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The move has real teeth as it prioritizes the enforcement of Title IX protections for women and girls and will rescind federal funding from any school or college that is found to be in violation of the law.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday, recognized as National Girls and Women in Sports Day, prohibiting males claiming to be female from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
The order called the practice of schools and athletic associations allowing males to compete against females, “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous” and that it “denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports”.
The document notes that Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 requires educational institutions that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunity for females. As such, it stated, “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”
The order requires the Secretary of Education to take action to protect “all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms.”
This includes prioritizing the enforcement of Title IX against educational institutions and athletic associations governed by the institutions that force female athletes to compete against or share a locker room with males.
The order mandates that all departments review grants and rescind funding to those institutions who do not follow Title IX.
Also noted in the order is the reality that various governing bodies of sports and athletic associations have different policies regarding who is eligible to compete in female sports. The assistant to the President for domestic policy will convene representatives of these bodies and also state attorneys general and inform them of the harms done to female athletes due to these policies and to provide guidance on policies to protect female opportunities.
The Secretary of State is called on to promote international rules governing women’s sports, including ensuring that the International Olympic Committee amends policies to protect the fairness of women’s sports.
At a press conference Trump specifically mentioned the 2024 Olympics in which two male boxers competed in the female category and both won gold medals.
The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security are instructed to issue guidance barring entry to the country for males seeking to compete in women’s sports.
Following Trump’s signing of the executive order, NCAA President Charlie Baker signaled that the NCAA would comply with the order.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” Baker stated.
“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”
Receiving much of the attention surrounding the signing of the executive order was former University of Kentucky swimmer and 12-time All-American Riley Gaines. Gaines has become the most prominent voice in protecting women’s sports and was one of the first to do so. Gaines is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing male swimmer Will Thomas (who competed under the name “Lia Thomas”) to compete in the 2022 NCAA Championships and to use the women’s locker room.
Gaines received a shoutout from President Trump at the signing event, and she returned the praise in an opinion article for Fox News, writing,
“President Trump is standing up for women and female athletes when coaches, college administrators, and sports governing bodies have refused to. He knew it was absurd, unfair, and dangerous to force women to compete against men. He spoke about it consistently on the campaign trail, and pledged to do something about it. Voters heard it and supported him.
And now, just days after taking office, he has made good on this promise. He has told female athletes that their dreams matter. Young girls don’t have to wonder if they are wasting their time training and will be forced into competitions they are doomed to lose because of their sex. They now can feel confident that they will have leagues and rights of their own. On behalf of all these girls, thank you, President Trump, for standing with us.”
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), which is funding the suit filed by Gaines and the other athletes, posted on X, “Girls win!!! Thank you, President Trump, for standing up for fairness in women’s sports!”
ICONS also announced a lawsuit against the Ivy League, the NCAA, and Harvard University for allowing Thomas to compete in women’s swimming and to use the women’s locker room.
Women and girls across the country and around the world have lost out on medals, placements, championships, and starting spots on teams due to males who claim to be women unfairly competing in women’s sports.
Even more tragically, some like Peyton McNabb have been injured due to being forced to compete against males who have greater muscle and skeletal mass, greater lung capacity, longer average limb length, and many other physical advantages. McNabb, a former high school volleyball player, was required to compete against a male player who spiked the ball into her face so hard that McNabb was concussed and unconscious for about 30 seconds. As a result, McNabb has long-term injuries, including partial paralysis.
Others have been forced to change in front of males, sometimes not even knowing that they were doing so. In the case of Thomas, he had admitted to teammates that he was attracted to females, and Thomas still had his full male anatomy intact. Women who competed against him have discussed their discomfort at having to change around Thomas.
Kylee Alons, a plaintiff who swam for North Carolina State University, recalls that she changed in a dimly lit utility closet she found under the bleachers. “I was literally racing U.S. and Olympic gold medalists and I was changing in a storage closet at this elite-level meet. I just felt that my privacy and safety were being violated in the locker room.”
Kaitlyn Wheeler said she didn’t know Thomas would be changing in the locker room until she was changing into her suit and Thomas walked by her. The lawsuit claims that the suits are so tight they take 15-20 minutes to put on. “While you’re doing this, you’re exposed. You can’t stand there and hold a towel around you while putting the suit on at the same time,” Wheeler explained. She said when Thomas walked by, she was exposed from the waist up. “Never in my 18-year career had I seen a man changing in the locker rooms. I immediately felt the need to cover myself. I could feel the discomfort of the other girls in there.”
One swimmer who remains anonymous in the suit said that she changed in a bathroom stall because she “was shocked to see a naked Thomas 10 feet in front of her and a full frontal view of Thomas’s genitalia” when she entered the locker room.
Then the swimmers had to watch as Thomas was crowned a “champion” and media outlets showered him with praise.
Women and girls were intimidated into silence, told that if they were uncomfortable they needed therapy, censored, and ignored. They faced legal defeats by judges who claimed they were not being harmed by males stealing their victories. Many protested even forfeiting games to try to make their voices heard.
For years women and girls fought against these injustices, but finally, thanks to President Trump’s executive order, it looks like the dawn is breaking. There is clearly more work to be done, but after too many years of insanity, young women and girls will once again have equal opportunity and fairness in sports, safety, and privacy.
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