The National Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the governing body for most small colleges, announced a policy Monday that would all but ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The NAIA Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote. The NAIA, which oversees approximately 83,000 athletes at schools across the country, is believed to be the first college sports organization to make such a move.

Under the transgender participation policy, all athletes can compete in NAIA-sponsored men’s sports, but only those who were biologically female at birth and have not yet begun hormone therapy can compete in women’s sports.

Students starting hormone therapy can participate in activities such as workouts, practices and team activities, but not interscholastic competition.

“In addition to competitive cheerleading and competitive dance, the NAIA has separate categories for male and female participants,” the NAIA said. “Each NAIA sport involves a certain combination of strength, speed and endurance that provides male student-athletes with the opportunity to compete. Advantages. Therefore, the NAIA’s policy for transgender student-athletes applies to all sports except competitive cheerleading and competitive dance, which are open to all students.”

The number of transgender athletes at the high school and college levels is unknown, but is believed to be small. The topic has become a hot-button issue for those who support and oppose transgender athletes competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.

At least 24 states have laws banning transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls’ sports. Last month, more than a dozen current and former college athletes filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing the sports governing body of violating the rights of more than 500,000 athletes by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

The Biden administration initially planned to issue a new federal Title IX rule — the law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education — to address sexual assault on campus and transgender athletes. But earlier this year, the department decided to split them into separate rules, and the track and field rules now remain in limbo even as the sexual assault policy moves forward.

Hours after the NAIA announcement, the NCAA released a statement: “College athletics is the premier stage for women’s sports in the United States, and the NCAA will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports, and ensure the safety and security of all student-athletes. Fair play in all NCAA tournaments.”

The NCAA has had a policy for transgender athletes competing since 2010 that requires a year of testosterone-suppressing treatment and the submission of documented testosterone levels before championship games. In 2022, the NCAA, led by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, revised its policy on transgender athlete participation in an attempt to align with national sports governing bodies.

The policy, implemented in three phases, includes a continuation of a 2010 policy requiring transgender women to undergo hormone replacement therapy for at least a year and submit to hormone level testing prior to the start of the regular season and tournament events.

The third phase, which incorporates national and international sports governing body standards into NCAA policies, is scheduled to be implemented on August 1 for the 2024-25 academic year.

There are approximately 15.3 million public high school students in the United States, and a 2019 CDC study estimated that 1.8% (about 275,000) of them are transgender. The number of athletes in this group is much smaller; a 2017 survey by the Human Rights Campaign showed that less than 15 percent of trans boys and trans girls participate in sports.

There will be far fewer transgender athletes in the NAIA.