Trump’s executive order is clear. “In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” the order reads. It goes on to explain how Title IX, passed in 1972, already underscores this policy.
The mainstream media has not handled it well. Since the executive order, multiple outlets have suggested Trump is excluding transgender people and has created panic among transgender youth. Nobody wants young people to suffer with gender dysphoria or feel excluded. Policies like this executive order are meant to protect women’s fairness, safety and privacy in sports. Our next generation deserves this.
It’s already had ripple effects. Trump’s order has already affected the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which has now also made the move to protect women’s sports.
The NCAA's updated participation policy says that only “student-athletes assigned female at birth” can participate in college sports. NCAA President Charlie Baker said it provides “clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards.” Trump wants the Olympics to follow suit as well.
I appreciate this clarity and women and girls around the country will too. I have to admit though, the sudden change makes me wonder: Did the NCAA agree with these guidelines all along and they were just waiting for guidance from the White House to make a substantial change to protect women? If they agreed with these guidelines, why wait for the President to announce it? Think of how powerful it might have been for female athletes if the NCAA had stood up for them sooner.
Trump’s policy is common sense, fair and most Americans agree with it, despite the fact that many outlets suggest it’s bigoted or cruel. About 70% of Americans think women’s sports should be kept safe and fair. Women’s rights have come a long way, allowing women to have credit cards, work and be independent—only to be lost in a sea of confusion about whether or not they can participate in a sport against just other women. That’s how strange this debate has become.
To see organizations like the NCAA enact this—and the Olympics governing body consider it—shows more large organizations agree with this than they have let on.
As a former female athlete myself, I’m glad that Trump has led the way on this. I hope his courage helps other sports-related governing bodies around the world protect women and girls even more. Women and girls deserve fairness, safety and privacy. I hope Trump’s boldness continues to inspire the globe to return to common sense and to allow girls and women the fairness they have fought for.
Here's how out-of-touch the corporate media is on the issue of women's sports.
ABC's @Nightline did a segment yesterday featuring two trans-identified athletes telling their personal stories. ABC tried to give the illusion of balance by quoting me and @Riley_Gaines_ during the first two minutes of a seven-minute segment. But they were careful to exclude any mention of female athletes’ real-life stories.
This despite the fact that in my interview, I named: women who lost championship titles, girls who lost chances to compete, one ADF client who suffered sexual harassment from a male teammate. This is the same old tactic leftists have used for years: catering to the feelings of male athletes while treating women and girls like background characters.
But Americans aren’t buying it anymore. They’ve seen the reality of men in women’s sports. According to the latest NYT poll, nearly 8 in 10 Americans now support keeping males out of women’s competition. The corporate media can keep on spinning, but no one is listening.
