Trump signs executive order banning trans women from sports teams
President Trump signed an executive order barring transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees most of the state’s high-school athletics programs, announced Wednesday that it had updated its policies and only athletes “designated as females at birth” would be allowed to compete in girls competitions.
“Today the WIAA Board of Control voted to update the organization’s policy regarding student-athlete eligibility – affirming its compliance with federal directives that only students designated as females at birth will be allowed to participate in girls competitions,” WIAA executive director Stephanie Hauser said in a release. “Working in consultation with legal counsel, our Board updated this policy to ensure clarity is provided to our membership as they work to comply with new federal guidance from the White House.”
The ruling follows the NCAA recently adjusting its transgender student-athlete participation policy similarly. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month intending to ban transgender athletes from women’s athletics and made the issue one of his core talking points during his campaign.
The WIAA policy indicates that a student whose sex is assigned male at birth may practice in a girls sport and “receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice” but the athlete may not compete in the competitions.
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill in 2024 that would have banned transgender and gender-nonconforing youth from participating in athletics that align with their gender identity, instead requiring them to play on teams that matched their gender assigned at birth.
“This type of legislation, and the harmful rhetoric beget by pursuing it, harms LGBTQ Wisconsinites’ and kids’ mental health, emboldens anti-LGBTQ harassment, bullying, and violence, and threatens the safety and dignity of LGBTQ Wisconsinites, especially our LGBTQ kids,” Evers said in his veto message.
In October, WIAA representative Todd Clark said the organization didn’t maintain a database of transgender or LGBTQ athletes and, to his knowledge, there had not been any specific recent complaints.
A WIAA representative also told the Journal Sentinel in 2021 that he couldn’t recall a transgender athlete ever competing in a state tournament, and Clark said the complaints his office had received were about the general policy and not about a specific athlete.
In 2023, at a state Assembly public hearing over a bill aimed at banning transgender girls from athletic competition, bill co-author Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, said “I heard (there) were about a half dozen of them” when asked if she knew of transgender athletes competing in Wisconsin sports. “Whether there are more than that, I do not know.” There was no evidence that her number was accurate.
Dittrich briefly addressed the WIAA decision Wednesday at a press conference, indicating that the Assembly planned to reintroduce the legislation this session and is glad the WIAA joined the NCAA and “used some common sense to keep women’s sports for women.”
State Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit and chair of the Wisconsin LGBTQ+ caucus, previously told the Journal Sentinel kids shouldn’t have to worry about the government interfering with their rights.
“It is extremely disappointing to see the WIAA fall in line with President Trump’s discriminatory executive order,” he said Wednesday. “Every student deserves a chance to play sports with their friends and classmates – sports help all kids on the team feel like they belong. We should be helping every student to succeed, and this decision takes our state backwards.”
In 2023, Green Bay parents raised concerns about a transgender athlete competing on a high-school sports team.
The WIAA’s non-discrimination policy had previously indicated that a student should be allowed to participate on a sports team consistent with their gender identity.
“Case law is still developing this area, but denying a student the opportunity to participate on a sports team consistent with his or her gender identity is likely prohibited sex discrimination,” it said. “Schools should make case by case determinations regarding transgender student participation consistent with WIAA policy.”
Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, expressed disappointment with the ruling and that she found it “frankly antithetical to the values WIAA espouses.”
“Playing sports as a kid is all about getting to be on a team and be part of something bigger than yourself, and it’s how so many kids feel like they belong,” she said. “That feeling of belonging is so important for a kid’s development, including trans kids. Honestly, I’d say it’s even more important for trans kids because they’re living in a world that really questions them at every turn, where they often feel like they don’t belong.
“But when a trans kid gets to play sports on a team where they belong, that can make such a huge difference, especially right now when the trans community is under attack from a hostile federal government. Now is the time to show our trans kids love and support, not exclusion.”
— Natalie Eilbert contributed to this story.
This story was updated to add new information and fix a broken link.
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Publish date : 2025-02-19 09:32:00
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