Trump signs executive order banning trans athletes from women’s sports. It began in Idaho
A movement that started in Idaho nearly five years ago has reached the federal level.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Trump campaigned on a “keep men out of women’s sports” platform, and the order is designed to keep people assigned male at birth from participating in female sports.
The order also aims to investigate any public school receiving federal funding if it’s found to allow transgender student-athletes to compete in women’s sports.
“From now on, women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said Wednesday in the East Room of the White House. “The war on women’s sports is over.”
While the order represents a change for many states, it’s a concept that Idahoans are familiar with. Idaho passed the nation’s first ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports in 2020 when Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act.
Although a federal judge blocked the act in Idaho, it has been a template for numerous other states, including Florida, Arkansas and Wyoming, to enact similar laws over the past few years.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, introduced the 2020 bill. Ehardt played college basketball at Idaho State and was a high school and college women’s basketball coach from 1987 to 2003, beginning her career as an assistant coach at Pocatello High School. She spent 15 yearrs coaching at the NCAA level, including three years as the head coach of Cal State Fullerton.
“Today has been an incredibly meaningful day for me,” Ehardt told the Idaho Statesman in a text message. “President Trump’s most popular promise to Make America Great Again was ‘no men in women’s sports!’ Today, he kept that promise. He supported my ‘Fairness in Women’s Sports Act’ in 2020, and today, he brought sanity back to Title IX.”
Ehardt said she’d like the Supreme Court to consider the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” as it works through the court system, and she hopes the 25 states that haven’t banned transgender athletes from women’s sports will do so.
The Trump administration has taken a position in direction opposition to the Biden administration on Title IX, the federal law that protects students from discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding.
The Biden administration ruled that schools would be violating Title IX by denying transgender students the opportunity to participate in the sport of their gender, according to CNN. The Trump administration’s position on Title IX is that women’s sports should be “equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities,” CNN reported.
“Because (Title IX) falls under the executive branch,” The New York Times reported, “it is subject to varying interpretations by different administrations that have used it to argue both for and against the inclusion of transgender students.”
The Boise State volleyball team recently fought with the Mountain West over a transgender student-athlete competing for San Jose State. The Broncos forfeited three matches against the Spartans, including the Mountain West Tournament semifinal. The forfeiture ended Boise State’s season.
Although Boise State never provided a reason for the forfeits, two Bronco student-athletes joined a lawsuit against the Mountain West in November to prevent the San Jose State student-athlete from competing. A federal judge in Colorado struck down the case. The athlete was outed by a teammate in a previous lawsuit.
Numerous Idaho officials, including Little, applauded Boise State’s decision. Little cited his Defending Women’s Sports Act, an executive order he signed last August standing alongside Riley Gaines, a former college athlete who advocates against trans athletes in college sports. Gaines was also involved in the lawsuit against the Mountain West and was present at the White House on Wednesday as Trump signed the executive order.
Little also was in Washington, D.C., for the executive order signing. Trump dropped a “Good job, Brad,” into his remarks.
Boise State did not provide a statement on the executive order when asked for comment.
NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon, writing that Trump’s executive order “provides a clear, national standard.”
“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 wrote. “The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 4:27 PM.
