U.S. Olympic Committee bars trans women from competing, caving to Trump

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, complying with an executive order from Donald Trump.

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.

The committee “quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday,” The New York Times reports, with a “short, vaguely worded paragraph” outlining the new policy.

The paragraph says the committee is “committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport” and will work with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, and the national governing bodies of each Olympic sport “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.”

Related: What does the science say about transgender women in sports?

Executive Order 14201, signed by Trump February 5, opposes the presence of trans women — the order refers to them as men — in women’s sports and threatens federal funding to schools and athletic associations that are trans-inclusive. Trump preceded the signing with a rambling speech filled with falsehoods about trans athletes, saying they have won "more than 3,500 victories" and "invaded more than 11,000 competitions." Neither statement is true.

He also claimed that "a male boxer stole the women’s gold medal" at the Paris Olympics after supposedly "brutalizing his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit." Trump was apparently referring to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who became the target of bigoted rumors by right-wing influencers who claimed she was trans, although she is not.

Related: Dismantling the top 5 myths about trans athletes

The National Collegiate Athletic Association quickly changed its rules to bar trans women from women’s sports, even though only a handful of trans athletes were competing at NCAA schools.

The Olympic committee had previously allowed each sport’s governing body to set rules for trans participation. In a statement emailed to the Times Tuesday, the committee said that indeed, the policy had changed, because “as a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations.” The committee had several conversations with federal officials before making the change. The Ted Stevens Act, authored by the late U.S. senator from Alaska, established the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The National Women's Law Center was quick to denounce the committee's move. "Without any process or clarity about its decision, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has let Trump rewrite its rules in a cruel effort to deny transgender women the opportunity to participate," said a press release from the group.

“The world is watching with alarm at the loss of freedom and opportunity in our country, especially as the United States is expected to host future Olympic events," Law Center President and CEO Fatima Goss Graves said in the release. "The Committee will learn — as so many other institutions have — that there is no benefit in appeasing the endless, shifting, and petulant demands coming out of the White House.

“By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes. The vagueness of the Committee's policy will leave athletes unprotected from the sort of humiliating sex-testing practices. Athletes will now be subject to intrusive questioning and demands for traumatizing physical exams as they prove they are women enough to play. The USOPC should devote its energy to the real and serious disparities harming women athletes: fewer chances to participate across all sports compared to boys and men; worse facilities, coaching, and equipment placing girls and women at greater risk of injury; and endemic sex harassment and assault perpetrated against women athletes."

Story developing …