COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – OCTOBER 19: Blaire Fleming #3 and Emma Testi #13 of the San Jose State Spartans high hug during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” announced President Donald Trump, presiding over the signing ceremony for an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports.”
The order allows widespread enforcement of Title IX in alignment with the Trump Administration’s recent decree that gender is equivalent to sex assigned at birth – a move consistent with Trump’s campaign vow to end “gender ideology.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said to expect “immediate action, including enforcement action, against schools and athletic associations.”
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The administration also announced that it was launching investigations into colleges and high school leagues that allowed transgender athletes to compete, including the University of Pennsylvania’s swim program (where Lia Thomas famously became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship) and the San Jose State University volleyball team.
“The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls — and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms — to promote a radical transgender ideology,” said Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
On social media, anti-trans advocates, including former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, hailed the move. “I can’t even begin to tell you how vindicating it feels knowing no girl will ever have to experience what my teammates and I did,” she posted.
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“Contrary to what the president wants you to believe, trans students do not pose threats to sports, schools or this country, and they deserve the same opportunities as their peers to learn, play and grow up in safe environments,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.
Legal challenges to other Trump administration moves targeting transgender people have already begun, including his proposals to ban them from the military and exclude gender-affirming care from federal health insurance.
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“This was never about trans athletics, science or ‘fairness.’ It has always been about oppression,” said Sadie Schreiner, a transgender woman who competes in track and field at Rochester Institute of Technology. “They’ll attack me all the same whether I’m on or off the track, so the only way I’ll stop competing is in handcuffs.”