Trump to sign executive order barring trans women and girls from female sports

• President Trump plans to sign an executive order Wednesday banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports at schools and colleges. The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
• South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace will join Trump for the signing. She called the move, which affects federally funded schools, a restoration of fairness and Title IX’s original intent.
• The Human Rights Campaign criticized the order, arguing it could lead to discrimination and harm transgender youth.

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Wednesday, Feb. 5, that will bar transgender women and girls from competing in female sports at schools and colleges.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” will be issued on National Girls and Women in Sports Day –– the first Wednesday of each February. During his campaign, Trump pledged to keep people assigned male at birth out of female sports and spaces.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., says she will stand alongside Trump as he signs the action.

“Men are biologically different from women. This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels,” Mace said in a statement.

The executive order’s specifics remain unclear, but would likely affect schools that receive federal funding. These schools would have to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits discrimination based on sex in any educational program or activity.

In April 2024, the Biden administration issued a final rule related to Title IX. The rule expanded the law to include gender identity and sexual orientation. However, a federal district court judge in Kentucky struck down the rule last month.

“The entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex — throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless,” Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky wrote in his opinion.

The Human Rights Campaign’s president, Kelley Robinson, issued a statement on the organization’s website, saying:

“We all want sports to be fair, students to be safe, and young people to have the opportunity to participate alongside their peers. But an attempted blanket ban deprives kids of those things. This order could expose young people to harassment and discrimination, emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look. And it comes at a time when the Trump administration continues to distract and divide the country, handing the keys to the federal government to unelected billionaires and refusing to address urgent issues that the country is facing. Participating in sports is about learning the values of teamwork, dedication, and perseverance. And for so many students, sports are about finding somewhere to belong. We should want that for all kids – not partisan policies that make life harder for them.”

According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 69% of Americans say that transgender athletes should only be on teams that match their sex at birth.

Currently, 26 states have laws in place that stop transgender girls and women from competing in school sports. 14 states mandate their participation.