, the University of Pennsylvania removed transgender swimmer Lia Thomas from its “Penn Women’s Swimming All-Time School Records” as part of a resolution agreement with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The Penn record sheet now includes the following addendum: “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”
Still on the books are Thomas’s 2022 NCAA Division I women’s swimming championship finishes, including first place in the 500-yard freestyle, as well as transgender runner CeCe Telfer’s 2019 NCAA Division II women’s track championship in the 400-meter hurdles.
The NCAA reversed course a day after President Trump issued Feb. 5 his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, which threatened to withhold federal funding to educational entities that allow male-born athletes to compete in women’s sports.
The NCAA’s revised policy does allow biological males to practice with female athletes, a provision that the attorneys general urged the association to scrap.
I am proud to lead my colleagues this week urging the @NCAA to restore the many recognitions that women athletes were denied because they were forced to compete against biological males. We stand with President @realDonaldTrump and continue to advocate for female athletes… pic.twitter.com/raNyZqJfnO
— Lynn Fitch (@LynnFitchAG) July 22, 2025
“Athletics is not only about what happens during competition,” said the letter led by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “The opportunities to train, hone your skills, and develop the bonds of a team occur on the practice field as well. Further, injuries from unfair biological advantages are just as real in practice. Your policy stops short of full fairness for women athletes.”
Democrat-led states have continued to allow scholastic athletes to compete based on gender identity, arguing that Mr. Trump’s order runs afoul of state anti-discrimination policies.
The Trump administration has sued California and Maine for permitting male-born athletes to compete in girls’ sports, accusing the states of violating Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education.
The attorneys general signing the Tuesday letter represent Guam as well as the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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