Trump signs executive order aiming to ban transgender athletes from women's sports

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon to prevent transgender athletes from participating in women’s or girls' sporting events.

The timing of the order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and is the latest in a string of executive actions from Trump aimed at transgender people.

What does Trump’s order on transgender athletes say? 

The order, titled "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets "sex" as the gender someone was assigned at birth. 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

What they're saying:

"With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over," Trump said at a signing ceremony. 

What is Title IX? 

Dig deeper:

Title IX law is best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses. Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the Title IX legislation. 

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Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term, issued a Title IX policy in 2020 that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and required colleges to investigate claims only if they’re reported to certain officials.

The Biden administration rolled back that policy last April with one of its own that stipulated the rights of LGBTQ+ students would be protected by federal law and provided new safeguards for victims of campus sexual assault. The policy stopped short of explicitly addressing transgender athletes. Still, more than a half-dozen Republican-led states immediately challenged the new rule in court.

What does the order mean for transgender athletes? 

The other side:

It’s unclear how this executive order could affect the transgender athlete population — a number that is incredibly difficult to pin down. 

The Associated Press found in 2021 that in many cases, states introducing a ban on transgender athletes couldn’t cite instances where their participation was an issue. When Utah state legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Spencer Cox in 2022, the state had only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. It did not regulate participation for transgender boys.

The actual number of transgender athletes doesn’t seem to matter to voters. Any case of a transgender female athlete competing — or even believed to be competing — draws outsized attention, from Lia Thomas swimming for the University of Pennsylvania to the recently completed season of the San Jose State volleyball team.

"This is a solution looking for a problem," Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture, told the AP after Trump was elected.

Trump targets transgender rights

The order marks another aggressive shift by the president's second administration in the way the federal government deals with transgender people and their rights.

The backstory:

The president put out a sweeping order on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents, including passports and federal prison assignments.

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Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to "keep men out of women’s sports" resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by the Associated Press said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

Trump leaned into the rhetoric before the election, pledging to get rid of the "transgender insanity."