The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports, The Advocate noted, citing The New York Times.
The committee “quietly changed its eligibility rules on [July 21],” the Times reported, with a “short, vaguely worded paragraph” outlining the new policy.
The revised policy now says that the committee wants “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.” Said order, which President Trump signed in February, opposes the presence of trans women—and the order even refers to them as men—in women’s sports; moreover, it threatens federal funding to schools and athletic associations that are trans-inclusive.
Earlier this year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, changed its rules to ban trans women from women’s sports—even though only a few trans athletes were competing at NCAA schools.
The National Women’s Law Center was among those criticizing the committee’s decision. The organization stated, in part, “By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes. The vagueness of the Committee’s policy will leave athletes unprotected from the sort of humiliating sex-testing practices. Athletes will now be subject to intrusive questioning and demands for traumatizing physical exams as they prove they are women enough to play.
“The USOPC should devote its energy to the real and serious disparities harming women athletes: fewer chances to participate across all sports compared to boys and men; worse facilities, coaching, and equipment placing girls and women at greater risk of injury; and endemic sex harassment and assault perpetrated against women athletes.”
The 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics are to take place in July and August, respectively, in Los Angeles.