Last Wednesday, Trump decided to celebrate National Girl and Women in Sports Day by not supporting women. 

Instead, he decided to focus on hate and showcase his blatant transphobia by signing the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” 

“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” the executive order reads. “This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

This executive order trying to “protect women” is coming from a man who has famously sexualized and criticized women. So does he really want to protect women? Or is he simply spewing hate?

Well, it’s clear to me that Trump does not care about women or the safety of women in sports; he cares about spreading hate. Spreading hate seems to be his motto for his second term as president. 

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said. 

Was there ever truly a war on women’s sports? Let’s look at the statistics and see what the war looks like. 

On December 13th, 2024, there was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legalized sports gambling. In this hearing, senators questioned NCAA President Charlie Baker about transgender athletes in the organization.

“How many athletes are there in the United States and in NCAA schools?” Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said. 

Baker responded with the fact that there are 510,000 athletes in the NCAA. 

Okay, so out of all 510,000 athletes, how many are transgender?

“Less than ten,” Baker said. 

There are less than ten transgender athletes out of 510,000 athletes. That is less than 1% of the NCAA athletes. 

So what is this so-called “war” against women’s sports? 

There isn’t one. 

Unfortunately, people just want to be mean, bigoted, and whatever other synonym you would like to use for hateful. 

When Trump signed this order, he was surrounded by girls and women alike. However, one of the more noticeable women was former swimmer, Riley Gaines. 

Although she may just look like another woman in the crowd, Gaines is a huge advocate for keeping transgender women out of women’s sports. 

In 2022, Riley Gaines, as well as various other swimmers, competed against transgender athlete Lia Thomas in the NCAA Women’s Championships. In the 200 freestyle final, Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth place. 

Instead of having two fifth-place trophies, the NCAA only had one. With the one trophy, the two swimmers couldn’t split it. So the NCAA gave the trophy to Thomas.

After that event, Gaines became an advocate for women’s sports and spoke out against transgender women in women’s sports. 

The first time I heard about this story, I was younger and didn’t understand it or care about the situation. But I really thought that Gaines and Thomas tied for first until yesterday. 

My first thought after learning that it wasn’t first place they tied for, it was fifth, was “Why is she making such a fuss about tying for fifth?” That is still my thought process now.

I would understand the immediate anger if both women tied for first. That would be frustrating for both parties. But fifth place? 

Thomas didn’t blow the rest of the swimmers out of the water. She wasn’t at an unfair advantage. 

Gaines just seems to be angry because she lost.

The Gaines and Thomas story went viral and sparked a lot of controversy, but the NCAA kept allowing transgender athletes to participate.

In 2022, the NCAA stated that if a transgender woman submitted documentation of gender-affirming treatment by a medical professional and evidence that their testosterone levels were within the allowable levels for the sport, transgender women could compete with the women’s team.

So not only were they allowing transgender women to compete, but they were also making sure that these women didn’t have an “unfair advantage” given their testosterone levels. 

However, once Trump signed his executive order, the rules changed. Now the NCAA rules state that “a student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team.”

Transgender women cannot compete with their fellow athletes anymore, but they can practice with them. 

“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on the team consistent with their gender identity and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice,” the NCAA website said.

This policy just feels like a slap in the face. Transgender women can practice, create relationships with their teammates, and love the sport, but they cannot compete. 

Donald Trump just wants to spread hate and so many Americans see this hate as love and protection.