President Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 5 that bans biological males from competing in female sports.
The mandate, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” applies to federally funded educational institutions, including colleges and K-12 schools. The order dictates that the United States will “take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms and thereby provide the equal opportunity guaranteed by Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 … by clearly specifying and clarifying that women’s sports are reserved for women.”
Educational institutions that ignore the mandate by allowing male athletes to participate in female-designated athletic programs or activities face loss of federal funding, as depriving females of fair athletic opportunities “results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.” The order labels the issue a “matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
The signing fell on the 39th anniversary of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. During the signing ceremony, female athletes, supporters and government officials surrounded Trump as they listened to his speech.
“We will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls,” Trump said. “My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes. We’re just not going to let it happen. It’s going to end, and it’s ending right now.”
Candice Jackson, deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education, released a statement in response to the order.
“Today, President Trump demanded an end to the insanity of men in women’s sports,” Jackson said in the press release. “The President affirmed that this Administration will protect female athletes from the danger of competing against and the indignity of sharing private spaces with someone of the opposite sex. This Executive Order is both a demonstration of common sense and a restoration of our country’s promise to give women equal opportunities.”
“The Department of Education stands proudly with President Trump’s action as we prioritize Title IX enforcement against educational institutions that refuse to give female athletes the Title IX protections they deserve,” she concluded.
Last month, two Democrats voted for the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” in a House vote that led to a 218-206 win for the Republican-sponsored bill. Surveys show that the majority of Americans oppose biological males competing in female-designated sports, including a Parents Defending Education survey conducted by CRC Research in January. About 78% of responders, composed of parents with children 18 or younger in their households, answered that they believed that males identifying as females should not partake in female athletic teams. Extensive bans on males participating in female school sports have been established in 27 states while policies explicitly allowing such participation were enacted in 14 states.
Photo: Alamy