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“President Donald Trump signed an executive order [last] Wednesday attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports… The order directs the Department of Justice to make sure all government agencies enforce a ban on transgender girls and women from participating in female school sports under Trump's interpretation of Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in education…
“Wednesday's directive follows a series of other Trump executive orders restricting transgender rights, including one attempting to halt all federal support for healthcare that aids in gender transition for people under 19 and another that bans transgender people from serving in the military.” Reuters
“The NCAA, the governing body for collegiate sports in the United States, banned transgender women from competing in women's sports effective immediately [last] Thursday… The NCAA previously allowed transgender women to compete as long as they met testosterone limits on a sport-by-sport basis.” Reuters
Here’s our recent coverage of the Supreme Court case involving medical treatments for transgender youth. The Flip Side
The left generally opposes Trump’s policies for women’s sports and the military.
“There’s simply no evidence that transgender girls and women are an imminent threat to their peers — in fact, they are more likely to be the victims of violence due to their identities. Four percent of all hate crimes recorded by the FBI in 2022 were committed against transgender and gender-nonconforming Americans…
“And yet trans people occupy an outsize space in the conservative imagination, even when about 1.6 million people, or 0.6 percent of the U.S. population, identify as trans or nonbinary… Fewer than ten people among the 500,000 college athletes belonging to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) publicly identify as transgender… That’s less than .002 percent of young athletes.”
Andrea González-Ramírez, The Cut
“While banning transgender women from competition, the NCAA’s edict [last week] said they could still practice with women’s teams. Male practice players are still allowed, too…
“So, which is it? If transgender women pose a physical threat during games, wouldn’t they also during practice? And for sure wouldn’t male practice players? If transgender women are really just crafty men looking to groom and assault women, wouldn’t they still be able to do that? Couldn’t the male practice players do that, as well?…
“There was a time when the NCAA was fearless in standing up to bigotry. It refused to put championship events in South Carolina for almost 15 years because the state continued to embrace racism, flying a Confederate flag over the Statehouse. It yanked events out of North Carolina over a bill that forced transgender people to use bathrooms of the sex they were assigned at birth… Now the NCAA’s only concern is covering its ass.”
Nancy Armour, USA Today
Regarding the military, “The thousands of transgender soldiers who have served with distinction and honor for nearly a decade easily put the lie to the idea that they are unfit for service. Meanwhile, the notion that the existence of openly transgender soldiers is harmful to unit cohesion — long the go-to excuse for opponents of allowing Black people, women and gay people to serve in the armed forces — is contradicted by numerous, rigorous studies…
“Some of the most deplorable episodes in U.S. history involve the government wielding the power of the state against minority groups: Black people, Indigenous people and gay people, to name just a few. Though these campaigns might have received popular support at the time, history has consistently judged them as immoral, illegal and un-American. Rather than understanding this history, President Trump is borrowing from the worst of it.”
Editorial Board, New York Times
The right supports Trump’s policies for women’s sports and the military.
The right supports Trump’s policies for women’s sports and the military.
“[Despite] numerous women being injured competing against biological males in sports, the NCAA had not acted… Good for the NCAA for following Trump’s lead. But it shouldn’t have taken presidential action for the NCAA to protect women and their right to play sports…
“While colleges are quick to promote inclusivity, they sometimes forget about ensuring protections for women. Locker rooms should be secure and private spaces for biological women, allowing them to compete and participate in sports without compromising their safety.”
Karin Lips, Washington Examiner
“Of all the policy areas affected by gender ideology, sports may strike some as the least consequential. Forcing women to share homeless shelters or prison cells with men poses more obvious dangers, especially considering that male inmates identifying as women are more likely to have convictions for sexual offenses… But sports are important, too…
“For many girls, excellence in high school sports punches their ticket to prestigious universities and lucrative scholarships… Trump’s directive on women’s sports may be one of the most popular executive orders of the twenty-first century…
“[In] January 2025, a New York Times/Ipsos poll reported, 79 percent of Americans agreed that ‘athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female’ should not be eligible for female sports. That includes 94 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning respondents, 67 percent of Democrat or Democrat-leaning respondents, and 64 percent of Independents… It’s hard to think of another issue in contemporary American politics where the American public is split 80-20.”
Leor Sapir, City Journal
Regarding the military, “The military rejects many people based on physical and psychological conditions… People who identify as transgender suffer a host of mental health and social problems — including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse — at higher rates than the general population…
“[A 2015 study found that] forty percent of [transgender] respondents have attempted suicide at some point in their life, compared to 4.6 percent of the U.S. population… For men, transitional surgery involves the mutilation of the penis, from which they never fully recover. Such surgery requires hormone drugs that cause chemical imbalances with such adverse side effects as weight gain, blood clots, and a higher risk of stroke…
“Expensive life-long hormone treatments and irreversible surgeries associated with gender dysphoria would negatively affect personnel’s ability to deploy and mission readiness.”
Mackubin Thomas Owens, National Review
