President Donald Trump made good on one of his campaign pledges Wednesday, signing an executive order that prohibits transgender women and girls from playing on female sports teams. The president was surrounded by girls of various ages as he signed the order, according to the White House pool reporter.
Titled "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," the order misgenders trans women and girls by calling them men and states that it is U.S. policy to rescind all federal funds "from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women's sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth."
The order states that the gender definitions from his January 20 executive order apply. In that document, Trump states that there are only two genders – male and female – and declares that a person's gender is determined at conception.
"From now on, women's sports will be only for women," Trump said as he stood in front of rows of female athletes, parents, and young aspiring athletes, according to the pool report.
"If you let men take over women's sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding," the president said.
In the room, according to the pool report, were noted anti-LGBTQ politicians Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia); Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R); and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). It was Johnson who implemented a House rule in late November prohibiting trans people from using restrooms in the U.S. Capitol that align with their gender identity. The move was widely considered to be against Congressmember Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), the first out trans person elected to Congress.
Trump's order also directs the secretaries of state and homeland security to "review and adjust, as needed, policies permitting admission to the United States of males seeking to participate in women's sports, and shall issue guidance with an objective of preventing such entry to the extent permitted by law ..."
LGBTQ advocates were quick to condemn the order.
Lesbian U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) said the order trampled on local school districts.
"This all comes down to who you trust to make these decisions," Baldwin stated. "I trust our parents, schools, and sports associations to make these decisions, not the president or politicians in Washington. I've heard directly from Wisconsin sports associations and parents who are thoughtfully managing this on their own, and they don't need the federal government butting in.
"While Republicans are laser-focused on playing politics with kids' sports leagues, I'm focused on the issues I hear about from Wisconsinites – lowering costs at the pharmacy and grocery store, getting people good, affordable health care, and keeping the Badger State safe," she added.
Gay California Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, issued a joint statement with the Democratic Women's Caucus blasting the order.
"Donald Trump's executive order is a federal takeover of sports throughout the country and an attempt to keep trans children, as young as kindergarteners, from being able to play on school sports teams with their friends," Takano stated. "Trans kids play sports at school for the same reasons as their peers: to be part of a community, challenge themselves, and learn sportsmanship. In his campaign against these kids' right to exist freely, President Trump's executive order could open any school-age child up to demands for physical inspections of their bodies. The White House has made it clear: they're happy to endanger the safety and wellbeing of all kids in order to continue their attacks against trans kids."
Congressmember Teresa Leger Fernández (D-New Mexico), is chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus. She pointed out that Trump signed the order on National Women and Girls in Sports Day.
"This action is yet another predatory move that will make sports less safe for ALL women and girls," Fernández stated. "Girls and women who are tall, strong, gender non-conforming, and excelling in their sport will be questioned and strip searched in locker rooms across the country. A teenage woman athlete in Utah was already investigated because she 'didn't look feminine enough.' It's disgusting."
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund also issued a statement.
"There seems no bottom to which this administration will not go to hurt and exclude transgender people, especially transgender children and youth," stated Carl Charles, Lambda Legal senior attorney. "Not content to try to ban transgender military service members from serving their country, and to try to block transgender youth from receiving essential and scientifically-proven health care, and to deny transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people access to accurate identity documents, and to try their hardest to erase the existence of LGBTQ+ people from school curricula and the American workplace, today President Trump takes aim at K-12 and college athletes – a vanishingly small subset of people who on the whole, outside of a few sensationalized examples, have been participating in school sports programs for decades with absolutely no issues.
"Make no mistake, multiple states have attempted to enact similar bans," Charles continued. "We've confronted them in court repeatedly and have won repeatedly. There is no reason to think a national ban will avoid being similarly squashed. We are appalled, and in fact disgusted, at this administration's insatiable appetite for fearmongering about and relentless targeting of this most vulnerable population. And we are neither cowed nor deterred. We and our partners are standing together to protect those rights already won, and fight for those still needed, to allow the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV to live freely and safely as their full and authentic selves – a freedom everyone in this country should be able to take for granted."
The move by Trump comes a day after California Attorney General Rob Bonta held a news conference pledging to uphold the rights of trans and gender-nonconforming students in the Golden State against the attacks from the White House. His office reissued various guidelines it has published regarding LGBTQ rights, including one that denotes in bold type, "You have the right to play on a sports team that aligns with your gender identity."
"As the last 15 days have made clear, where the president falls down in his obligations and his commitments, in his duty to follow the law and abide by the constitution, when he tramples our rights or our freedoms, I will take action," pledged Bonta. "I will see the president in court and stop him from taking that unlawful action. I will not be deterred by his divisive or his harmful rhetoric or chaotic late-night directives."
Bonta, who disclosed to Politico he intends to seek another term as the chief law enforcement officer for California, added, "I am here to defend to enforce to uphold our laws and protect all Californians no matter how you look, where you are from, what language you speak, how you pray and who you love or how you identify. That includes ensuring that our schools are welcoming, inclusive and safe for all students and educators."
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