Trump Signs Executive Order To Bar Transgender Athletes From Female Sports
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order “upholds the promise of Title IX” and will require “immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations” that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms.
The timing of the order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and is the latest in a string of executive actions from the Republican president.
The order offers some clarity. For example, it authorizes the Education Department to penalize schools that allow transgender athletes to compete, citing noncompliance with Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in schools. Any school found in violation could potentially be ineligible for federal funding.
Already since Trump took office, the department has opened an inquiry into Denver public schools over an all-gender bathroom that replaced a girls’ bathroom, while leaving another one exclusive to boys.
Trump also issued a warning to the International Olympic Committee ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president said he had empowered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make it clear to the IOC that “America categorically rejects transgender lunacy. We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
The IOC has essentially passed the buck on transgender participation, deferring to the international federations for each sport.
Trump also said that Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will “deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes to try and get into the Games.”
Organizers for the 2028 Olympics did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The order is the latest of a series of moves by the Trump administration targeting transgender people.
