During his presidential campaign, newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly emphasized his intention to bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. Now, it appears he is taking steps to make that a reality.
According to the Associated Press, via ESPN, Trump is set to sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at preventing individuals assigned male at birth from participating in women’s and girls’ sporting events nationwide.
This move follows through on a pledge Trump made after securing victory in the 2024 Presidential Election.
“With the stroke of my pen on day one, we are going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said during a speech following his election win. “And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military, and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools — and we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
Although the executive order is not being signed on “day one” as originally stated, its timing aligns with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which is observed on Wednesday.
While Trump made his stance on transgender women in sports clear, the specific approach he would take remained uncertain. The Associated Press now reports that the executive order will rely on a reinterpretation of Title IX, the law widely recognized for promoting gender equity in athletics and addressing sexual harassment in educational institutions.
“This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels,” U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said, according to the Associated Press.
Each presidential administration holds the authority to establish its own interpretation of the historic legislation. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Title IX was interpreted to ensure protections for LGBTQ+ students under federal law. Trump’s administration, however, appears poised to implement a different interpretation that removes these protections for transgender women.
Needless to say, this announcement led to a lot of reactions on social media.
“Doing this on National Girls and Women in Sports Day is some nasty [stuff],” one person wrote on X.
“This doesn’t make sports better or fix anything that needs fixing. It’s just another transphobic attack meant to energize the base,” someone else added.
“Going to see a lot of youth sports parents trying to police this, claiming that young girls who are better than their children are actually biologically male. But hey, anything to own the libs, amirite?” another person added.
“The easiest way to tell if someone’s an idiot is how they react to the absolute non-issue of trans women in women’s sports,” someone else said.
“Small government is when the president sets laws for high school sports…. Emergency disaster funding? Leave that to the states, the president will decide your law for high school sports,” another person wrote sarcastically.
“Is this the one that lowers the price of eggs?” someone else added.
“Such a non-point because the number of trans athletes in women’s sports is minuscule to begin with How about you do something about gun violence killing kids? Or does that not fit your agenda?” another person wrote.
At this point, it remains unclear how many transgender athletes across the country will be affected by this policy shift.
