MILWAUKEE - A Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association board on Wednesday voted to update its policy on student-athlete eligibility, affirming "only students designated as females at birth" can participate in girls' sports.
What they're saying:
The WIAA Board of Control's vote is similar in nature to recent actions taken by the National Collegiate Athletic Association – better known as the NCAA.
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In a statement, WIAA Executive Director Stephanie Hauser said:
"Today the WIAA Board of Control voted to update the organization's policy regarding student-athlete eligibility – affirming its compliance with federal directives that only students designated as females at birth will be allowed to participate in girls competitions.
"Working in consultation with legal counsel, our Board updated this policy to ensure clarity is provided to our membership as they work to comply with new federal guidance from the White House."
Dig deeper:
Wisconsin had allowed transgender athletes to participated in girls’ sports since 2013. Last April, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have banned high school transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams.
Trump order
Big picture view:
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preventing transgender athletes from participating in women's or girls' sporting events.
The order, titled "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," gave federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets "sex" as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, FOX News, The Associated Press and prior FOX6 News coverage.