An executive order by new U.S. President Joe Biden broadens the interpretation of a recent Supreme Court ruling to include protections for transgender athletes.
On his first day in office, Biden issued a wave of executive orders, many departing from the policies of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. One such order focused on Bostock v. Clayton County, a 2020 Supreme Court decision. In Bostock, the Supreme Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevented employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to The Washington Post, President Trump’s administration had held a narrow interpretation of that ruling, applying it only to employment. Biden’s executive order, by contrast, takes a broad interpretation, tying the Bostock ruling to Title IX, the federal statute outlawing discrimination in education.
Biden’s order specifically mentions children and youth sports:
“Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love,” the order reads. “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
That’s the only mention of youth sports in the order. It’s not clear yet how the order will specifically affect schools and school sports, which are already governed by national- or state-level policies for transgender athletes.
What’s Already In Place for Transgender Athlete Eligibility?
While LGBTQ advocates have praised the order for protecting transgender athletes and critics have blasted the order for creating what they see as an uneven playing field in girls sports, Biden’s executive order doesn’t appear to affect current national-level policies for transgender athletes at the college or professional levels. The NCAA has had policies in place to govern transgender athlete eligibility for at least a decade. The IOC follows a similar policy, based mostly on testosterone levels, and USA Swimming follows the same policy. Here’s a brief overview of the two policies, which have been in place since well before Biden’s order:
- NCAA: a trans female athlete must complete one full year of testosterone suppression treatment before being eligible to compete on a women’s team in the NCAA. A trans male athlete with the proper medical exemption can compete on a men’s team in the NCAA while receiving testosterone treatment, but also loses their eligibility to compete on a women’s team.
- IOC/USA Swimming: a trans female athlete must declare their gender identity as female and cannot change that for a period of four years. They must then show that their testosterone levels are below a certain threshold for at least one full year before being eligible to compete in women’s events. Testosterone levels must remain below that threshold for the athlete to remain eligible.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) doesn’t appear to have one unified policy governing transgender athlete participation, but as of 2017, all but five states had some sort of policy in place.
What Does Biden’s Order Change?
Newsweek reports that Biden’s executive order may mostly affect state laws about transgender athlete participation at the high school level. State laws vary widely in allowing or disallowing transgender athletes to compete, and new laws on transgender athlete participation are still working through the legislative process in many states.
The broader interpretation set by Biden’s executive order “may lead to new legal challenges of laws and policies concerning transgender athletes,” Newsweek reports.
Biden’s executive order also requires heads of federal agencies to review their current policies, revising or suspending policies that are inconsistent with the administration’s broader interpretation of the court ruling.
We have Paralympics and Special Olympics. Why can’t we have Trans Olympics? Why should that cause any hate?
There will be lawsuits.
The problem is, biological women are afraid to speak up about it for fear of being “canceled” and labeled a transphobic bigot. Look what they did to Martina Navratalova!
I applaud his executive order about transgender military ban reversal. It was the right thing to do. But I strongly disagree with that one pushing for allowing athletes biologically male bord compete against girls. It’s unfair. It’s anti-women. Tulsi Gabbard has well explained it last month after introducing a great bill to protect women’s sports. Wokeness at its worst. Submission to the tyranny of minorities and identity politics for political purpose.
I’m not sure what’s going to be shattered faster & harder; the Olympic dreams of biological females everywhere OR every single SCM & LCM female world record.
There are so many traits that you’re born with that give you an extremely unfair advantage in swimming. To only isolate transgender identity is transphobic. If you want to make swimming fair then maybe do something about women who have unnatural amounts of testosterone or are freakishly tall or basically “men”… If excluding transgender women is an attempt to make sports fair then you need to exclude the many traits that are just as advantageous as gender. Otherwise it is transphobia not “fairness”. Xoxo
Also the number of bigots in the comments rn is mind blowing 🤯
The days of branding the opposing point of view “racist or bigoted” in order to win or shut down arguments are numbered.
Itll just change to a new flair word which will then lose its meaning as well because of the rampant illogical use of the word.
how about men’s sports embracing the transgender males and allowing them to compete in men’s sports? THAT WOULD SOLVE EVERYTHING.
If you don’t want to make a new category of competition for transgender athletes, here’s what you do: Only people with XX chromosomes can compete in the “Women’s” division, and then essentially make the “Men’s” category “Open” (where anyone of all gender identities can compete).
Problem solved. Anyone can compete, but we still protect the integrity of women’s sports that we have fought for the better part of the last century.
A better definition would be “no y chromosomes”… Includes X and XXX folks
Mens category is already the open category in many cases and mnay sports (football is open, we saw that this year with the Vandy kicker being a girl for a few games)
And if you don’t think the Chinese are going to take advantage of this, just wait. How many families will be having a CCP official show up at their door “offering” the “option” of having their son become an amazing female athlete? If you accept their “offer”, your “daughter” becomes a national hero and the rest of your family enjoys a life of luxury. If not…
Guess the East Germans were just ahead of their time!
I’m 100% against M to F transgender athletes competing with biological females. But your comment on the Chinese taking advantage of this shows total ignorance of their culture. Do you know how many female infants were abandoned or aborted during the period when China was enforcing their “one-child per family” policy? Changing their son’s gender would mean the stop of their family line and an ultimate shame among family and friends, not the “honor” or “hero” as you ridiculously put. If I were a Chinese parent, I’d rather die than having my son changed to a “daughter”. SMH
Oh I know all about that. Do you think the CCP cares about any particular family’s family line or shame? Yourrr statement that they’d “rather die” than have their son changed to a daughter may be the exact choice some may have to make in the very near future.
I happen to agree with you on the transgender issue, but your hot take on China and lack of understanding of another country’s history and culture make your otherwise valid points less credible. Do better my friend!