The Shadow
Men in Women’s Sports and Other Executive Orders
The fast-paced work of President Trump is headlined by a series of his Executive Orders.
One of his Orders coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, an annual observance dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of female athletes.
President Trump hosted an event at the White House to mark the occasion.
Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports was issued by President Trump to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports.
To the dismay of many Americans, biological males have been permitted to play in women’s sports at various levels.
In Southwest Virginia, Roanoke College was considering welcoming a biological male to the women’s swim team.
This news prompted members of the women’s swim team to speak out and object to the move.
Another female swimmer who has been an outspoken activist on this issue is former University of Kentucky athlete Riley Gaines.
Gaines had to compete in freestyle events at the 2022 NCAA swimming championships against a biological male.
Riley Gaines spoke at a recent event I attended. She said she felt totally violated as a female athlete when she had to change in the locker room with an anatomical male.
Further, when she got up on the blocks in the same heat with the male, she could see the large bulge in his groin area. She said when she looked at his feet on the block, they were at least size 13.
In that race, Gaines and the male swimmer tied for 5th place. However, the NCAA officials gave the only 5th place trophy they had to the male.
They told Gaines her trophy “will be coming in the mail.”
She was not even allowed to pose on the podium with the 5th place trophy.
In my opinion and that of most Americans, female athletes in this swimming meet were denied an opportunity to have a fair competition.
In other spaces, female athletes are getting physically injured. In North Carolina, a high school volleyball player sustained a concussion, head and neck injuries as a result of a biological male spiking a ball into her.
Despite years of progress in advancing women’s athletics and equality in sport, through acts like Title IX, too many institutions have allowed fair competition to falter.
This erosion of progress means biological women are left with fewer opportunities for achievement. Their potential is discarded on the side of the road like a half-eaten apple core.
To put a stop to this unfairness, this January I was proud to vote in support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
This commonsense legislation prohibits federally funded education programs or activities to allow a biological male at birth to participate in programs meant for biological females.
While it awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate, I appreciate President Trump for issuing this directive to keep men out of women’s sports.
Some groups have decried the directive and threatened not to comply.
In Virginia, the Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the governing organization that regulates athletic competitions among public high schools.
VHSL, which bucked Governor Youngkin’s 2023 “model policies” to prohibit biological males competing in girls sports, initially claimed to not know about any Trump Executive Order and vowed to continue following the current VHSL policy of allowing transgender student-athletes to participate in girls sports.
Just a few days later, VHSL reversed course. They will now comply with the Trump Executive Order.
The NCAA also changed its policies to reflect this order. Under these new guidelines, female student-athletes will no longer have to go through what Gaines did.
This success follows a string of wins stemming from Trump Executive Orders.
As discussed in a previous newsletter, a slew of border security and immigration-related Orders direct enhanced resources to our southern border and crack down on illegal immigration, human trafficking, etc., which resulted from Biden’s open borders.
Trump also signed a series of military Executive Orders that terminate woke policies and reinstate service members discharged from the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Such respect for our soldiers and our defense is fueling a rise in interest among Americans to join the U.S. military.
Just as Trump prepared to return to the White House, the U.S. Army reported its most productive December in 15 years.
President Trump’s leadership in just a month has given many prospective student-athletes and soldiers hope.
I will continue to advocate for commonsense policies that deliver unbiased, fair environments to our student-athletes and our soldiers.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at morgangriffith.house.gov.
