LGBTQ rights groups condemn latest executive order directed at transgender Americans
\n Washington, DC
\nUnited States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports.
\nUnder the order signed on Wednesday, federal government funding will be denied to educational institutes that allow trans girls and women to participate in female sports and use female locker rooms.
\nThe order also directs government agencies to promote sex-based female sports categories at international organisations and convene representatives of major athletic organisations and governing bodies to promote \u201cpolicies that are fair and safe, in the best interests of female athletes\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice: If you let men take over women\u2019s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding,\u201d Trump said, referring to a 1972 law that bars sex discrimination in education.
\nDeclaring an end to \u201cthe war on women\u2019s sport\u201d, Trump said his administration would not \u201cstand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes\u201d.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re just not going to let it happen, and it\u2019s going to end, and it\u2019s ending right now and nobody is going to be able to do a damn thing about it because when I speak, we speak with authority.\u201d
\nTrump also said he would push the International Olympic Committee, which has left the issue of trans people\u2019s participation in sport to international governing bodies, to explicitly endorse sex-based participation before the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
\n\u201cWe want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject,\u201d the US president said.
\nTrans women\u2019s participation in sport has been a lightning rod in the US culture wars in recent years, though the number of athletes involved is small.
\nNational Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) president, Charlie Baker, told a US Senate panel in December that he knew of fewer than 10 trans people competing among the 520,000 athletes at colleges nationwide.
\nOpinion polls have suggested growing public opposition to trans women competing amid high-profile controversies involving athletes such as college swimmer Lia Thomas, who won the NCAA Division I national championship in 2022 before being barred from women\u2019s events by World Aquatics.
\nIn a 2023 Gallup poll, 69 percent of Americans said trans athletes should only be allowed to compete against people of the same sex, a seven-point rise compared with 2021.
\nBaker, NCAA president, welcomed Trump\u2019s order for setting a \u201cclear, national standard\u201d.
\n\u201cWe strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today\u2019s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,\u201d Baker said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d he added.
\nAthlete Ally, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said it was saddened that trans youth would \u201cno longer be able to know the joy of playing sports as their full and authentic selves.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve known this day was likely to occur for a long time, as this administration continues to pursue simple solutions to complex issues, often resulting in animus towards the most marginalized communities in our country,\u201d the group said in a statement.
\n\u201cDespite this executive order, we will continue to choose love, acceptance and curiosity with anyone interested in creating a future of sports where everyone belongs. We will continue to work with sporting bodies to expand access to the life-saving power of sports whenever and wherever possible.\u201d
\nGLADD, one of the biggest LGBTQ rights organisations in the US, also condemned Trump\u2019s order, calling it \u201cinaccurate and incoherent\u201d.
\n\u201cAll women and girls, including transgender women and girls, should be welcome to play sports if they want, make decisions about their own bodies, be hired for jobs they are qualified for, and be free from lawless attacks by extremists in elected office,\u201d the group said in a statement.
\n\u201cAnti-LGBTQ politicians with a record of abusing and silencing women and stripping their health care have zero credibility in any conversation about protecting women and girls.\u201d
\nTrump has signed four executive orders directed at trans people since his January 20 inauguration.
\nAfter directing the US government to only recognise two sexes hours after being sworn into office, Trump signed orders to ban trans people from serving openly in the military and defund gender transitions for people under age 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LGBTQ rights groups condemn latest executive order directed at transgender Americans Washington, DC United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports. Under the order signed on Wednesday, federal government funding will be denied to educational institutes that allow trans girls and women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-460018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n