President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preventing transgender female athletes from participating in women’s or girls’ sports.
The order aligns with a previous directive specifying that sex be defined as only male or female on official documents like passports.
The big picture: The policy will determine sex based on individuals’ biological traits, specifically whether they are born with sperm or eggs.
- Trump criticized efforts to integrate race and gender into all aspects of public and private life as part of his rationale for the order.
Driving the news: The executive order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day and impacts the interpretation of Title IX, a law focused on promoting gender equity in sports and preventing campus sexual harassment.
- Under Trump’s first presidential term, changes to Title IX limited the scope of sexual harassment definitions and how colleges handle related claims.
- In contrast, the Biden administration altered those policies last year to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students and victims of campus sexual assault without explicitly addressing transgender athletes. Trump’s administration intends to enforce Title IX protections in schools based on biological sex.
