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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women’s sports.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order “upholds the promise of 

 and will require “immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations” that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms.

The timing of the order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and is the latest in a string of executive actions from Trump 

The order marks another aggressive shift by the Republican president’s second administration in the way the federal government deals with transgender people and their rights.

 on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and in policies such as federal prison assignments.

Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by 

 said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

He leaned into the rhetoric before the election, pledging to get rid of the “transgender insanity,” though his campaign offered little in the way of details.

Wednesday’s order involves how his administration will interpret 

, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.

“This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.

Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation. The last two presidential administrations — including Trump’s first — offer a glimpse at the push-pull involved.

Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term, issued a 

 in 2020 that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and required colleges to investigate claims only if they’re reported to certain officials.

The Biden administration rolled back that policy last April 

 that stipulated the rights of LGBTQ+ students would be protected by federal law and provided new safeguards for victims of campus sexual assault. The policy stopped short of explicitly 

. Still, more than a half-dozen Republican-led states 

“All Trump has to say is, ‘We are going to read the regulation traditionally,’” said Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor at Duke Law School.

How this order could affect the transgender athlete population — a number that is incredibly difficult to pin down — is uncertain.

The Associated Press reported in 2021 that in many cases, the states introducing a ban on transgender athletes 

 where their participation was an issue. When Utah state legislators 

 by Gov. Spencer Cox in 2022, the state had only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. It did not regulate participation for transgender boys.

“This is a solution looking for a problem,” Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture, told the AP after Trump was elected.

Yet the actual number of transgender athletes seems to be almost immaterial. Any case of a transgender female athlete competing — or even believed to be competing — draws outsized attention, from 

Lia Thomas swimming for the University of Pennsylvania

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls’ or women’s sports. 

Trump signs executive order intended to bar transgender athletes from girls‘ and women‘s sports

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