President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Wednesday barring transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, marking another move by his administration to limit LGBTQ rights.
The order coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, an annual event in February celebrating female athletes.
The Women’s Sports Foundation, which co-founded the day in 1987, has previously opposed broad bans on transgender athletes, arguing they restrict opportunities and negatively impact both cisgender and transgender individuals.
Trump repeatedly vowed during his campaign to prohibit transgender participation in women’s sports. At an October town hall in Georgia, he confirmed his plan to implement the ban via executive action, stating, “The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen. Not a big deal.”
A 2023 Gallup poll found that most Americans oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity. Similarly, an AP VoteCast survey from the 2024 elections showed that over half of voters, including a majority of Trump supporters, believe the government has gone too far in supporting transgender rights.
While many states have enacted restrictions on transgender athletes, the exact number of trans participants in U.S. school sports remains unclear.
In 2022, Utah’s then-Governor Spencer Cox vetoed a transgender sports ban, pointing out that only four trans student-athletes had been identified in the state that year, with no reported complaints.
At the collegiate level, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified before Congress in December that fewer than 10 transgender athletes were competing in college sports—representing less than 0.002% of NCAA athletes nationwide. While facing pressure from conservatives to enact a ban, Baker declined, citing legal precedents favoring inclusion but expressed openness to a federally established eligibility standard.
In April, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics adopted a policy restricting most transgender women from competition. Meanwhile, House Republicans, with support from two Democrats, passed a bill in January banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
Trump’s executive order is the latest in a series of actions aimed at rolling back transgender rights since returning to office. In his first days, he issued orders recognizing only two sexes, reinstating restrictions on transgender military service, threatening to withhold funding from schools promoting “radical gender ideology,” and limiting federal support for gender-affirming care for minors.
