USA Hockey has approved a new policy that will prohibit transgender athletes from participating in hockey programs that are classified by sex, including adult recreational “beer” leagues.

The new participant eligibility policy, which was approved on Nov. 15, 2025, and will go into effect on April 1, 2026, states that, “In all programs where participation is restricted by sex, athletes are only permitted to participate in such programs based on their sex assigned at birth, except that a female (as assigned at birth) may not play in programs restricted to females if they have undergone any male hormone therapy.”

USA Hockey’s Board of Directors said it adopted the new policy in response to directives from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and it aligns with their policies. The change reverses USA Hockey’s Transgender Athlete Eligibility Policy set in January 2019, which allowed transgender athletes to compete in essentially all programs.

The new policy notes that the “vast majority” of USA Hockey’s programs are co-ed, not restricted by sex, and won’t be affected by this change. All hockey players will continue to be eligible to play in those programs, which include most youth hockey, junior hockey, disabled hockey programs, high school and prep school co-ed hockey, and adult co-ed or “open” hockey.

However, the policy also notes that some programs within those categories are restricted by sex, such as girls’ hockey programs restricted to female athletes, high school programs restricted to either male or female players, and adult hockey teams, leagues or events that are restricted to either male or female players. In those cases, players now will be eligible based strictly on their sex assigned at birth.

That distinction matters to people such as Harrison Browne, a former professional hockey player — and now an actor on the hit show “Heated Rivalry” — who called widespread attention to the change last week in an Instagram post.

Browne, who played in the National Women’s Hockey League from 2015-18, came out as a transgender man in 2016 but delayed hormone treatment until the end of his playing career. Browne is a Canadian citizen, so he isn’t directly impacted by the USA Hockey rule change, but he is concerned about it, in part because he’s in the category of players most impacted.

“I played women’s hockey my entire career,” Browne told The Athletic. “A lot of trans men played women’s hockey their entire career, and women’s spaces are more safe for queer individuals, especially in hockey. If the choice is given to play in the men’s league or not play at all, most trans men would choose not to play at all.”

Browne stressed that’s not the case for everyone in that situation, with many transgender men happy to play in men’s-only hockey leagues, but that “some individuals may feel uncomfortable not being within a queer or women’s space,” which are typically viewed as more inclusive.

“I’m not advocating for trans men to be able to take testosterone while playing competitive leagues,” Browne said. “I’m talking about beer league, where the discrepancy of skill level is huge. It’s broken up into skill, and that’s the way that we should be breaking that up, in something that’s just for fun, exercise and community. That also applies at the youth level, of just playing recreationally to gain friendships.”