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President Donald Trump‘s second term hasn’t even been in effect for a month, and he’s already tried to force mass deportation, takeover Gaza from Israel, and impose tariffs on China.
His sweeping repeals and executive orders have even touched the sports world, as he’s banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Plainly titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” the order states that the Justice and Education departments should only federally fund those abiding by Title IX, the way the Trump administration sees it, which says that ‘sex’ should be determined by the gender someone is assigned at birth.
“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” he said in a signing ceremony as young girls and women surrounded his desk. “If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding.”
The timing coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
The order includes that the Department of Education can be punished for not following the new rule, and one organization that’s acknowledged the new rules is the NCAA, according to ESPN.
The NCAA will abide effectively immediately, and with it being the largest association for college athletes in the country, encompassing over 500,00 athletes throughout around 1,100 schools, it signals a change of tide towards transgender people in the world of sports.
“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,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Transgender women competing in women’s sports athletes have become a huge debate and bubbled over in 2022 when Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 championship after besting the competition in the women’s 500-yard freestyle swimming event.
Those assigned male at birth are still permitted to practice with women’s teams and get medical care the schools provide. However, those assigned females at birth who have begun hormone therapy can still practice with the men’s team yet can’t compete.
See how social media is reacting to the NCAA’s decision below.