Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Trans Athletes From Women’s Sports
The sweeping measure will affect athletes at every level, in every sport, and at every age.
President Donald Trump’s latest attack on transgender rights intends to bar transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. The executive order was signed Wednesday, making it Trump’s fourth directive targeting transgender people since he took office on January 20.
The sweeping measure, inaccurately titled “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports,” requires institutions receiving federal funding, including schools, to comply with the order or risk losing their funding. This will affect athletics at every level, in every sport, and at every age—from kindergarten through college.
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In a call with reporters on Wednesday morning, White House officials revealed two major points of the order. First, the administration will roll back Biden’s Title IX guidance, which required schools to allow trans students to play on sports teams and use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Under Trump’s order, students assigned male at birth will no longer be permitted to join women’s sports teams or use the women’s restroom.
The Education Department, led by conservative appointee Linda McMahon, will be tasked with investigating potential violations, the White House revealed, meaning any student suspected of being transgender could be reported for using the women’s restroom or playing on a women’s sports team. The administration gave no details as to what this “investigation” would include.
Charlie Baker, president of the NCAA—a nonprofit organization regulating student athletes at 1,100 colleges and universities in the U.S., said the Board of Governors is reviewing the order and “will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration.”
Outside of the educational sector, Trump’s directive also focuses on sports governing bodies. The White House issued a warning to the International Olympic Committee ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, which are set to take place in Los Angeles. According to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been empowered to make it clear to the IOC that “[The White House] want[s] them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
The new guidance will extend to U.S. visa policies. Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will deny “fraudulent” visas of transgender athletes entering the U.S. for the Olympics.
“If you are coming into the country and you are claiming that you are a woman but you are a male here to compete against women, we’re going to be reviewing that for fraud,” one official told the press on Wednesday.
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This executive order joins a series of other anti-trans measures introduced by Trump in recent weeks. He has sought to bar transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, end funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 19, and restrict schools from teaching gender. He has also issued an executive order proclaiming there are only two sexes in an attempt to completely erase transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people.
LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations have already begun pushing back on Trump’s latest discriminatory policy.
“Anti-LGBTQ politicians with a record of abusing and silencing women and stripping their health care have zero credibility in any conversation about protecting women and girls,” GLAAD said in a statement Wednesday. “Every American should demand that so-called leaders stop attacking vulnerable people and start doing their jobs solving actual problems.”
Some of Trump’s unconstitutional orders have already been blocked in court, including his attempt to transfer transgender female inmates to men’s facilities and eliminate birthright citizenship. Multiple other lawsuits have been filed to block Trump’s policies on military service, healthcare, and DEI.
Transgender athletes and their families have sued to block state bans on transgender participation in women’s sports, citing equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. Several cases were successful in Idaho, West Virginia, Arizona, and New Hampshire. These cases could assist in opening the door for a federal lawsuit against Trump’s most recent executive order.
