Trump bans transgender athletes from participating in women's sports
text_fields
New York: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday banning transgender athletes from taking part in female sports, news agency AFP reported.
Signing the order titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ at a ceremony in the East Room, Trump reportedly said ‘With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over’.
It is reported that the order falls on the National Girls and Women in Sports Day
Those present at the signing included lawmakers and female athletes including former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines.
The order aligns with Trump administration’ interpretation of ‘sex’ as the gender someone gets assigned at birth, according to the report.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the order would lead to taking action against school and athletic associations in the event of denying ‘women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms’.
The order comes in line with Trump’s executive actions targeting transgender people.
Trump’s pledge during campaign to get rid of what he said ‘Transgender insanity’ resonated well beyond party lines.
A survey by AP VoteCast showed more than half the voters saying that support for transgender rights has ‘gone too far’.
Meanwhile, any school violating the law Title IX that prohibits sexual discrimination in school could potentially be ineligible for federal funding.
In a broad move against transgender community, Trump warned the International Olympic Committee of ‘transgender lunacy’ ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The president claimed that he had directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to tell IOC that ‘America categorically rejects transgender lunacy. We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.’
Trans-rights advocates, including the National Women's Law Centre and GLAAD, condemned Trump’s order with Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Centre, saying that ‘trans students do not pose threats to sports, schools or this country’.
‘Contrary to what the president wants you to believe, trans students do not pose threats to sports, schools or this country, and they deserve the same opportunities as their peers to learn, play and grow up in safe environments,’ Fatima Goss Graves was quoted as saying.