The controversial new policy passed 6-2 and will become a part of the organization's bylaws, taking effect immediately.

Board members Dan Keyser of Sutherland, who represents District 4, and Bob Reznicek of Boys Town, one of two District 2 representatives, voted against the policy change.

Despite the vote, the debate isn't over. 

The new policy still faces a challenge from the membership, which voted in district meetings this month to require athletic participation be based on the gender indicated on a student's birth certificate.

Four of the NSAA's six legislative districts voted in favor of the birth-certificate policy, which means the organization's representative assembly will vote on it at its April meeting. 

Approval by a super majority of the assembly of the birth-certificate proposal would trump the policy passed Thursday by the board.

That caused consternation for some board members who said they feel their job is to represent their districts, and those districts have spoken through the votes on the birth-certificate proposal.

District 2's Reznicek ultimately voted against the board policy because his district approved the birth-certificate proposal 50-25 on Wednesday, even though he personally supports much of what is now the new policy.

He made a motion to table the issue, but it failed on a 5-3 vote.

District 1's Mark Norvell and District 2's Nolan Beyer both said passing the board policy allows there to be some policy in place to give guidance to schools between now and April.

Wendy Henrichs, the other District 1 board member and athletic director at Lincoln's East High, said she supported the policy because part of the organization's mission is to ensure all students have opportunities to participate. District 2 voted down the birth-certificate proposal on Wednesday. 

"I work in a school district where I know we have these kids, these children, and I guess in that respect I feel an obligation to provide opportunities," she said.

The new policy leaves the initial decision about whether to allow a transgender student to participate according to his or her expressed gender with individual school districts.

NSAA interim Director Jim Tenopir said that allows private schools to follow strongly held religious beliefs, and it puts the burden of legally defending such a decision on the schools, not the NSAA.

If a school deems a transgender student eligible to play, the NSAA would convene a gender-eligibility committee that would rule case by case based on documentation from friends, teachers or family and a health care professional affirming the student's gender expression.

The policy also requires male-to-female transgender students to provide documentation of at least a year of hormone therapy in an effort to address competitive equity concerns about males being physically larger than females. It also would require transgender students to use private bathrooms and locker rooms or those that match their biological sex.

As Tenopir predicted, the new policy didn't appease those on either side of the debate. 

Abbi Swatsworth, board president of Outlinc, a local advocacy group, said after the vote that the policy may offer a glimmer of hope to transgender students, but creates an unfair and onerous system.  

She submitted a petition to the NSAA board signed by more than 230 people supporting transgender students and said the new policy subjects them to a process no other students have to undergo, forcing them to discuss very private issues with an NSAA committee. 

"Transgender people, even youth, know on a deep level who they are, and putting youth through multiple steps to play sports -- some of which are expensive and not recommended by medical professionals -- is intrusive and exclusionary," she said.

Swatsworth called concerns about competitive advantage a "red herring,'' pointing to female athletes like tennis pro Serena Williams and basketball player Brittney Griner, whose athletic abilities and physiques have drawn criticism that they're not "womanly" enough. 

ACLU of Nebraska also said it was disappointed and that the policy approved Thursday exposes the NSAA and schools to litigation. 

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Family Alliance said it had hoped the NSAA board would table the vote until the representative assembly meets in April. 

"We will continue to work to help communicate the issues at hand. This discussion is not over," said Karen Bowling with the alliance. "We are hopeful the legislative assembly in April will take an honest look at it so we can have all the students in mind in addressing their privacy and safety. That is a key issue."  

Nebraska's Catholic bishops issued a statement saying they were "dismayed by the arbitrary, non-collaborative decision" that circumvents the will of voting members. 

"Member schools and parents must make every effort to reverse an NSAA board action that compromises fairness, equality, privacy, safety and respect for Nebraska's high school students," the statement said.

Tenopir noted that just three states have policies requiring participation based on birth certificates and all of those will accept certificates that are legally changed. 

If the NSAA assembly passes the birth-certificate proposal it would be the most restrictive policy in the country, he said.

The districts rejected an amended proposal that would have accepted birth certificates changed following sex-reassignment surgery.

Tenopir said he's unsure how the birth-certificate proposal would affect the current NSAA rule that allows girls to wrestle or play football because there is no comparable girls' sports.

The policy passed Thursday is "fluid," he said, and might need to be modified. 

"We did our best to put together a policy that addresses the needs that we see not only for students but for schools. But we're not naive enough to think it is the perfect policy."