Donald Trump's administration demands NCAA strip trans athletes of women's titles and records

Donald Trump's Department of Education has demanded the NCAA strip transgender athletes from any women's titles or records they won after transitioning, according to an exclusive report from the Daily Caller. In a letter addressed to NCAA President Charlie Baker and the National Federation of State High School Associations chief Bob Lombardi, the Department of Education's Office of General Counsel claimed to be addressing a 'matter of urgent importance.'.

'We cannot undo the damage inflicted by years of policies and practices that have denied the material reality of sex and conflated that immutable characteristic with a subjective, fluid concept of 'identity' by prospectively returning to objective, factual sex classifications in athletics,' the department's attorney wrote in its letter, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller. 'But we can recognize the harms done and injustices committed by such misguided policies and reversing their effects will restore a genuine commitment to girls' and women's equality of opportunity in athletic competition across the United States,' the letter continued.

Trump wasted little time delivering on his promise to address a topic following his election. Trump issued an executive order on the day his second term began that called for 'restoring biological truth to the federal government' and signed another on Wednesday titled ' Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports. The NCAA is made up of 1,100 colleges and 530,000 student athletes, of which, fewer than 10 are transgender, Baker told a Senate committee recently.

Thomas won a national title in the 500 women's free while tying for fifth in the 200 free at the 2022 NCAA Finals with a Kentucky swimmer named Riley Gaines, who is now an anti-trans activist. There are fewer than 10 current trans athletes competing in women's NCAA sports who could be impacted by the Trump administration's efforts to prevent them from competing. DailyMail.com has reached out to the NCAA for comment.

Former Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming were separately thrust into the spotlight in the debate over trans athletes in women's sports. Thomas, who is openly transgender, and Fleming, who is reportedly so, both competed in their respective sports at a high level amid widespread protests. Thomas was banned from competing in elite women's races ahead of the Olympics by The Court of Arbitration for Sport panel, which ruled that she was ineligible to challenge World Aquatics policy on trans athletes. Thomas won a national title as a woman in the 500 free while tying for fifth in the 200 free at the 2022 NCAA Finals with a Kentucky swimmer named Riley Gaines.

Although she has yet to address any gender-based allegations with media, SJSU's Fleming was previously outed as transgender in an April article on Reduxx.com. Since then, the Spartans have faced forfeits from opponents amid a wave of criticism , lawsuits, and Title IX complaints aimed at forcing Fleming off San Jose State's volleyball team. Gaines, meanwhile, has since become a celebrity activist working to ban trans athletes from women's sports.

The federal government now has wide latitude across multiple agencies to penalize federally funded entities that 'deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.'. 'The war on women's sports is over,' Trump declared. Probably not. Legal challenges like the ones that have met some of the other executive orders aimed at transgender people are likely. The biggest takeaway is that the Trump administration has empowered the federal government to take aggressive steps to go after entities - be they a school or an athletic association - that do not comply. Federal funding - and potentially grants to educational programs - could be pulled.

The threshold for noncompliance: Any entity that denies 'female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women's category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.'. The Education Department announced less than 24 hours after the order's signing that it was investigating San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, all of which have had Title IX violations reported against them for allowing transgender athletes to compete.

Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation best known for its role in ensuring gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses. Given the push-pull of how recent presidencies view Title IX, it has created a whiplash effect. Joe Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that interpreted sex as 'gender identity' under Title IX, a move that protected transgender athletes from being discriminated against if they wanted to participate in a sport that aligned with their gender identity, not their sex assigned at birth.