By ESPN
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that bans transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order “upholds the promise of Title IX” and will require “immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations” that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms.
The timing coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and the order is the latest in a string of executive actions from Trump aimed at transgender people.
Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.
