By Shubhangi Chauhan
U.S. President Donald Trump introduced an executive order during February, 5th 2025 that excluded transgender athletes from participating in female sporting competitions. Titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” prohibits male athletes from competing against female athletes through an executive order which interprets Title IX through birth-assigned gender standards.
The United States President Donald Trump announced that female athletic opportunities were safe because the war on women’s sports is over, during his appearance on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The executive order empowers the Department of Education to penalize educational institutions that allow transgender athletes by potentially withholding federal funding. The Department of Justice has been granted authority to supervise the enforcement of this regulation among all government agencies.
Trump issued this directive to span both domestic and international boundaries, warning the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. With the authorization of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump urged the IOC to accept sex-based participation standards and instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to deny visas to transgender athletes seeking to compete in U.S. events.
The NCAA endorsed the national standard set by the order, believing it would resolve the disparate state regulations. The NCAA President Charlie Baker had confirmed that a maximum of 10 transgender athletes participate out of their 530,000 student-athletes.
The adoption of this rule by Donald Trump received strong criticism from LGBTQ+ rights groups such as GLAAD and Athlete Ally who labeled it discriminating and damaging to transgender athletes. The introduction of legal opposition appears likely because federal courts have already supported transgender athlete rights in various states.
The recent decision marks Trump’s fourth executive order targeting transgender rights since he took office, following previous actions like blocking transgender military service and restricting healthcare benefits for minor transgender patients.