During his presidential campaign, newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump consistently articulated his plan to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sports. Now, he is reportedly taking steps to bring this promise to fruition. According to the Associated Press, via ESPN, Trump intends to sign an executive order on Wednesday designed to prevent individuals assigned male at birth from participating in women’s and girls’ sports nationwide. This action reflects a commitment Trump made following his victory in the 2024 Presidential Election.
“With the stroke of my pen on day one, we are going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump stated during a speech after 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.” While the executive order is not being signed on “day one” as originally claimed, its announcement coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, observed on Wednesday.
Despite Trump clarifying his position on transgender women in sports, the exact approach remained ambiguous. The Associated Press now reports that the executive order will involve a reinterpretation of Title IX, the law recognized for promoting gender equity in athletics and addressing sexual harassment in educational settings. “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, stated, according to the Associated Press.
Each presidential administration has the authority to establish its own interpretation of this historic legislation. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Title IX was interpreted to ensure protections for LGBTQ+ students under federal law. However, Trump’s administration seems ready to adopt a different interpretation that eliminates these protections for transgender women. This announcement has already sparked considerable reactions on social media, with many expressing their disapproval. “Doing this on National Girls and Women in Sports Day is some nasty [stuff],” one comment remarked on X, while another said, “This doesn’t make sports better or fix anything that needs fixing. It’s just another transphobic attack meant to energize the base.”
Further critiques followed, including, “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?” Others commented, “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.” Another sarcastically added, “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.”
Comments ranged from inquiries like, “Is this the one that lowers the price of eggs?” to critiques asserting, “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?” As of now, it remains uncertain how many transgender athletes nationwide will be impacted by this policy shift.
