Donald Trump signs executive order to block transgender athletes from women's sports

New York Times

05-02-2025

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday aimed to prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports by denying federal funds to schools that don't comply.
'With this executive order, the war on women's sports is over,' Trump said from the East Room of the White House.
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The order follows one Trump signed on Jan. 20 — the first day of his second term in the White House — ordering the federal government to define sex as only male or female and to change federal policies and government-issued IDs to reflect that. Trump, along with other conservative politicians, have often hit on transgender athletes competing in women's sports as an election-cycle issue. And numerous states have passed laws banning transgender athletes from girls' sports at the high school and youth levels.
Trump, who signed the order on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, also took aim at the International Olympic Committee, saying that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the White House's stance 'as clear as anybody can make it.'
'We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics,' Trump said.
Los Angeles is expected to host the Summer Games in 2028.
Opponents of transgender women competing in women's divisions say that they have an unfair advantage over cisgender women when it comes to athletics, particularly in cases where transgender women go through male puberty before transitioning. Many supporters of trans women in sports say that outright bans amount to discrimination and target a small number of people.
In December, NCAA president Charlie Baker said during a congressional hearing in Washington that he believed there were fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 510,000 competing at schools. At that time, Baker also said he would welcome federal guidance before considering any possible changes to NCAA rules.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Hudson Taylor, the executive director of Athlete Ally, an organization that champions LGBTQI+ equality in sports, said in a statement to The Athletic that he and the organization were 'deeply concerned about the negative impact this will have on the mental health of trans athletes.'
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'Trans youth already experience higher rates of violence, suicidal thoughts and insecurity in housing than their cisgender peers,' Taylor said. 'This (executive order), and the broader erasure of the transgender community, will only serve to exacerbate these issues.'
At the college level, multiple lawsuits have been filed in recent years regarding transgender women's participation in sports. In March, a group of college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA over the inclusion of Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, in competition in 2022.
During the women's volleyball season last fall, several Mountain West schools forfeited matches against San Jose State, which was alleged to have a transgender athlete on its team. The schools sued the conference and asked the court to rule the player to be ineligible for the conference tournament. A judge denied the request, and San Jose State played in the tournament, advanced through the semifinals by forfeit and lost the championship match to Colorado State.
Some lawmakers have criticized the NCAA's rules, which provide an opportunity for transgender athletes to compete if they meet criteria set on a sport-by-sport basis by national and international governing bodies.
On Jan. 14, the House of Representatives passed the 'Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,' which would ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports in public schools and amend Title IX to recognize a person's sex based solely on birth biology and genetics. It still must pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
This story will be updated.