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Female athletes and advocates are celebrating President Donald Trump’s latest executive order, which bans transgender women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Supporters say the decision restores fairness and safety in athletics, while critics argue it unfairly targets and discriminates against transgender individuals.
Margot Kaczorowski, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, was among the first to speak out. She and several other Ivy League athletes have filed a lawsuit, claiming they experienced emotional distress after competing alongside Lia Thomas, a transgender woman and former teammate.
“It was a very dark time,” Kaczorowski said in an interview on “America’s Newsroom.” “We were forced to be in the locker room with Thomas, and multiple girls on the team had expressed feeling uncomfortable with that.”
According to Kaczorowski, the school administration told the team that Thomas’ participation was “non-negotiable.” Those who were unhappy with the situation were offered counseling services or advised to meet with the LGBTQ+ center.
“Kind of implying that we had something wrong with us for believing that it was wrong,” she said. “I just always grew up under the guise of thinking this could never happen. Yes, of course, women deserve fairness and respect…. To have that kind of stripped away was a shock.”
Their lawsuit alleges that UPenn administrators “invited the women to a talk titled ‘Trans 101,'” which led the women to believe that “if a woman on the team had any problem with a trans-identifying male being on her team, that woman has a psychological problem and needed counseling.”
Riley Gaines, host of OutKick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast and a prominent advocate for banning transgender women from female sports, stood behind Trump as he signed the order on Wednesday.
Gaines has frequently shared her discomfort with sharing a locker room with Lia Thomas during the 2022 NCAA Championships.
She described it as “one of the most violating experiences you could possibly imagine.”
Reflecting on her presence at the White House during the signing, the podcast host told Fox’s Sean Hannity, “I just feel vindicated… Every day since January 20th, I have been just overwhelmed by God’s mercy that we certainly do not deserve.”
Former NCAA swimmer Paula Scanlan echoed those sentiments during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“It was the greatest day of my life,” Scanlan said, though she called it “bittersweet” that an executive order was necessary to address the issue.
The executive order, titled the Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order, prohibits individuals assigned male at birth from competing in female sports divisions or using women’s locker rooms and restrooms in schools. It also directs federal agencies to work with sports governing bodies to enforce these rules beyond schools, including at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“Women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump declared before signing the order at the White House, surrounded by dozens of female athletes and advocates who had lobbied for the measure. “The war on women’s sports is over.”
TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ON PROTECTING WOMEN’S SPORTS DRAWS RESPONSE FROM NCAA
However, the order has sparked immediate backlash from LGBTQ+ rights groups and civil liberties organizations, who argue that it unfairly targets a vulnerable population and perpetuates harmful stereotypes about transgender people.
“This administration’s latest inaccurate and incoherent piece of paper smears an entire group of Americans,” the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said in a statement. “Every American should demand that so-called leaders stop attacking vulnerable people and start doing their jobs solving actual problems.”
Opponents also point out that there is limited evidence of transgender women dominating women’s sports, and that many transgender athletes face significant barriers to accessing competitive opportunities.
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“My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes,” Trump said during the signing. “We’re just not going to let it happen. It’s going to end, and it’s ending right now. And nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it.”