Watch: Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Trans Women From Women’s Sports
US President Donald Trump has signed a controversial executive order to ban transgender women from women’s sports.
The order provides guidance, regulations and legal interpretations, and it will enlist the Department of Education to investigate high schools thought to be non-compliant.
This decision has sparked widespread criticism among human rights organisation for exposing young people to harassment and discrimination.
Trump further said that he will deny visas for transgender Olympic athletes trying to visit the US to compete at the 2028 LA Games.
“The war on women’s sports is over,” he said, ahead of signing the executive order.
The move reverses the Biden administration’s interpretation of the Title IX law – which bans sex discrimination in federally funded educaion programmes – and prohibits athletes who are biologically male from competing in women’s sports.
This order further empowers the Department of Education to investigate the way schools implement Title IX, with Trump adding “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.”
According to a study by the UCLA Williams Institute, less than 1% of the population over the age of 13 in the US are transgender, the percentage playing sports is smaller.
This doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise with Trump signing a separate order calling for the federal government to officially define sex as either being male or female on his first day in office.
Footage: Karoline Leavitt.
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