Trump Signs 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' Executive Order Defining Women's Sports Eligibility by Sex
On February 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14201, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. The signing fell on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and a group of female athletes stood behind the president, among them former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines. According to the Associated Press's report that day, Trump said at the signing ceremony: "With this executive order, the war on women's sports is over."
Section 1 of the order states that in recent years many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women's sports, which it calls "demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls" and says denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports. The order states that under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, educational institutions receiving federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports. It declares that 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, the order says, results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy — and, more broadly, to oppose male competitive participation in women's sports as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.
Under Section 2, the definitions in Executive Order 14168 of January 20, 2025, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," apply to this order. That earlier order defines "sex" as an individual's immutable biological classification. On that basis, the new order defines eligibility for women's sports by sex rather than by gender identity.
Section 3 addresses women's sports in education. It directs the Secretary of Education promptly to do three things. First, in coordination with the Attorney General, to continue to comply with the vacatur of the April 29, 2024 Title IX rule and take other appropriate action to ensure that regulation does not have effect. Second, to take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms, to bring regulations and policy guidance into line with Congress's existing demand for "equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes" by clearly specifying and clarifying that women's sports are reserved for women, and to resolve pending litigation consistent with this policy. Third, to prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions — including athletic associations composed of or governed by such institutions — that deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports by requiring them, in the women's category, to compete with or against, or to appear unclothed before, males. The order further directs all executive departments and agencies to review grants to educational programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy, and directs the Department of Justice to provide all necessary resources to ensure expeditious enforcement. The order does not name the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) anywhere in its text; its enforcement language is addressed to educational institutions and to athletic associations composed of or governed by such institutions.
Section 4 addresses women's sports beyond education. It directs the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, within 60 days, to convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies, together with female athletes harmed by such policies, to promote policies that are fair and safe and in the best interests of female athletes, and to convene State Attorneys General to identify best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women in sports. It directs the Secretary of State to rescind support for and participation in people-to-people sports exchanges and other sports programs in which the relevant female sports category is based on identity and not sex, and to promote, including at the United Nations, international rules and norms protecting a sex-based female sports category. It directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to review and adjust policies permitting admission to the United States of males seeking to participate in women's sports, and to issue guidance aimed at preventing such entry to the extent permitted by law, including under section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. And it directs the Secretary of State to use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events so that eligibility for women's events is determined according to sex, not gender identity or testosterone reduction.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that day that the order "upholds the promise of Title IX" and would require immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms. Section 5 of the order contains general provisions: it is to be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations, and it creates no enforceable right or benefit.
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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