Trump signs executive order intended to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would ban transgender athletes and girls from taking part in women’s and girls’ sports.
The order, entitled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”, gives federal agencies broad latitude to ensure that entities receiving federal funding adhere to Title IX, in accordance with the Trump Administration’s view which interprets “sex as the gender assigned someone at birth.”
Trump declared that “with this executive order, women’s sports are no longer under threat” at a signing event in the East Room, which included female athletes and lawmakers who had come out in favor of a ban. Among them was former collegiate athlete Riley Gaines.
White House Press Secretary KarolineLeavitt stated that the order “upholds Title IX’s promise” and “requires immediate action, including enforcement against schools and athletic association” who deny women the right to participate in single-sex sports or use single-sex changing rooms.
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The order was issued in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day and is part of a series of executive actions taken by the Republican President to target transgender individuals.
Trump discovered during his campaign that this topic resonated with people beyond the usual political party lines. More than half of the voters surveyed in AP VoteCast felt that support for transgender equality has gone too far. He took up the rhetoric in the run-up to the election and promised to end “transgender madness,” but his campaign provided little detail.
This order provides some clarity. The order, for example, allows the Education Department’s to penalize schools who allow transgender athletes compete. It cites non-compliance to Title IX which prohibits discrimination against sexual orientation in schools. A school that is found to be in violation of Title IX could lose federal funding.
The embattled department will make it a priority to enforce Trump’s orders. According to AP, people on the call said that the Office for Civil Rights’ acting director told his staff to align their investigations to Trump’s priorities.
Since Trump’s election, the Department of Education has already opened an investigation into Denver Public Schools over a bathroom with a mixed gender that replaced one for girls, but left another bathroom exclusively for boys.
Trump has also sent a warning out to the International Olympic Committee in advance of the Summer Olympics 2028 in Los Angeles. The president stated that he had given Secretary of State Marco Rubio the authority to tell the IOC “America categorically opposes transgender lunacy.” We want the IOC to change all things related to the Olympics, and to this ridiculous topic.
The IOC has basically passed the buck to the international federations of each sport when it comes to transgender participation.
This could change when Thomas Bach retires and a new IOC President takes over. Sebastian Coe is the former track star and now leader of World Athletics. He will be one of the candidates for the March elections. Coe is a proponent of restricting female participation in sports to cisgender woman.
Trump said that Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem would “deny all visa applications by men who are attempting to enter the United States fraudulently while identifying themselves to be women athletes in order to get into the Games”.
The organizers of the Olympics in 2028 did not respond immediately to requests for comments.
This is just the latest in a series actions taken by the Trump Administration to target transgender individuals.
In previous petitions, the government was asked to reject the notion that people could change their gender from the one they were assigned at birth. This has implications in areas such as passports and prisons. He has also called for the banning of transgender military personnel; he wants to stop federal funding and health insurance for gender affirming care for people under 19 years old; and he wants to restrict how gender lessons can be taught at schools.
Trans-rights activists, such as the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and GLAAD, have condemned this latest order.
Fatima Graves is the CEO and President of the National Women’s Law Center. She said, “Contrary what the president would have you believe, transgender students are not a threat to schools, sports or the country. They deserve to be able to grow up, learn and play in a safe environment, just like their peers.”
In court, there has already been a pushback against some of the initiatives taken by the administration. The policies have been sued by transgenders and there are more likely to follow. Civil rights lawyers who handled the cases asserted that Trump’s orders in some cases violated laws passed by Congress, protections of the Constitution and overstepped the authority the president.
This order could raise similar questions, such as: Can the President demand that the NCAA changes its policies?
The NCAA’s Charlie Baker stated that the Board of Governors is reviewing the order. “We will take the necessary steps in the coming days to align NCAA policies, subject to additional guidance from the Administration.” Baker noted last year that he knew of less than 10 active NCAA players who identified themselves as transgender.
The order was issued a day after the three former teammates who were with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, filed a suit accusing the NCAA and Ivy League of conspiring together to allow Thomas to participate in national and conference championships.
The lawsuit, which contains similar allegations as those made last year by Gaines, and others, claims that the defendants have violated Title IX in allowing Thomas “to swim” by acting with bad faith.
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