President Donald Trump enacted an executive measure on Wednesday to address a key issue from his 2024 campaign platform: prohibiting transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
During an afternoon ceremony in the East Room, Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” surrounded by numerous women and several young girls in sports uniforms. “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” the president declared.
The executive order implements a dual strategy that hinges on adherence to Title IX, which outlaws sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational programs or activities and increases federal interaction with the private sector.
This move is part of Trump’s broader efforts to curtail transgender rights through executive actions, many of which are currently contested in court.
A White House official stated before the signing that this order reverses the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which considered the exclusion of transgender students from sports teams as a violation of the statute.
According to the official, the Trump administration’s stance is, “If you’re going to have women’s sports, if you’re going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that you’re going to preserve women’s sports for women.”
Critics argue that transgender athletes have an undue competitive edge, although research does not support this claim.
Findings are inconclusive, with a 2017 Sports Medicine review indicating no direct evidence that transgender athletes have competitive advantages.
More recent studies, such as one from October 2023, suggest that while sex differences emerge post-puberty, they can be mitigated over time with gender-affirming hormone treatments.
Less changeable factors like height or limb length do not lead to restrictions for cisgender athletes who may be exceptionally tall or physically adept.
Further guidance, regulations, and interpretations of Title IX are under consideration by the administration, which also plans to scrutinize non-compliant schools through Department of Education investigations, potentially jeopardizing their federal funding.
The White House official stated that the administration intends to review and possibly expand guidance, regulations, and interpretations of Title IX, and will encourage the Department of Education to investigate schools failing to comply. Schools that do not meet compliance standards are at risk of losing federal funding, the official warned.
President Trump has consistently supported the abolition of the Department of Education. Should this effort succeed, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt informed journalists that the administration would explore further strategies to effectively enforce these critical policies.
The administration also sees a role in influencing sports organizations, planning to gather sports groups at the White House to hear from female athletes and their families.
Additionally, Trump “does expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in women’s sports,” Leavitt said.
Although Trump cannot directly regulate the International Olympic Committee or the NCAA, the executive order initiates a public campaign urging compliance.
“He expects these organizations to adhere to this executive order,” Leavitt remarked.
In his address, Trump instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “make clear to the International Olympic Committees… that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy.”
Plans are underway to gather state attorneys general to enforce existing laws that protect women’s sports, with a scheduled meeting between Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who signed a law in 2023 banning trans athletes from college sports in Texas.
The administration will also use platforms like the United Nations to advocate its stance on gender issues, added the official.
The executive action further includes a review of visa policies to combat fraud by scrutinizing the gender claims of those entering the U.S. to compete in women’s sports.
