Trump Saves Amateur Women's Sports! Go Figure!

    “The war on women’s sports is over.” So declared President Trump the other day, as he signed an executive order titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports. It bans biological males from competing against women and girls in all US public schools, universities and sporting organizations associated with them. Fittingly, the order was signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. In a video of the event, Trump can be seen surrounded by beaming girls in their sporting kits. I almost feel like I should file this under, “Even A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day.”   

    Let me begin this Twilight Zone piece (in the sense that I am actually whole-heartedly agreeing with Trump, if not his way of going about it) by saying how much I dislike Executive Orders. I know they are constitutional, and I know they are used by every President; but we have a Congress for a reason. It is Congress’ job to create and pass laws. If the president wants to initiate something...fine. Have at it. However, it seems to me that Congress has been running away from one its primary duties for decades. And presidents have been saying (not surprisingly), “Well, if they won’t do it, then I will.” What could go wrong...

    Anyway, the most immediate impact of the executive order will be felt in schools and universities. “Any school that lets men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms,” in Trump’s own words, will risk losing federal funding. They could also open themselves up to expensive and time-consuming lawsuits at the hands of female students for violating Title IX sex-discrimination laws.

    The order also stipulates that sporting bodies, which handle professional and amateur adult sports, should meet at the White House in the coming months, with the expectation that they too will amend their policies to prohibit men from playing in women’s events.    

    The 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games is also in Trump’s crosshairs.  “From now on,” Trump declared, “women’s sports will be only for women.” The Trump administration “will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.” No doubt Trump had those appalling scenes from Paris 2024 in mind here, when the world watched in horror as Algerian boxer Imane Khelif – who had failed multiple sex tests – broke the nose of a female opponent.    

    The State Department has been ordered to urge the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change its own eligibility criteria to be in line with America’s. Sporting participation, Trump stipulated, should be “determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.” Even if the IOC refuses to comply, Trump has a back-up plan. He has promised to keep men’s athletes out of women’s events in LA 2028, by denying “any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying as women athletes.”    

    We are just over one hundred days since the election, and he is already on track to fulfill one of his most popular campaign promises – to kick “transgender lunacy” out of the US. Last week, Trump signed another executive order that would pull federal funding from institutions that provide puberty blockers, hormones and gender-reassignment surgeries to under-19s. And on day one, he ordered the removal of gender ideology from the federal government. 

    In a way, it is depressing how unusual and novel it is to see a national leader decry trans ideology in such strong and clear terms – to refer to men as men, and to insist that no man has a right to enter women’s spaces (bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.) and sports, no matter how they identify. It is a sign of how mad the world had become that it has fallen to someone like Donald Trump to restore a modicum of sanity. 

    As I typed above, I am in complete agreement with this policy. And since I’ve written on this topic before, I will not bore you with any in-depth repetition. Feel free to read here and here. I am just shocked that it took a guy like Trump to pull it off. Let us not mince words here. Trump borders on a lot of things to varying degrees; racism, cynicism, xenophobia, a disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law, culminating in what I have no trouble describing as encouraging sedition, and a host of other things that would make him a psychiatrist’s dream...or nightmare, if you will. 

    Another thing you might want to add to that list is his toxic masculinity. That toxic masculinity (along with all of the other things mentioned above) has made him both a hero or evil incarnate to women throughout the land. It is also interesting how something like this happens with almost every president. The supporters more often than not, support their candidate no matter what. On the other hand, a president usually does something that makes even his enemies look up from their bowl of Wheaties and say, “I hate it when he’s right.” I’m hearing that from a lot of people, especially women. The stories of how groups of women (and men) are sitting around, all with differing political and social ideologies...but on this particular issue, I’m hearing more agreeing than disagreeing. 

    And I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Personally, I could do without Trump. And the next time he does something frighteningly stupid, I’ll have no problem writing about it. And trust me, as the sun rises in the East, it will happen. But again, on this issue, I agree with him...100%. And I think it’s a healthy polity that can really dislike someone and yet, agree with him or her on occasion when it comes to an emotional issue, such as this one. That’s what grown-ups do. 

    Whether it’s boxing, volleyball, womens’ rugby...pick your sport. You simply cannot have men competing against women. You just can’t. I’ll let Sia Liilii, captain of the University of Nevada Women’s Volleyball Team, have the last word. “Women have fought long and hard for equal athletic opportunities. By completely removing men from women’s sports, we are moving back to the true definition of Title IX. Women are given an opportunity to champion their own sports division and shine on a fair competition floor.”

Write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com