Trump orders ban on trans female athletes
The order directs the federal government to withhold funding from schools that do not comply
What happened
President Donald Trump Wednesday signed an executive order seeking to bar transgender girls and women from competing in women's sports. The order directs the federal government to withhold funding from schools that do not comply with his administration's new interpretation of Title IX, the law that bars sex discrimination in schools.
Who said what
"The war on women's sports is over," Trump said at a White House signing ceremony. The directive was "widely expected," The New York Times said. "The Trump campaign spent nearly 20% of its overall ad budget on transgender attack ads," and he had already issued a flurry of orders "aimed at least in part at transgender Americans." Enforcement of the new decree relies on the Education Department, which Trump is reportedly taking steps to dismantle.
Along with using federal funds as a cudgel, The Washington Post said, Trump's order "seeks to use the bully pulpit to persuade sports associations governing nonscholastic sports to adopt similar rules," including the International Olympic Committee. The IOC and NCAA currently allow the governing bodies of individual sports to set rules on transgender athletes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
Local school districts "have ranged widely in their responses" to Trump's attacks on transgender students, "from acquiescence to defiance," the Post said, but overall they are "working to understand what the shifting legal and political landscape means for them." Legal challenges to Trump's order are widely expected.
-
Film reviews: ‘Send Help’ and ‘Private Life’Feature An office doormat is stranded alone with her awful boss and a frazzled therapist turns amateur murder investigator
-
Movies to watch in Februarythe week recommends Time travelers, multiverse hoppers and an Iraqi parable highlight this month’s offerings during the depths of winter
-
ICE’s facial scanning is the tip of the surveillance icebergIN THE SPOTLIGHT Federal troops are increasingly turning to high-tech tracking tools that push the boundaries of personal privacy
-
Trump’s Kennedy Center closure plan draws ireSpeed Read Trump said he will close the center for two years for ‘renovations’
-
Trump's ‘weaponization czar’ demoted at DOJSpeed Read Ed Martin lost his title as assistant attorney general
-
Gabbard faces questions on vote raid, secret complaintSpeed Read This comes as Trump has pushed Republicans to ‘take over’ voting
-
Greenland: The lasting damage of Trump’s tantrumFeature His desire for Greenland has seemingly faded away
-
The price of forgivenessFeature Trump’s unprecedented use of pardons has turned clemency into a big business.
-
‘The sport is still run on a shoestring’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will Peter Mandelson and Andrew testify to US Congress?Today's Big Question Could political pressure overcome legal obstacles and force either man to give evidence over their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?
-
The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?Talking Point Rambling speeches, wind turbine obsession, and an ‘unhinged’ letter to Norway’s prime minister have caused concern whether the rest of his term is ‘sustainable’
