Trump signs order banning all trans athletes from women’s events
Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning all transgender athletes from competing in girl’s and women’s sports.
Trump’s order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” aims to grant federal agencies the ability to review funding to high schools, universities and grassroot sporting events. “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at the signing ceremony at the East Room of the White House.
He was surrounded by girls as well as lawmakers and female athletes who were supportive of the ban, including swimmer Riley Gaines. 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 do not allow single-sex sports or single-sex locker rooms for women.
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programmes that receive federal funding. Trump added: “If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding.”
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He added the order would cover the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and would deny visas for transgender athletes hoping to take part in the games. White House officials have said the move is popular with Americans and argued the order would ensure “fairness” in women’s sports.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 69 per cent of respondents believe transgender athletes should be able to play on teams that match the gender they were assigned to at birth. Only 29 per cent of respondents said transgender athletes should be able to play on teams that match their gender identity.
Enforcing the order will be a priority for the Education Department as it works to penalise schools that allow transgender athletes to compete. The department has already opened an inquiry into public schools in Denver, Colorado, that replaced a girl’s bathroom with an all-gender one despite leaving another exclusive to boys.
But Human Rights Campaign, a US-based LGBTQ advocacy group, president Kelley Robinson said the order “exposes young people to harassment and discrimination.” She added the order would also result in “emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look.”
According to a 2022 Williams Institute study, only 1.6 million people (or 0.6 per cent) of people in the US aged 13 and over identify as transgender. This also includes 1.4 per cent of youth aged between 13 and 17.
The executive order is one of several signed by Trump since he took office last month. Many of his orders have been challenged in the courts.
Newsnow
