On Feb. 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that seeks to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” puts pressure on all schools, colleges, and universities to keep transgender girls and women out of sports, or else run the risk of losing federal funding, which is often crucial for these institutions’ survival.
Trump justified the order as an action to “prioritize” Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. According to the order, “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all 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.”
Trump, who has made clear his view of sex equating to biological assignment at birth, had been promising a ban like this for months while on the campaign trail. At the signing — which coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day — Trump was surrounded by young girls and women as he declared that “the war on women’s sports is over.” The order is the latest move in a long history of anti-trans attacks Trump has doled out since his first presidency starting in2016.
Here’s everything you need to know about the executive order.
How will the order impact colleges?
Colleges fall under the umbrella of schools whose athletic programs will be targeted — meaning they will be threatened with loss of federal funding if they don’t comply with the order. Generally, public colleges and universities receive the most federal funding from the government, meaning they might be the first to comply with Trump’s demands. However, private universities can also receive federal funding through grants and federal student aid programs that help students pay for school, so trans athletes at those schools aren’t necessarily in the clear, either.
NCAA president Charlie Baker has already updated the organization’s guidelines to reflect the order. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” Baker said in a statement on Feb 6. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear national standard.”
However, some universities like San Jose State — which has attracted attention for having a trans athlete on its women’s volleyball team — have already put out statements opposing it. “San José State maintains an unwavering commitment to the wellness, safety and privacy of our students, faculty and staff and to fostering a supportive and caring environment for all,” said a spokesperson for the university on Feb. 5, right after the order’s signing. It’s unclear whether SJSU or other colleges will continue responding to this order.
One of the criticisms of Trump’s attack on transgender athletes is that the scope of transgender girls and women in sports is over-exaggerated to invoke fear. In December of 2024, Baker told a Senate panel that there were fewer than 10 transgender athletes who were competing in college sports at that time. (He did not specify whether the transgender athletes were men or women.)
However, no matter how high or low the number, there are certainly student-athletes who will be impacted by Trump’s order, if their colleges choose — or are forced — to comply with it. Further, there is an untold number of younger athletes whose hopes of continuing their sport in college will be dashed, either due to being passed over by recruiters or simply out of fear of being targeted.
How does the reported order to end the Department of Education play a role?
The Department of Education is reported to be the target of Trump’s next executive order. However, the Education Department is in charge of overseeing Title IX, and therefore is the org tasked to investigate institutions that aren’t complying with the law under Trump’s new executive order against trans athletes. So if the department gets eradicated while all of that is happening, it’s safe to say it’d be a big, confusing mess — TBD on how that might play out.
What are the next steps for the order?
Since the executive order has already been signed, the responsibility will now fall on the individual universities, colleges, and K-12 schools to adhere to it. However, while many Republican leaders have long advocated for such an order, it is already facing a great deal of pushback.
Chris Mosier, who is the first transgender athlete to represent the United States in international competition, and also the first to be sponsored by Nike, came out against the order on Feb. 6. “Trans athletes play sports for the same reasons as anybody else — for our love of the game, to be a part of a team, to challenge ourselves, and most of all, at the youth level, to have fun,” Mosier told CNN. “Every young person deserves that opportunity to be their authentic self and to play the sports they love without compromising any part of who they are.”
Allies of the trans community are also sharing statements of disdain for the order and support for trans athletes on social media. “To the Trump administration I say, ‘You will not divide us,’” director and activist Paola Mendoza said in a video shared to Instagram on Feb. 5. “We will fight for the rights of our trans sisters at every moment.”
Considering there are already federal legal challenges to previous anti-trans actions Trump has taken since his inauguration, it’s expected that the executive order will also be heavily challenged in the courts, so this will very likely not be the last the country has heard on this issue.