Texas students taking steroids for gender-affirming care ineligible for UIL sports: Paxton

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released an opinion Thursday outlining that public school students taking steroids to undergo gender-affirming care would be ineligible to participate in University Interscholastic League sports, and students suspected of taking steroids for such purpose would be barred from participating in athletic competitions until an investigation is concluded.

Paxton issued the opinion at the request of Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, who reached out for guidance after “receiving several complaints” about a student possibly taking testosterone to undergo gender-affirming care, according to the opinion.

UIL prohibits students competing in athletic events from using steroids and requires them to agree to randomized tests, but it does make exceptions for a “valid medical purpose,” Paxton said in the opinion. A student’s gender-transitioning treatment can’t be a valid purpose since such care is prohibited under Texas law, Paxton said.

The UIL is the governing body for student athletic, fine arts and academic competitions in public schools.

In 2023, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 14, which banned certain gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender children in Texas.

The state law prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatments — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or certain surgeries — to minors experiencing gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person’s gender identity does not align with their sex at birth.

“Ultimately, the illegal provision of steroids to a child — conduct that would independently justify liability and revocation of one’s medical license — cannot constitute a ‘valid medical purpose,’” Paxton said in the letter.

Paxton also tells Morath that the UIL should question the eligibility of a student who is suspected of using steroids for the purposes of transitioning and that such suspected use “obligates UIL to investigate as well as require the student-athlete to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they are eligible.”

In October and November, Paxton sued three doctors after accusing them of violating the SB 14 ban on providing gender-affirming care to minors. On Tuesday, Paxton announced he’d entered agreements with two of the doctors to stop them from practicing medicine temporarily while the litigation continues and had obtained an injunction for a third to prevent the doctor from providing gender-affirming care to children.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas trans athletes taking steroids ineligible to play UIL sports