US President To Ban Transgender Women From Female Sports
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports, a directive that supporters say will restore fairness, but critics say infringes on the rights of a tiny minority of athletes.
The order directs the Department of Justice to make sure all government agencies enforce a ban on transgender girls and women from participating in female school sports under Trump’s interpretation of Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in education.
“The war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony with about 100 women and girls aligned behind him, many of the youngest ones wearing uniforms and sports jerseys.
“My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.”
The order, which is likely to face legal challenges, threatens to cut off federal funding for any school that allows transgender women or girls to compete in female-designated sporting competitions.
It would affect only a small number of athletes. The president of the National Collegiate Athletics Association told a Senate panel in December he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 530,000 competing at 1,100 member schools.
The NCAA welcomed the executive order for providing a clear national standard in the face of “a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” saying in a statement it would conform its policy accordingly.
“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration,” the statement said.
Under current policy the NCAA requires transgender women athletes to meet testosterone limits on a sport-by-sport basis.
The issue has also connected with voters, who responded with enthusiastic applause when Trump mentioned bans on transgender athletes at his campaign rallies. He repeatedly aired television advertisements that criticized allowing transgender women and girls to compete in female sports.
Polls have found a majority of Americans oppose transgender athletes competing in sports that align with their gender identity and 25 Republican-led states have passed laws that ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.
Federal courts have generally ruled in favour of letting transgender girls compete. A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling blocked Idaho’s ban, while the 9th Circuit and the 4th Circuit have also stopped bans from being enforced against specific plaintiffs in West Virginia and Arizona.
A federal district court judge in New Hampshire has blocked, that state from enforcing its ban against two plaintiffs. But the Biden administration’s 2024 interpretation of Title IX that it protects transgender people from discrimination on the basis of sex was blocked by a federal judge in Kentucky in January.
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