The International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) has run a 3D archery program in schools across the country for over a decade, but now the program hangs in the balance as issues surrounding trans-identified athletes reach a boiling point. 

The IBO was founded in 1984 “with a mission to promote, encourage and foster the sport of bow hunting,” making it the first athletic organization to promote 3D archery, where animal targets are placed throughout a trail setting in a competition. In 2013, the IBO agreed to partner with the National Archery in the Schools Program to bring the sport to students. 

Bryan Marcum, the organization’s president and CEO, told IW Features that the NASP first approached the IBO about the opportunity, and that both groups have been thrilled at its success.

“It was very successful. The first year we had 2,000 shooters,” Marcum said.

But in 2023, Marcum realized the IBO needed to clarify its participation policies should a trans-identified male ask to participate in one of the girls’ categories. 

Marcum decided his organization would only allow students to compete in categories consistent with their biological sex (unless in a category where there was no female team, in which case females were allowed to compete with males). He said he was advised to put this policy in writing. The issue had become a culture war flashpoint, with the Biden administration that year changing the definition of sex discrimination under Title IX to include discrimination on the basis of “gender identity,” thereby opening up girls’ sports teams and private spaces to trans-identified males.

“In all IBO sanctioned events to include the NASP®/IBO 3D Challenge, female archers are required to compete in female classes, and male archers are required to compete in male classes,” Marcum’s suggested rule read. “Sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. Proof of sex by birth certificate will be required only after the protest procedure is followed.”

Because of their partnership, Marcum ran this policy update past NASP leadership. But the NASP’s response has left the organizations’ relationship, and the IBO’s ability to bring archery to hundreds of thousands of students nationwide, at risk. 

In an email obtained by IW Features, the NASP responded to Marcum on July 2, 2024 that they felt the IBO’s policy upholding sex-exclusive categories was “problematic to say the least.” Officials claimed the policy would  submit students to “some sort of visual inspection” should they appear to be a different biological sex. 

The NASP also stated a fear that the Biden administration’s Office of Civil Rights, as well as state attorneys general, would bring a legal case against them should they go public with a policy restricting the participation of transgender athletes in NASP programs. 

But then came the kicker: NASP officials questioned whether sex-exclusive categories in the sport were necessary at all, arguing that the physical capabilities of men and women in the sport of bowhunting were too similar to warrant an entire rule change to protect female categories from unfair competition. 

According to Marcum, several of the NASP’s concerns were unwarranted. IBO’s proposed rule, for example, would only require the presentation of a birth certificate should a player’s eligibility for a certain category be called into question. In this, IBO has the backing of other bowhunting organizations, including the National Field Archery Association and Scholastic 3D Archery, who similarly dealt with the issue of transgender athletes by using birth certificates to determine eligibility in single-sex teams.

“Do you see the problem here?” Marcum said in an email response to the NASP. “Every major archery organization has addressed this issue…except for NASP. You claim you are bound by the fact you are dealing with school children but every one of these organizations deal with children.”

Marcum also dismissed the NASP’s claim that biological differences between men and women in bowhunting are marginal, arguing that Title IX was written to protect sex-exclusive categories and spaces regardless of physical ability. 

“You try to explain away the advantages Males have over Females by comparing average scores, but the consequences are far greater than just score. Herein lies the importance of Title IX,” Marcum continued. “The ability for females to compete against females and have those opportunities without competition from males is at the heart of Title IX. No Female should have to take a back seat to a confused male whether it is at the top or at the bottom of their designated class.”

He added, “Boil this down to what is right and what is wrong because that is all that matters. We cannot control the rest. All we can do is the right thing and there is absolutely no doubt that protecting Females and keeping young Males and Females from being exploited and manipulated by the Transgender movement, is the right thing to do.”

By October 2024, the NASP had decided to sever ties with the IBO rather than make the rule change. A letter gave notice to Marcum and the IBO that their contract with NASP would terminate in October 2025, and threatened an earlier termination should the IBO implement the rule before then.

“I am sorry you have chosen to align yourselves with an ideology that has been thoroughly rejected by the American people,” Marcum responded the next month. “President [Donald] Trump made transgender participation in female sports a focal point of his campaign and the overwhelming majority of Americans agreed with his position, sending him back to the White House in a landslide election. The pendulum has clearly swung with common sense and normalcy prevailing in a big way.”

Marcum told IW Features he is sad that the NASP has chosen to put political ideology over the scholarships and sports of young girls in bowhunting, but that he looks forward to using his organization to provide female athletes with continued opportunities in archery.

“Those girls deserve to have their own playing field,” Marcum concluded.