Trump signs order barring transgender athletes from women’s sports

Donald Trump shook the world again, this time signing an executive order that will ban student-athletes who are transgender from women’s sports.

This is not only about protecting the integrity of sports but also about ensuring women are not needlessly injured competing against men, especially in combat-style sports.

The Order

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” was signed on February 5, which was also National Girls and Women’s Sports Day.

Trump declared, “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”

As I hinted above, I fully support the legislation because we have seen what happens when middling male athletes declare themselves transgender and transition over to competing against women.

While the integrity of the sport is important, to me, this is more about ensuring women in sports are not needlessly hurt, as it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or worse in a contact sport of combat sport.

NCAA Responds

After Trump signed the order, the NCAA immediately announced that it would review the order and look to set a rule as soon as possible.

It stated, "The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes. 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. To that end, President Trump's order provides a clear, national standard.

"The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy."

To me, the NCAA almost sounded relieved that Trump issued the order so it would have a reason to bar transgenders from women’s sports.

New Policy Set

As I noted above, the NCAA seemed like it was hoping this would happen, and the fact the NCAA had a policy change ready to go within 48 hours tell me they were hoping the president would step in to force its hand on this.

On February 6, just one day after the order, the NCAA announced that only women assigned female at birth would be able to play in women’s sports.

The policy will allow transgender men to compete, and it will extend practice rights to transgender women, but they cannot compete at official events or risk the school’s eligibility.

NCAA President Charlie Baker added, “The updated policy combined with these resources follows through on the NCAA’s constitutional commitment to deliver intercollegiate athletics competition and to protect, support and enhance the mental and physical health of student-athletes. This national standard brings much needed clarity as we modernize college sports for today’s student-athletes.”