President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to prevent transgender athletes from participating in female sports.
The measure, called the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order,” is the fourth executive order targeting transgender people he has signed since he took office Jan. 20th. Trump also gave multiple examples of what he described as “men claiming to be girls” and “stealing” victories, at one point perpetuating the false claim that Algerian female boxer Imane Khelif, who faced intense scrutiny over her gender at the Paris Olympics in August, was assigned male at birth.
In a call with reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the signing, White House officials said that they expect headlines about the executive order to use the word “transgender” but that “this has nothing to do with that.” The order, they said, aims to protect women’s access to safe and fair athletic opportunities, and it will do that in two ways, they said.