Donald Trump signed a decree that seeks to prohibit trans women from participating in women’s sports
United States President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an executive order that seeks prohibit the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sportsin line with its interpretation of a law that prohibits sexual discrimination in educational programs with federal financing.
The order, entitled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” (keep men out of women’s sport), grants broad powers to the departments of justice and education to ensure that entities that receive federal funds comply with this guideline, based on the definition of sex assigned to birth.
“With this executive order, the war against women’s sport is over,” Trump said during the signature ceremony.
The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the measure “reaffirms the promise of Title IX” and will demand “immediate actions, including compliance measures against schools and sports associations” that allow the participation of trans women in female competitions in female competitions or access to exclusive changing rooms for women.
The order allows the Department of Education to sanction institutions that do not align with this interpretation of Title IX, which could translate into the Loss of federal financing for schools that allow the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
In addition, he contemplates meetings with private sports organizations in the White House, where the president will hear “the stories of female athletes who have suffered injuries, have been silenced or have had to share changing rooms and compete against men,” according to the document.
The announcement coincided with the National Women and Girl Day in sport and is part of a series of Trump executive actions aimed at the transgender population. During his campaign, the president defended his position with the motto “to keep men out of women’s sports”, a message that, according to AP Votecast, had support beyond partisan lines, since more than half of the voters respondents considered that Government support for trans rights has gone too far.
Civil Rights Groups have sued the Government for previous policies against the transgender community and the new order is also expected to face challenges in the courts. Lawyers who have litigated similar cases have argued that some of these measures violate laws approved by Congress and constitutional rights, in addition to exceeding the presidential authority.
The announcement occurred one day after three former teammates of the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas sued the NCAA, the Ivy League, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), claiming that they conspired to allow the participation of Thomas in Championships national and conference. The lawsuit argues that this decision violated Title IX and joins another filed last year by swimmer Riley Gaines, who was present at the signing of the executive order.
The Trump government has already promoted other measures to restrict the rights of transgender people, including limitations to the recognition of gender identity in passports and prisons, restrictions on gender teaching in schools and the exclusion of trans people from military service.
(With AP information)
