Leveling the Playing Field or Crossing the Line? Legal Implications of Trump’s Executive Order on Transgender Athletes

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”— Donald J. Trump. 

During the 39th annual celebration of “National Girls & Women in Sports Day,” held on February 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” Essentially, the order prohibits transgender women and girls from participating in women and girls’ sports and directs the Secretary of Education to ensure Title IX enforcement against educational institutions and athletic associations.[1] The order also instructs executive departments and agencies to review grants and rescind funding to institutions that fail to comply by allowing transgender women and girls to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.[2]

The executive order claims that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s and girls’ sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”[3] Applying Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education, the executive order asserts that Title IX strictly prohibits trans persons, more specifically, male-to-female persons, from partaking in women’s and girls’ sports.[4] This comes to a completely different interpretation that has taken shape in recent years under both President Obama’s and President Biden’s administrations, which has interpreted the amendment to protect trans students’ rights from discrimination in educational settings.[5]

As expected, there has been significant pushback in response to the executive order. Several states have already initiated legal challenges. As the first lawsuit in the country filed against Trump’s executive order, in New Hampshire, on behalf of two transgender students, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle—GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire (ACLU), both nonprofit legal rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2024 state law banning all transgender girls in grades 5-12 from participating in sports in New Hampshire public schools.[6] On February 12, a federal judge granted GLAD’s request to expand its lawsuit to challenge President Trump’s executive order.[7] The expanded lawsuit now includes President Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Pamela Bondi (AG Bondi), the U.S. Department of Education, and Denise Carter, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, as defendants.[8] Henry Klementowicz, Deputy Legal Director at ACLU, released a statement, “We’re expanding our lawsuit to challenge President Trump’s executive orders because, like the state law, it excludes, singles out, and discriminates against transgender students and insinuates that they are not deserving of the same educational opportunities as all other students. Every child in New Hampshire and across the country has a right to equal opportunities at school, and all students do better when they have access to resources that improve their mental, emotional, and physical health.”[9]

Nevertheless, it does not appear that President Trump’s administration is backing down, as AG Bondi has issued letters to California, Maine, and Minnesota officials, warning them to comply with the new executive order.[10] AG Bondi has taken it further by threatening legal action against states that fail to enforce the federal mandate.[11] However, state officials are pushing back. "We’ll see you in court," said Maine Governor Janet Mills, reacting to threats of federal funding cuts over Maine’s decision not to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.[12]

To make matters more complicated, the State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, has enacted new visa restrictions affecting transgender athletes.[13] Rubio’s directive effectively gives consular officers the power to deny persons whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. This not only raises significant issues for trans athletes but also for colleges and universities, as it may affect the recruitment of international players and anti-discriminatory policies that institutions may have previously set forth.[14]

Given the high political tension built over the years, this topic remains one of the most complex debates among sports and legal circles. With strong opinions on both sides, one thing is clear: the outcome is far from decided.

[1] Exec. Order No. 14201, 90 Fed. Reg. 9279 (Feb. 11. 2025).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Benjamin E. Stockman & Jillian E. Sprong, Will Trump's Executive Order Banning Transgender Individuals Stand?, Venable Insights (Feb. 10, 2025), https://www.venable.com/insights/publications/2025/02/will-trump-executive-order-banning-transgender

[5] Id. 

[6] GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Students and Families Move to Challenge Trump Executive Order Banning Transgender Sports Participation, GLAD (Feb. 12, 2025),  https://www.glad.org/students-and-families-move-to-challenge-trump-executive-order-banning-transgender-sports-participation/

[7] GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Tirrell and Turmelle v. Edelblut, GLAD (Feb. 12, 2025), https://www.glad.org/cases/tirrell-and-turmelle-v-edelblut/

[8] Sruthi Gopalakrishnan, Trump Transgender Athlete Ban Challenged by Two NH Students Who Want to Keep Playing, Concord Monitor (Feb. 12, 2025), https://www.concordmonitor.com/Tirrel-Transgender-Athletes-NH-Trump-Lawsuit-59401774

[9] GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, supra note 6.

[10] U.S Department of Justice, Attorney General Pamela Bondi Urges States to Comply with Federal Law by Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, Justice.gov (Feb. 25, 2025), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-urges-states-comply-federal-law-keeping-men-out-womens-sports

[11] Brooke Migdon, Bondi Warns States to Comply with Trump Order on Transgender Athletes, The Hill (Feb. 25. 2025) https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5164040-bondi-trump-executive-order-transgender-athletes-california-minnesota-maine/

[12] Id. 

[13] Lilah Wylde et al., Transgender Athletes, Raising Title IX and Compliance Concerns for Colleges, Seyfarth (Feb. 26, 2025) https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/new-visa-restrictions-target-transgender-athletes-raising-title-ix-and-compliance-concerns-for-colleges.html

[14] Id.