President Trump’s new executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” is rippling throughout the country and sparking new controversy, even reaching rural high schools like our own. Signed on February 5th, the order banned transgender-identifying women who were male at birth from competing in sports protected under Title IX.
Title IX of the Education Amendments enshrines equal opportunity for women in all educational programs at federally funded schools. President Trump cites Title IX as the basis of this decision and even extends it to locker room usage.
“Moreover, under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (Title IX), educational institutions receiving federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports,” the executive order states. “As some Federal courts have recognized, ‘ignoring fundamental biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities.’”
President Trump also expresses his concern for fairness and the possible dangers of a transgender woman competing in sports. In a recent interview, he said, “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. With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”
As he signed the order, several female athletes surrounded him to demonstrate their support and gratitude. Since then, there have been many more athletes coming out in support of this new policy.
“I think that this is a good thing for women’s sports because I think that people that are not biologically born women shouldn’t be playing with people who are born females because it seems like a recipe for disaster for [players] to get hurt,” student-athlete Emmerson Brownfield said.
The NCAA has responded to this executive order regarding collegiate athletics as well. NCAA President Charles Baker said that, to his knowledge, fewer than 10 trans athletes are in the NCAA, and the NCAA is aligning with this executive order’s provisions effective immediately.
This has been an ongoing conversation in the NCAA especially since Riley Gaines, a former Division I swimmer, filed suit against the NCAA. They allowed Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete who formally swam for the men’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania before her transition, to compete in the 2022 national championships and use the women’s locker room. Joined by other swimmers and volleyball players, the lawsuit claimed the NCAA had violated their Title IX rights.
“Naturally, you see times from males are typically faster than females. So if they compete with females, I feel like it becomes an unfair game,” track-athlete Bella DeCarli said.
These are the main concerns of the advocates and supporters of the ban on transgender participation in women’s sports. However, opponents view it as unfair for transgender athletes who want to compete.
“Trans women are women,” Queer Humboldt Clinical Director Aisha Morton said. “Trans girls are girls. Excluding them from playing sports is a cruel example of sex discrimination that can not be enforced without bringing harm to all women athletes. These harmful and distracting policies increase the policing of women’s bodies and create problematic enforcement systems which open the door for more harassment, abuse, and invasions of privacy for girls/women athletes.”
This executive order has the potential to impact every school receiving federal funding and female athletes in a multitude of ways. Schools that don’t comply with this are also being threatened with federal funding being revoked.
“All executive departments and agencies shall review grants to educational programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order,” states the executive order.
While some sports organizations like the NCAA have complied, others are not receiving this executive order well. In Maine, Governor Janet Mills has expressed dismay and intent to challenge this act in court after remarking, “See you in court” to President Trump in a meeting. Maine and Governor Mills are now under federal investigation.
