Donald Trump has issued an alarming warning after signing an executive order which seriously impacts transgender athletes.
Trump signed the order, which seeks to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women's sports teams by denying federal funds for schools that allow it, earlier this week on Wednesday (5 February).
Speaking from the White House, he declared: "We will defend the proud tradition of female athletes. From now on, women’s sports will be only for women. The war on women’s sports is over."
Trump, who has previously declared that the US government would recognise 'only two genders', went on to claim the order in question was part of a 'sweeping effort to reclaim our culture and our laws'.
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The order directs the Education Department to inform schools that allowing transgender athletes to compete will put them in violation of the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools.
Under the current law, which is known as Title IX, schools that discriminate based on sex are not eligible for federal funding.
Trump threatened that the order is putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that 'if you let men take over women's sports teams or invade your locker rooms', they will be investigated and risk losing federal funding.
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"There will be no federal funding. So this will effectively end the attack on female athletes," the 78-year-old Republican leader, who is also the first convicted felon to assume the presidential role, claimed.
When asked about the next Olympics ceremony, set to take place in Los Angeles in 2028, he added: "My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes."
Trump also sent a warning to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), saying he wants the governing body to 'change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject [transgender inclusion]' ahead of the Games, via The Independent.
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There have only been a handful of openly transgender and non-binary athletes to have ever competed at the Olympics including New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, US middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz and Canadian footballer Quinn.
Caitlyn Jenner to, a former Olympian athlete, who came out as a transgender woman in 2015, has since shared a statement that has surprised many, explicitly agreeing with Trump's latest decision.
Taking to X, she wrote: "Another victory in the fight for protecting women’s sports!" Jenner wrote. "President Trump signs an Executive Order keeping biological men out of women’s sports!"
Jenner continued: "As an Olympian, I will continue to fight this issue, lobbying sport governing body’s all over the world to follow our lead!"
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Tyla has contacted the International Olympic Committee for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, News, Olympics, Politics, Sport, US News
Rhiannon Ingle