Donald Trump, the candidate, promised to obtain “transgender madness of our schools” and “keep men out of women’s sports.”
Donald Trump, the president, wasting little time fulfilling his promise to address an issue that seemed to resonate in the lines of the party. Trump issued an executive order on the day he began his second term that required “restoring the biological truth to the federal government” and signed another on Wednesday entitled “Keep men out of women’s sports.”
The federal government now has broad freedom among multiple agencies to penalize entities financed by the federal government that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
“The war against women’s sports is over,” Trump said.
Probably not. The legal challenges such as those that are with other executive orders aimed at transgender people are probable and on Wednesday, the Trump administration sued Maine for not complying with the government’s impulse to prohibit transgender athletes in sports of girls and women.
What is in the executive order?
The greatest conclusion is that the Trump administration has allowed the Federal Government to take aggressive measures to pursue entities, whether it is an athletic school or association and now a state, which they do not meet. Federal funds could be extracted and potentially subsidies to educational programs.
The threshold for non -compliance: any entity that denies “female students an opportunity to participate in sporting and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, competing with or against or seems unleashed to men.”
The Department of Education announced less than 24 hours after the signing of the order that was investigating the State University of San José, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, all of which have had violations of Title IX against it for allowing transgender athletes to compete. He also investigated Maine and last week he sent the case to the Department of Justice.
Determine “sex” versus “gender” and how will title IX affect that?
Each administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of historical legislation better known for its role to guarantee gender equity in athletics and prevent sexual harassment on campus.
Given the thrust of how recent presidencies see title IX, it has created a lateral effect.
Joe Biden signed an executive order on his first day in the position that interpreted sex as “gender identity” under title IX, a movement that protected the transgender athletes from being discriminated if they wanted to participate in a sport that aligned with their gender identity, not their sex assigned to birth.
However, it took more than three years that the regulations of Title IX said it would be finished. And when they were, they lacked specific sports and were suspended by the courts.
Trump’s order explicitly establishes that sex means “immutable biological classification as a man or woman.” ‘Sex’ is not synonymous and does not include the concept of “gender identity.” The order adds that “the sexes are not changing and are based on a fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
The decision marks a significant change in the way in which title IX is seen and more explicitly, how it will be applied.
How many transgender athletes will be affected?
That number is difficult to specify.
The NCAA, for example, does not track data on transgender athletes between the 544,000 that currently compete in 19,000 teams on several levels throughout the country, although the president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, declared in Congress in December that he knew less than 10 active athletes of the NCAA that identified themselves as transgender.
A 2019 high school survey of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight (Glan) education network said that only 5% of respondents said they participated in a sport that aligned with their gender identity. A 2022 report from the Williams Institute estimated that about 300,000 high school students (ages from 13 to 17 years old) identified as transgender. It is unknown how many of these young people participate in sports, but it is likely to be a small fraction.
Does order have real teeth?
The scope of title IX extends far beyond the participation of transgender athletes. It is believed that breach is widespread.
The Women’s Sports Foundation pointed out in a 2022 report that there were still “gross inequities” in all university divisions and that “there was concern about the generalized breach of the title IX in the athletic programs of the secondary and university and university schools”, even before the COVID-19 PANDEMIC was to the sports of even more vulnerable women.
However, to date, no school at any level has terminated its federal financing so as not to comply with the standards of the title IX that require institutions to provide women equal access and treatment, said Cheryl Cooky, a professor at the University of Purdue who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture. He wondered where all this support for female sports in general, and not on this issue specifically, has been during the last five decades.
“All these other inequalities have existed and now you are in a position of power to address those opportunities and this is what you are addressing?” Cooky said earlier this year. “The fact that this is the problem that the administration worries him says a lot in terms of how we value women in this society and how we value women’s sports in this society.”
However, given Trump’s unpredictable approach to the government, the precedent and history may not be applied.
How will this work at the state level?
Approximately half of the states have already promulgated legislation that effectively prevents transgender athletes from competing in the category that aligns with their gender identity. The AP reported in 2021 that in many cases, the states that introduced the prohibition of transgender athletes could not cite cases in which their participation was a problem.
Some states already plan to challenge Trump’s order in the Court. Connecticut Attorney General, William Tong, described the order as “bad and illegal” and asked those who oppose the order to “be together and defend themselves.”
What is also not clear is whether a federal agency can pursue specific organizations, such as state sports school associations, which do not receive money directly from the federal government.
How will this affect university sports?
The Board of Governors of the NCAA moved quickly, amending its transgender participation policy to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned to women at birth. The NCAA has more than 500,000 athletes competing for about 1,100 schools.
“We firmly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would better serve today’s athlete students instead of a mosaic of state laws and judicial decisions in conflict,” Baker said then. “To that end, the order of President Trump provides a clear national standard.”
The National Intercollegial Athletics Association, the Government Body for more than 200 small schools throughout the country, unanimously voted in 2023 to effectively prohibit transgender athletes in women’s sports.
What about the Olympic Games?
In a movement that most saw come once Trump won a second term, his administration still managed to sneak into a curved ball.
The order asks that the Secretary of State’s office use “all appropriate and available measures” in the hope that the International Olympic Committee will present a uniform transgender policy. The organization has passed money for years, postponing international federations for each sport.
Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe Sports Minister, has replaced Thomas Bach as president of the IOC. A two -time Olympic champion swimmer told the BBC before his choice that it is the COI duty to guarantee equal opportunities and justice.
“I don’t think we can do that based on medical and scientific research that I have seen if we add or allow transgender women to compete in the women’s category at this time,” he said then. “It is very clear that transgender women are more capable in the female category and can remove the opportunities that should be the same for women.”
