Trump’s New Executive Order Bans Transgender Women from Competing in Women’s Sports

On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, President Donald Trump will sign a landmark executive order aimed at prohibiting individuals assigned male at birth from participating in women’s or girls’ sports events.

The signing ceremony, which will take place in the afternoon, is expected to add another significant chapter to the Trump administration’s stance on transgender issues.

This executive order builds upon the president’s earlier directive, signed on his first day in office last month, which called for federal policies to define sex strictly as male or female and reflected this definition on official documents like passports and in federal policies, including those governing prison assignments.

The new order, which coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, is poised to have significant implications for Title IX—a landmark civil rights law aimed at ensuring gender equity in education and athletics.

“With this executive order, we are restoring fairness to women’s sports by upholding the original intent of Title IX,” said U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.

“This is about protecting the rights of female athletes who have worked their entire lives to compete at the highest levels.”

The order has already stirred controversy. Trump’s focus on “keeping men out of women’s sports” was a defining message during his 2024 campaign.

In fact, his pledge to address what he called “transgender insanity” resonated with voters, with more than half of those surveyed by AP VoteCast agreeing that support for transgender rights in government and society had gone too far.

Although the scope of the executive order is still unclear, experts believe it will reshape the way Title IX is interpreted by the federal government.

The Biden administration, in contrast, has taken steps to ensure the rights of LGBTQ+ students, including transgender students, with a policy that protects them from discrimination.

However, Trump’s new order aims to address what many of his supporters consider an unfair advantage for transgender women in competitive sports.

The debate around transgender athletes in women’s sports remains contentious, with critics arguing that the issue is being blown out of proportion.

Scholars like Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University, have pointed out that the number of transgender athletes competing at the highest levels remains small, and the debate often centers on isolated cases, such as Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, or the transgender athletes involved in collegiate volleyball.

Despite the challenges in quantifying the number of transgender athletes, Trump’s executive order is expected to galvanize further legal battles and state-level legislation.

As the debate over the inclusion of transgender women in sports continues, this executive order will undoubtedly influence the national conversation on transgender rights and the future of athletics in the U.S.