athleticbusiness.com – By Michael Popke
Within about a month’s span in 2006, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association fielded phone calls from three school districts in different corners of the state. Each claimed to have a transgender student-athlete who wanted to participate on a high school sports team representing the gender opposite his or her biological gender. The association’s swift action regarding the sensitive topic (one already addressed by the NCAA and International Olympic Committee) led to the nation’s first gender identity eligibility policy for high school student-athletes. But only one other state has since followed suit.