Trump signs executive order banning trans women from women’s sports

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports, NBC News reports.

The measure, called the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order,” is the fourth executive order targeting transgender people he has signed since he took office Jan. 20.

“The radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology,” Trump said from a podium at the White House, with dozens of women and girls standing behind him. “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”

Trump also gave multiple examples of what he described as “men claiming to be girls” and “stealing” victories.

In a call with reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the signing, White House officials said that they expect headlines about the executive order to use the word "transgender" but that "this has nothing to do with that." The order, they said, aims to protect women's access to safe and fair athletic opportunities, and it will do that in two ways, they said.

First, officials said, the administration will roll back the Biden administration's guidance on Title IX, a civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. Under that guidance, schools were required to allow trans students to access school sports teams and sex-segregated facilities that align with their gender identities. Trump's order will, instead, bar students assigned male at birth from participating in girls' and women's sports and using women's restrooms. The Education Department will be tasked with investigating potential violations, and the administration “will be asking for investigations," the officials said.

Second, officials said, the administration will work with sports governing bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, to ensure the guidance is followed in noneducational settings. The guidance, they added, will affect U.S. visa policies.