- New legislation, including House Resolution 28 and Trump's executive order, aims to restrict sports participation based on biological sex.
- The executive order requires the Department of Justice to enforce single-sex spaces and restrict federal funding to institutions that don't comply with female-only sports requirements.
- Trump proposed plans to restrict transgender athlete participation in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Former ESPN sports anchor Sage Steele appeared at the White House press briefing Wednesday afternoon to ask how important it is to President Donald Trump that Congress passes legislation to protect women’s sports.
Her question came on the 39th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day and follows the House passing House Resolution 28, which “prohibits school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.”
The bill will move to the Senate for a floor vote, but the date is not yet determined.
Trump signed a “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order on Wednesday afternoon.
What does Trump’s executive order do that HB28 does not?
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Steele that the issue is at the forefront of Trump’s priorities. She also mentioned Trump’s executive order, which “upholds the promise of Title IX” and focuses on maintaining female-only spaces.
The order will require the Department of Justice to reinforce single sex spaces and require immediate action against schools and athletic associations that deny biological women single sex sports and single sex locker rooms.
The White House invited female athletes who have been affected by policies allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports to meet the president and watch him sign the executive order.
Trump tells female athletes' stories who have been hurt by previous gender policies
Before signing the order in the White House, Trump spoke to the people there to watch him sign the order.
“The actions we’re taking today are the latest in a sweeping effort to reclaim our culture and our laws from the radical left crusade against biological reality,” he said.
President Trump told several stories of young women in the crowd, including Payton McNabb, a 19-year-old from North Carolina.
“In high school, Payton was a rockstar athlete preparing for a future in college sports, but in one volleyball match, a much taller and stronger male spiked the ball right in her face, knocking her unconscious, partially paralyzing her right side and leaving her with a traumatic brain injury,” Trump said.
Trump quoted McNabb, who said the incident was “100% avoidable, if only my rights as a female athlete had been more important than a man’s feelings.”
Then, Trump mentioned several other executive orders he recently signed, including rescinding federal funds for programs promoting transgender ideology and banning the “the chemical castration and surgical mutilation of minor children.”
“So we are restoring humanity and common sense very simply to our government,” Trump said. “We’re defending the rights, safety and pride of the American people including our great, great, great female athletes.”
Trump’s oldest grandchild, Kai Trump, posted on X in celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Pushback on some of the administration’s initiatives has already begun in court.
Trump: 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to ban transgender athletes
At the White House event, Trump told newly appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to warn the International Olympic Committee “that America rejects transgender lunacy.”
The U.S. “will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes” during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump said.
The president added he would direct Kristi Noem, Homeland Security secretary, during the Games to deny visa applications “made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes.”