On February 5th, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” This order stops all people who identify as a transgender female from participating in women’s sports. “From now on women sports will be for women,” he said before signing the executive order. February 5th was also National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
The executive order forces all agencies to stop federal funding for any schools that refuse to comply.
Trump also wants to encourage the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to follow suit also. Trump suggests that eligibility should be “determined according to sex and not gender identity and testosterone reduction.” The IOC has allowed transgender athletes to compete since 2003. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics was the first time openly transgender athletes participated in the Olympic games.
Consequently, the education department will change the Title IX meaning, Title IX was created in 1972 prohibiting sex discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. In 2024, the Biden administration implemented a rule that stopped discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Discrimination of sexual orientation was deemed to be a violation of federal civil rights law, a federal judge rejected Biden’s Title IX rule. Over two dozen states bar transgender athletes from participating in school sports, K-12 & at the collegiate level.
After the executive order, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) updated its policy, only allowing those who were assigned female at birth to compete in women’s sports. Prior to this executive order, the NCAA had policies that allowed transgender women to compete on women’s sports teams after undergoing a year of testosterone suppression treatment.
During his time in office, President Obama made history by securing rights for LGBTQIA+ community members and pushing for real change. During his term same-sex marriage was legalized across the country. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples had the right to marry, just like anyone else. Obama was a strong supporter of this, even before the decision, and had taken steps to stop defending old laws that tried to limit marriage to only a man and a woman.
During his first term in 2010, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” allowed LGBTQIA+ community members to legally serve openly in the military to hide who they were. He also signed orders to protect workers from being fired due to discrimination. The Obama administration made sure the government recognized LGBTQIA+ rights as human rights. Obama was the first president to publicly support same-sex marriage.
According to research, 0.8% of Black adults in the United States, identify as transgender, Black Americans make up about 12-14% of the United States population.
