Former U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order prohibiting transgender women from competing in women’s sports, declaring an end to what he calls “the war on women’s sports.” Speaking on Wednesday, February 5, Trump announced that any school receiving taxpayer dollars must comply with the new directive or risk losing federal funding.
“With my action this afternoon, we are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that 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,” he stated.
Signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, the executive order establishes that it is now U.S. policy to oppose what it refers to as “male competitive participation” in women’s sports for reasons of “safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
The order also directs the assistant to the president for domestic policy to convene representatives from major athletic organizations, governing bodies, and female athletes who claim to have been affected by transgender participation in sports. Their goal will be to develop policies aimed at ensuring fairness and safety for female athletes. This move is part of a broader Republican effort to remove federal and state recognition of transgender identities.
On his first day back in office, Trump signed another executive order stating that the government only recognizes two sexes and banning federal funding for programs related to “gender ideology.” Meanwhile, House Republicans have already passed legislation seeking to prevent transgender women from participating in women’s sports altogether.
Nearly half of U.S. states currently have laws barring transgender women from competing at the K-12 and college levels, but Trump’s order aims to enforce the ban nationwide. The order also instructs the Secretary of Education to prioritize “Title IX enforcement actions” against schools that allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports or share locker rooms with cisgender female athletes.
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
“My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter women,” Trump said, referencing an Algerian Olympic boxer who has faced false accusations of being transgender.
“It’s going to end, and nobody’s gonna be able to do a damn thing about it because when I speak, I speak with authority.”
The executive order has drawn sharp criticism from advocacy groups. Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, dismissed Trump’s claims, emphasizing that transgender students “do not pose a risk in sports and deserve the same opportunities as their peers.”
“The far-right’s disturbing obsession with controlling the bodies, hearts, and minds of our country’s youth harms all students,” Graves said in a statement.
