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 \u201cbeer\u201d leagues.<\/p>\n
The new participant eligibility policy, which was approved on Nov. 15, 2025, and will go into effect on April 1, 2026, states that, \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
USA Hockey\u2019s 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\u2019s Transgender Athlete Eligibility Policy set in January 2019, which allowed transgender athletes to compete in essentially all programs.<\/p>\n
The new policy notes that the \u201cvast majority\u201d of USA Hockey\u2019s programs are co-ed, not restricted by sex, and won\u2019t 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 \u201copen\u201d hockey.<\/p>\n
However, the policy also notes that some programs within those categories are restricted by sex, such as girls\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
That distinction matters to people such as Harrison Browne, a former professional hockey player \u2014 and now an actor on the hit show \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d \u2014 who called widespread attention to the change last week in an Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Browne, who played in the National Women\u2019s 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\u2019t directly impacted by the USA Hockey rule change, but he is concerned about it, in part because he\u2019s in the category of players most impacted.<\/p>\n \u201cI played women\u2019s hockey my entire career,\u201d Browne told The Athletic. \u201cA lot of trans men played women\u2019s hockey their entire career, and women\u2019s spaces are more safe for queer individuals, especially in hockey. If the choice is given to play in the men\u2019s league or not play at all, most trans men would choose not to play at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Browne stressed that\u2019s not the case for everyone in that situation, with many transgender men happy to play in men\u2019s-only hockey leagues, but that \u201csome individuals may feel uncomfortable not being within a queer or women\u2019s space,\u201d which are typically viewed as more inclusive.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not advocating for trans men to be able to take testosterone while playing competitive leagues,\u201d Browne said. \u201cI\u2019m talking about beer league, where the discrepancy of skill level is huge. It\u2019s broken up into skill, and that\u2019s the way that we should be breaking that up, in something that\u2019s just for fun, exercise and community. That also applies at the youth level, of just playing recreationally to gain friendships.\u201d<\/p>\n