The President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order this Wednesday aimed at fulfilling one of his main campaign promises: to ban transgender women from competing in women's sports.
"In a moment, I will sign a historic executive order to ban men from competing in women's sports. It was about time," Trump said at the White House during the signing ceremony, amidst strong applause from the audience.
"From now on, women's sports will be only for women. We will proudly defend the tradition of female athletes and we will not allow men to hit them, injure them, and cheat against our women and girls. From now on, women's sports will be only for women," stated the president.
Los Angeles 2028
The White House did not clarify how the executive order will affect the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but Trump announced that he will try to prevent transgender women from competing.
He explained that Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will convey to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that they must reject the "transgender madness". "We want them to change everything related to the Olympics and this absolutely ridiculous issue that we shouldn't even be discussing," he stated.
Trump also announced that the U.S. will deny visas to transgender women athletes, which could affect the participation of some teams.
Trump and other opponents of transgender athletes participating in women's competitions argue that these athletes have an unfair advantage, a claim that the scientific community does not support.
A study published in 2017 in 'Sports Medicine' found no consistent evidence of athletic superiority, while another study from 2023 concluded that many physical differences between the sexes are reduced or disappear with gender affirmation hormonal therapy.
According to the 2023 study, the height or limb length of transgender athletes may vary, but scientists point out that there are no restrictions for cisgender athletes with tall statures or exceptional physical abilities.
"Men out of women's sports"
The executive order, named 'Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,' is based on an interpretation of Title IX, a historic federal civil rights law passed in 1972, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in any school or educational program receiving federal funds.
Each Administration has the power to interpret this legislation. During his first term (2017-2021), Trump issued a regulation under Title IX that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and limited investigations in universities to cases reported to certain officials.
The Joe Biden Administration (2021-2025) revoked that Trump regulation to protect victims of sexual abuse on college campuses and established protections for LGBTQ+ student rights.
However, that policy did not explicitly address the participation of transgender athletes. Still, more than half a dozen states governed by Republicans took the rule to court, sparking controversy that Trump knew how to capitalize on in his electoral campaign.
During his campaign, Trump promised to "keep men out of women's sports" and, in the final stretch of the elections, a TV ad against his rival, Democrat Kamala Harris, was continuously aired, in which he claimed that she supported the use of public funds to finance gender reassignment surgeries in prisons.
On his first day in office, on January 20, Trump issued an order instructing the federal government to define gender only as male or female in official documents such as passports.
The order signed today represents a radical shift in the federal government's policy regarding transgender individuals and their rights.
However, the impact of the executive order is difficult to quantify since there are no official data on how many transgender athletes participate in sports competitions.
*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence