'Only for Women': Trump Defends Female Athletes, Signs Order to Protect Girls' Sports

President Donald Trump signed the "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order Wednesday at the White House surrounded by a large crowd of female athletes and coaches.

He said, "Under the Trump administration we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and girls.  From now on, women's sports will be only for women."
 
The move is an about-face from Biden-era policies that attempted to change the meaning of "sex" in Title IX to include "gender identity."

NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement regarding the order.

"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 said.

The presidential order coincides with the latest video in an online ad campaign called Real Girls Rock which celebrates female athletes and backs those who support them despite criticism they face. 

The nearly two minute ad sponsored by sports apparel company XX XY Athletics features several female athletes including Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who was forced to compete against a trans swimmer at the 2022 NCAA women's championship.
 
The company doesn't shy away from its opposition to biological males competing in women's sports and invading women's spaces. Last year it put out a video called, "Stand Up," which encouraged women to speak up for biological women in sports. 

"If you know it isn't fair or safe to allow males to compete in girls' sports because it's, well, it's obvious – standup," a female voice says in the ad.
 
Trump's order comes at a time when a New York Times-IPSOS survey from January found that nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose trans athletes in women's sports.  
  
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called on the U.S. Senate to pass the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act which aims to protect women's sports by banning biological males from competing in female athletics. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the bill.