The Trump administration is urging the NCAA and high schools across the U.S. to erase any athletic records achieved by transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
The memo from the U.S. Department of Education comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order essentially banning transgender women from competing in women's athletics at the high school and collegiate levels. Following President Trump's executive action, the NCAA announced it would no longer allow transgender women to compete against cisgender women.
“The next necessary step is to restore athletic records to women who have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades. The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes," said Candice Jackson, Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Education.
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The NCAA had allowed transgender women to compete in women's athletics as long as they met certain testosterone testing levels that were sport-specific. NCAA President Charlie Baker said in December that fewer than 10 transgender athletes were competing in women's sports.
Even with the relatively small number of transgender athletes in college athletics, the issue of including transgender women in women's athletics has become a key policy issue for lawmakers. Riley Gaines, an outspoken critic of allowing trans athletes in women's sports, celebrated the announcement.
"Restoring stolen athletic accolades to their rightful owners is a crucial step towards reinstating accountability, integrity, and common sense – one that I wholeheartedly support," she said, after tying trans athlete Lia Thomas in the women's 200-meter championship in 2022.
GLAAD, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, has criticized the Trump administration's transgender policies.
“This administration’s latest inaccurate and incoherent piece of paper smears an entire group of Americans but does not change the law or the facts. All women and girls, including transgender women and girls, should be welcome to play sports if they want, make decisions about their own bodies, be hired for jobs they are qualified for, and be free from attacks by extremists in elected office," the organization said.
RELATED STORY | Trump signs order restricting transgender women from competing in female sports
