Wyoming’s congressional delegation, alongside ten other members of Congress, has called on the Mountain West Conference (MWC) to enforce stricter rules to ensure that women’s sports remain exclusively for biological females, Cowboy State Daily reports.
In a letter addressed to Commissioner Gloria Nevarez on Monday, the lawmakers urged the conference to update its student-athlete guidelines, citing safety and fairness concerns in the wake of a two-month controversy involving a transgender athlete.
The issue arose after five women’s volleyball teams in the MWC, including the University of Wyoming, forfeited matches against San Jose State University (SJSU), which has a transgender player on its roster. While many schools have refrained from explicitly stating their reasons for the forfeitures, athletes at the University of Nevada-Reno cited concerns about safety and fairness.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) highlighted the matter in a post on social media platform X:
“Life isn’t fair, but sports should be. I joined (Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho) in sending a letter to the Mountain West Commissioner, demanding the conference fix the inequities that women’s sports teams like the Wyoming Cowgirls faced this season.”
The letter urges the MWC to align its policies with Title IX, the federal law enacted to eliminate sex discrimination in education. According to the lawmakers, allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports undermines Title IX’s intent and puts female athletes at a disadvantage.
The congressional delegation emphasized the need to recognize biological differences between men and women, stating that ignoring these differences could jeopardize the safety of female athletes.
“Permitting biological men to play in women’s sports is not equitable; it is an injustice… It is only fair that biological males play men’s sports and biological females play women’s sports,” the letter asserts.
The letter also commends female athletes and universities for their stand, applauding their efforts to preserve the integrity of women’s sports.
The Mountain West Conference is not the only organization facing pressure to address this issue. Earlier this year, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics unanimously voted to allow only biological females to compete in women’s sports. Several US senators also called on the NCAA to adopt similar guidelines.
The letter was signed by prominent Republicans, including Wyoming Senators Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso, Representative Harriet Hageman, and lawmakers from Idaho and Utah.
The Mountain West Conference has yet to respond directly to the letter. However, in a previous statement to Cowboy State Daily, the MWC addressed unrelated allegations involving the same San Jose State transgender athlete. The conference found no evidence to support claims of misconduct during an October volleyball match but has faced criticism for what some describe as an inadequate investigation.
