Presidents at two colleges have announced they will not allow their cross-country teams to compete in the NAIA national championship after the association withdrew the event from North Carolina in response to the state’s legalization and mandating of anti-LGBT discrimination.
"This is another example of political correctness gone bizerk [sic] and is a big mistake,” said College of the Ozarks president Jerry Davis. The school is in Missouri. “It’s not the business of the NAIA to tell the citizens of North Carolina how to regulate their bathrooms, nor should athletes be political pawns.”
Davis’ answer? Use athletes as political pawns to defend statewide discrimination.
Makes sense.
Oklahoma Wesleyan University president Everett Piper completely twisted the right of trans people to use the bathrooms of their genders, relying on tired fears about men invading women’s bathrooms.
“How can we claim to be an organization that supports women if our leadership is so willing to deny female athletes the right to have their own bathrooms, showers, toilet and lavatory?” Piper asked in an interview. “The NAIA’s disregard for such basic rights is sobering.”
It is sad that these presidents would act like 1980’s Jimmy Carter and tell athletes they cannot compete for medals because of politics. To be clear, neither the NAIA nor NCAA have told athletes they cannot compete but have simply moved the location of some of their championships to protect LGBT people from discrimination.
Neither school’s men’s or women’s team is in the Top 25, so it’s unclear if this threat has any weight behind it or if it’s truly just a couple pro-discrimination men using their bully pulpit to bully.
