President Donald Trump signed an order Wednesday designed to keep transgender girls and women out of sports designated for females.
It could affect — and potentially undermine — a court fight over the issue in Arizona.
Trump declared that Title IX, the 1972 federal law designed to prohibit discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities, was never designed to give rights to those born as biological males. At a signing ceremony at the White House, he declared an end to what he called “transgender lunacy.’’
“We will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls,’’ Trump said. “From now on, our women’s sports will be only for women.’’
President Donald Trump signs an executive order Wednesday barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events.
The president cited various incidents where he said biological male athletes took medals away from women.
“But all of that ends today because, with this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,’’ he said.
His order has teeth.
“With my action this afternoon we are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that if you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding,’’ Trump said. “There will be no federal funding.’’
A federal judge in Arizona cited Title IX in voiding a 2022 Arizona law that bars students whose “biological sex’’ at birth was male from participating in girls sports at public or charter schools, or at private schools that compete with those schools.
In the 2023 ruling, Judge Jennifer Zipps said Arizona’s law ran afoul of the federal law.
She said it deprived transgender girls of “the benefits of sports programs and activities that their non-transgender classmates enjoy,’’ and that they, too, are protected by Title IX. In issuing a preliminary injunction on behalf of two transgender girls who sued, Zipps said they would suffer irreparable harm under the state law.
Her order was upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Strictly speaking, that order did not strike down the law. Instead, it barred enforcement of the law as it applies to the two transgender girls, one who attended The Gregory School, a private school in Tucson, and the other who was set to attend Aprende Middle School in the Kyrene School District in Tempe.
But in her ruling, Zipps upheld the existing policy of the Arizona Interscholastic Association which, on a case-by-case basis, has allowed students to participate in sports based on the gender with which they identify. Unless overturned, that paved the way for other transgender girls to seek similar relief.
The judge’s ruling is not the last word, however. It simply allows the two transgender girls to participate while the legality of the law gets a still-pending, full-blown trial.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who is the defendant in that lawsuit, said the president’s action will help him win the case.
“We’ll use the argument about Title IX, as currently interpreted by the federal government in court,’’ Horne, a Republican elected official, told Capitol Media Services. “If it doesn’t win sooner, it will win later.’’
Tom Horne
Ultimately, Horne said, he expects the issue to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Even if the ability of challengers to cite Title IX goes away, that may not end the legal arguments. There is also an argument over whether the 2022 Arizona law violates separate constitutional equal protection arguments that the transgender girls — Horne insists on calling them “biological boys’’ — can present.
As worded, the Arizona law says affected schools must designate their interscholastic or intramural sports strictly as male, female or coed.
But it also says teams designated for women or girls “may not be open to students of the male sex.’’ There is no similar prohibition against girls participating in boys’ sports.
Horne said that distinction is legally justified.
“Boys have an inherent advantage that makes it unfair,’’ he said. His lawyers have cited various studies — disputed by challengers — claiming an advantage in strength exists even in situations where those born as male have not yet gone through puberty.
“If girls want to participate in boys’ sports, I don’t see where that’s a problem,’’ Horne said.
Rachel Berg, an attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who is representing the two girls, said Wednesday that she believes Trump’s executive order will not withstand legal challenge.
“The executive order barns all transgender girls from playing sports regardless of their individual circumstances,’’ she told Capitol Media Services. “This is harmful to all girls because it requires young girls to answer invasive personal questions or even undergo physical inspections by strangers if they want to play sports.’’
Trump’s order was not a surprise.
At a rally last year in Arizona, he promised to “keep men out of women’s sports.’’
And on his first day in office last month, he issued an order requiring the federal government to define sex as only male or female. He said that must be reflected on official documents, including passports.
