President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to stop transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports unless they were assigned female at birth, promising to deny federal funding to high schools and colleges that do not comply.

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said from the East Room of the White House.

The order follows one Trump signed on Jan. 20 — the first day of his second term in the White House — ordering the federal government to define sex as only male or female and to change federal policies and government-issued IDs to reflect that. Trump, along with other conservative politicians, have often hit on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports as an election-cycle issue. And 25 states have passed laws banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports at the high school and youth levels.

Trump, who signed the order on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, also took aim at the International Olympic Committee, saying that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the White House’s stance “as clear as anybody can make it.”

“We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics,” Trump said.

Asked for comment by , an IOC spokesperson wrote: “Working with the respective International Sports Federations, the IOC will continue to explain and discuss the various topics with the relevant authorities.”

Los Angeles is scheduled to host the Summer Games in 2028.

Opponents of transgender women competing in women’s divisions say that they have an unfair advantage over cisgender women when it comes to athletics, particularly in cases where transgender women go through male puberty before transitioning. Many supporters of trans women in sports say that outright bans amount to discrimination and target a small number of people.

In December, NCAA president Charlie Baker said during a congressional hearing in Washington that he believed there were fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 510,000 competing at schools across all three divisions. At that time, Baker also said he would welcome federal guidance before considering any possible changes to NCAA rules.

On Wednesday, Baker said the NCAA is looking into what the new order means for the body.

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” Baker wrote in a statement.

“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration,” Baker continued. “The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”

Transgender activists and organizations that have fought against bans were outraged by Trump’s order – but not surprised.

“This is yet another action from the Trump Administration that makes it abundantly clear trans people are squarely in their crosshairs, despite the fact that we are barely 1.6 percent of the population,” Carl Charles, a senior attorney with the non-profit Lambda Legal, said. Lambda Legal has partnered with the ACLU on multiple cases defending trans athletes. Charles was unsure if the order would be challenged in court, and how quickly it might happen.

“I think if it is (challenged), it will likely be utilizing constitutional protections like equal protection under the 14th Amendment,” Charles said. “I don’t know if people will bring a Title IX violation claim.”

In April 2024 the Biden Administration said transgender students were protected under Title IX. But on Jan. 31, the Trump administration issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to schools warning that the department would “return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex in schools and on campuses.”

Charles said that letter, plus Trump’s latest executive order go against “the spirit” of Title IX, a 53-year-old law.

“Title IX is about increasing participation of all women and girls in school sports … A lot of this comes down to the kinds of climates people in power — school districts, school boards — are creating,” he said. “Are we here to learn, have fun, win some games and lose some games and participate in activities that hopefully build constructive habits for years to come? Or are we here to police how you look, how you act, if you’re too tall or too fast or too whatever to be the kind of girl we think you should be. That’s really what’s underpinning all of this.”

Hudson Taylor, the executive director of Athlete Ally, an organization that champions LGBTQI+ equality in sports, said in a statement to that he and the organization were “deeply concerned about the negative impact this will have on the mental health of trans athletes.”

“Trans youth already experience higher rates of violence, suicidal thoughts and insecurity in housing than their cisgender peers,” Taylor said. “This (executive order), and the broader erasure of the transgender community, will only serve to exacerbate these issues.”

At the college level, multiple lawsuits have been filed in recent years regarding transgender women’s participation in sports. In March, a group of college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA over the inclusion of Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, in competition in 2022.

During the women’s volleyball season last fall, several Mountain West schools forfeited matches against San Jose State, which was alleged to have a transgender athlete on its team. The schools sued the conference and asked the court to rule the player to be ineligible for the conference tournament. A judge denied the request, and San Jose State played in the tournament, advanced through the semifinals by forfeit and lost the championship match to Colorado State.

Some lawmakers have criticized the NCAA’s rules, which provide an opportunity for transgender athletes to compete if they meet criteria set on a sport-by-sport basis by national and international governing bodies.

On Jan. 14, the House of Representatives passed the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports in public schools and amend Title IX to recognize a person’s sex based solely on birth biology and genetics. It still must pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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