In their weekly email newsletter, UWeekly, the University of Lethbridge announced last month that they had created a draft policy that would limit the participation of transgender athletes on their sports teams.
The working title of the policy is, ironically, “Fairness in Sports Policy”.
According to an announcement on their website, the U of L mentioned that its Board of Governors approved the new policy. The announcement stated that the approval was not unanimous, indicating that while a majority voted in favour of the approval, there were some members who opposed it.
They have yet to publish their meeting minutes.
As of today, the new policy is in effect temporarily until 10 October 2025, when the board of governors will review any feedback received and give final approval.
This policy, according to the announcement, is in response to the so-called Fairness and Safety in Sport Act that the UCP recently implanted to target trans people in Alberta.
Here are some highlights from the new policy.
First, according the section 3 of the policy, trans athletes are restricted from participating in women’s teams only, as follows:
Varsity
- Women’s basketball
- Women’s rugby
- Women’s soccer
- Women’s swimming
- Women’s track & field
Competitive
- Women’s curling
- Women’s golf
- Women’s ringette
- Women’s softball
- Women’s wrestling
Section 6 states that to participate in any of these sports, “an athlete must be of the female sex at birth”. Not only does this exclude trans women from participating, it also excludes all intersex athletes. However, it does allow for trans men to play on women’s teams, which I find odd.
Section 7 allows athletes to narc on any teammate they think might be trans. Coaches are also allowed to snitch on athletes they suspect of being trans.
Anyone who tries clocking athletes must back up their accusation with information “that does not rely solely on the athlete’s athletic performance, physical appearance, or gender expression”; although, technically, the policy says “perceived gender expression”.
The executive director of the Athletics and Recreation Service department then chooses to either dismiss the challenge or proceed with it. If it proceeds, the athlete being targeted can still participate on their women’s team while the challenge is under review.
During the challenge review, the targeted athlete must provide their birth registration document (not their birth certificate). The U of L will pay for the cost of obtaining the document.
Once the executive director receives that document, they will issue a decision within 30 days regarding the targeted athlete’s eligibility to participate on that team.
The targeted athlete can appeal any eligibility decision issued against them, but they have only 10 days to file that appeal to the vice-president of finance and administration. The in-house appeal process ends with the vice-president’s decision.
Athletes who try to clock their teammates can be found guilty of submitting a bad faith challenge. Granted, that only applies to accusing cisgender athletes of being trans, based on the past behaviour of the athlete making the accusation or “numerous unfounded or speculative challenges”. Bad faith challenges can lead to restrictions on participation in athletics at the U of L for the submitter.
There are no restrictions in this policy on trans or intersex athletes playing on men’s teams.
Anyone who wishes to provide feedback on the new policy should email that feedback to governance@uleth.ca by 17 September 2025.
This feedback will not only be heard by the Board of Governors, but the U of L has claimed that they will share that feedback with the minister of advanced education, the minister of tourism and sport, and the premier.
Update (3 September 2025): I recently obtained a copy of a letter that is being sent to the U of L board of governors and has been signed by over 100 faculty at the U of L.
Here is the text of that letter.
Dear Board of Governors,
We, the undersigned, resolutely condemn the proposed “Interim Fairness in Sports” policy in the strongest possible terms. On account of its numerous biological, ethical, and procedural issues, we believe the only moral and rational approach is to not instate this or any other “Fairness in Sports” policy as mandated by the “Fairness and Safety in Sport Act” and instead enter into noncompliance with that act.
One of the policy’s major implications is that “Sex at Birth” (§4.12) is a meaningful distinction when it comes to sports, and that “Female-Only” (§4.7) and “Male-Only” (§4.8) leagues are intended to only have members whose “Sex at Birth” corresponds to those categories. However, research shows that so-called “sex at birth” is a procedural category at best, and the full spectrum and diversity of human bodies far exceeds that signifier. Also, by adding the ability to “challenge” (§4.6) the “sex at birth” of student athletes, cisgender students with non-normative gender expression now run the risk of increased harassment and discrimination. In fact, this kind of harassment has even happened at the Olympic level, as in the case of Imane Khelif.1 However, a systematic review of research in this area DOES show that transgender athletes have no significant advantage over their cisgender peers2, which undermines the core telos of this policy.
There are many reasons to believe that the “Fairness and Safety in Sport Act” from the provincial government is not good faith legislation due also to its many holes and omissions. For instance, the act does not account for intersex3 students, whose so-called “sex at birth” reflects even less of their physical reality and potentially affords them no sports leagues to participate in at all. Even more shockingly, there is no stated requirement in the policy or in its corresponding act to require male “sex at birth” as an eligibility requirement to participate in male-only leagues. This further emphasizes that the act is designed specifically to discriminate against trans women athletes in particular.
Transgender students face large amounts of mistreatment both at home and in school compared to cisgender students.4 It is irresponsible for the University to add to these issues by further discriminating against our transgender students, as opposed to making the University a welcoming place for them to come and experience all it has to offer, including sports leagues. At the highest level of sports, the Human Rights Council has identified competitors who welcome and support the participation of transgender athletes including Megan Rapinoe, Billie Jean King, Brooke Ford, Dwyane Wade, Erin McLeod, and more.5
We believe there is a credible argument that this policy is in violation of the University’s own “Harassment and Discrimination Policy”. This policy holds that “Harassment and Discrimination are prohibited conduct at the University and will not be tolerated” (§4.1) and provides “sex, sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression” (§1.3) as protected categories. By not allowing trans students to participate in leagues which best fit their gender identity, this policy would require the University to discriminate against trans student athletes and put it in violation of its own anti-discrimination policy. While there are some exceptions outlined in the “Harassment and Discrimination Policy”, none of them refer to sports or sport leagues (§2.4), meaning that policy would be applicable in this case. By instating the “Fairness in Sports” policy, the University would become liable to many legal challenges due to the conflict of these two policies.
Further, on December 12, 2024, the Board of Governors approved the University of Lethbridge’s new Strategic Plan. Should the drafted “Fairness in Sports” policy be instated, the Board of Governors will have directly contradicted their commitment to many of the plan’s mandates. In the plan, the University is identified as an “inclusive university that values diverse experiences and backgrounds, ensuring all students find their place and purpose here.” The Strategic Plan also makes a strategic commitment to “be a supportive and inclusive environment for all” and to provide “supports for the physical and mental well-being of students from all backgrounds”. If the Interim “Fairness in Sports” policy is instated, trans students will not be ensured the ability to find their place and purpose at our University, they will not have supports for their physical and mental well-being, and the University would no longer be an inclusive environment for all.
We hope that the above reasons sway the board into entering into noncompliance with the “Fairness and Safety in Sport Act”. We believe it is the only correct decision for our students and the University community at large.
Sincerely,
[Names redacted]
URLs cited in the letter
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/imane-khelif-algerian-boxer-gender-1.7283949
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5357259/
- https://www.ohchr.org/en/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/intersex-people
- https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7304a6.htm
- https://www.hrc.org/resources/get-the-facts-about-transgender-non-binary-athletes
