A House committee passed a collegiate ban on transgender women competing on Indiana college and university sports teams. Testimony on the measure largely focused on fairness.

House Bill 1041 bans Indiana public and private higher education institutions from allowing transgender women to compete in sports. Rep. Michelle Davis (R-Whiteland) said her bill’s motivation is simple.

“I care about protecting female sports,” Davis said.

Testimony against the bill said it wouldn’t do that. London Montgomery said the measure will harm cisgender athletes.

“Imane Khelif faced derogatory, misogynistic and sexist harassment by those who thought she was transgender,” she said. “Even after the International Olympic Committee confirmed, repeatedly — before and after her competitions — that she was not trans.”

Nikki Cerbone is an Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and high school basketball coach. She spoke in favor of the bill.

“Biological differences between males and females give males an unfair advantage when it comes to competition,” Cerbone said.

But there isn’t evidence to suggest transgender women have an advantage over their cisgender counterparts. The limited studies on transgender athletes suggests that transgender women who receive gender-affirming care have "no clear biological advantages" in elite sports — and may even perform worse.

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The NCAA’s previous transgender athlete policy required transgender women to receive gender-affirming care to compete in women’s sports. The association’s president said there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes competing among the more than 500,000 represented by the association.

Collegiate transgender sports bans come after nearly half of U.S. states — including Indiana — have banned transgender girls from participating in girls school sports.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to ban transgender women from participating in school sports. The NCAA responded by updating its policies to conform with that ban.

Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social.