Executive order, NCAA policy on women's sports require action

Abstract

The trajectory of the federal government's approach to the participation of transgender student-athletes in high school and college sports took a sharp turn when President Donald Trump signed the “Keeping Men out of Women's Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, 2025. The order recognized that many educational institutions and athletics associations have allowed transgender student-athletes to participate in women's sports, and concluded that by doing so, the safety of female participants had been jeopardized. It also stated that by through such participation, women and girls were deprived of the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports. It also cited recent federal court decisions that noted that ignoring the “biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities.”