No Men In Women’s Sports: What Does It Mean?

President Trump’s executive order banning men from women’s sports has gotten a lot of attention, most of it positive. But, as with many of his orders, I had questions about what exactly it said. Does the president actually have legal authority to “ban men from women’s sports?” No. So what, exactly, did he do? And will it stand up in court?

In my view, the order is impressively specific and appropriate. It begins with a statement of Policy and Purpose, which says in part:

In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.
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Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.

That policy is effectuated in several ways. First, the Secretary of Education and the Attorney General will cooperate to vacate the Biden administration’s rule that interpreted Title IX to require nondiscrimination on the basis of “gender identity,” which would, among other things, require allowing men to compete in women’s sports. What Biden did, Trump can undo. And the Biden rule has already been held to be unlawful by at least one court.

Second, the Secretary of Education is directed to “take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms and thereby provide the equal opportunity guaranteed by Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972…by clearly specifying and clarifying that women’s sports are reserved for women; and the resolution of pending litigation consistent with this policy.” This, I think, is where legal issues will arise.

Third, all executive agencies are directed to review grants to educational programs and, “where appropriate,” rescind funding of programs that fail to comply with the administration’s pro-woman policy.

Fourth, various administration entities are directed to cooperate with major athletic organizations (e.g., the NCAA), state attorneys general, the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, etc., to promote the administration’s policy.

All of this strikes me as legal, appropriate, and likely to be effective. Indeed, the NCAA has already announced that it will comply:

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.

Not so, California:

The State of California, which seeks potentially hundreds of billions of dollars from the Trump administration, is also planning to defy President Donald Trump’s ban on men in women’s sports, among other presidential directives.
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California sports institutions pushed back, saying that state law allowed participation according to chosen gender identity.

That is well and good, but federal law will prevail. The question, ultimately, is whether allowing men to compete in women’s sports violates Title IX, by preventing women from having equal athletic opportunities. This will be fought out in the courts, I suppose, but Trump’s position is certainly plausible.

So, like other Trump orders I have reviewed, this order appears well thought-out and is plainly within Trump’s executive powers. In addition to its legal effects, its proclamation that the era of “trans” competitors in women’s sports is over will have substantial cultural impact. Photos like this one are being viewed with approval by the vast majority of Americans:

I think I may post this photo once a week for the next four years to remind the Democrats what a leader who fights for women's rights looks like. pic.twitter.com/Tzb9PJwfPq

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) February 6, 2025