Trump orders ban on trans female athletes

'The Trump campaign spent nearly 20% of its overall ad budget on transgender attack ads'

(Image credit: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

published 6 February 2025

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.

"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.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.