Demonstrators protest NCAA's transgender athlete inclusion

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines and about two dozen demonstrators outside the NCAA convention Thursday protested the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports and threatened the association with legal action if it doesn't change its policies.

Gaines competed in last year's NCAA swimming and diving championships against Penn's Lia Thomas, who became first transgender woman to win a national title ( the women's 500-yard freestyle). She also placed fifth in the 200 freestyle, tying with Gaines.

“Today, we intend to personally tell the NCAA to stop discriminating against female athletes by handing them a petition that we have garnered nearly 10,000 signatures on in just a couple of days,” Gaines said, kicking off more than an hour of speeches that attracted a few onlookers and a handful of quiet counter-protesters.

The topic has divided the U.S. for the past several years, with critics saying transgender athletes have an advantage over cisgender women in competition. Eighteen states have passed laws banning transgender athletes from participating in female school sports; a federal judge earlier this month ruled West Virginia's ban is constitutional and can remain in place.

The NCAA has permitted transgender athletes to compete since 2010.

The Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy was updated a year ago, taking a sport-by-sport approach that brings the NCAA in line with the U.S. and international Olympic committees.

Full implementation of the policy was scheduled to be phased in by August but the NCAA Board of Governors this week approved a recommendation to delay that through the 2023-24 academic year “to address operational considerations.”

NCAA leadership says the stated goal in policy making is “not if transgender athletes...