Trump officially bans transgender women from female sporting events

Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning transgender women from the female sporting category, following on from his 2024 presidential campaign which promised a change in how the US has been handling transgender athletes.

The order mostly covers high school and university-level sports, providing guidance and regulation for the USA’s Department of Education. It aims to investigate how schools have been applying 1972’s Title IX, a US law banning sex-based discrimination in sports. If schools fail to adhere to this policy, they face losing federal funding.

The order, titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’, comes after numerous high-profile cases of transgender women competing in the female category

Numerous sports governing bodies, such as swimming and golf, have banned transgender women’s participation at the elite level if they have already gone through male puberty. Yet during Biden’s time in office, his administration set out to amend Title IX to prevent blanket bans being made on transgender athletes, but could still limit their participation in certain events.

Trump also says he has plans to prevent transgender athletes from competing in the female division in International Olympic Committee (IOC) competitions held on US soil, which will affect transgender Olympic athletes in the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

The order, titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’, comes after numerous high-profile cases of transgender women competing in the female category, such as Lia Thomas who swam on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team before transitioning to the women’s, and won an NCAA championship in 2022.

“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” – Fatima Goss Graves

Former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has suggested replacing the men’s category with an ‘open category’, making the women’s category open only to biological females, which she says will “protect” it. A 2024 study by the BBC also showed that of 143 female athletes, 104 said they felt “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” by the prospect of transgender athletes competing in the female category of their sport. A respondent commented, “It would be like going back in time”.

However, Emily Bridges, who set a national junior men’s record in 2018 before coming out as transgender in 2020, said when British Cycling placed a ban on transgender women competing in the female category, that the alternative idea of an open category would not be “safe” for trans women, especially if they are yet to come out publicly.

Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, argued “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”.

White House officials say the executive order has nothing to do with transgenderism, even if that’s what Trump seems to be referring to when he claims “the war on women’s sports is over”.

The sports ban is another in Trump’s list of orders addressing LGBTQ+ rights. Since his return to office, he has issued numerous orders signalling the change in his administration from Biden’s. On his first day, he signed an order declaring there are only two biological sexes, which will “refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification”.