The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) announced an official policy change this week, issuing a ban on transgender athletes from competing for Team USA in the women's categories at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The new policy cites President Trump's recent anti-trans athlete Executive Order 14201 alongside 1998's Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.
"As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations," USOPC president Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland said in an internal memo on Wednesday.
The USOPC oversees some 50 national governing bodies across sports, including at the youth and masters levels, as well as Team USA's participation in all official Olympic and Paralympic competitions.
The new ban effectively overrides any and all guidelines previously set by various sport governing bodies in the US, and joins the growing number of prohibitive policies affecting primarily transgender women athletes worldwide.
The revised segment — part of the larger USOPC Athlete Safety Policy — does not explicitly use the word "transgender," nor does it explain the ban's function, scope, or application to men's sports.
Notably, only one openly trans athlete has ever competed for the US at the Olympic Games: Nonbinary runner Nikki Hiltz, who was assigned female at birth, participated in 1500-meter track event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
"By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes," National Women's Law Center president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves said in a statement condemning the policy change.
"This rule change is not in response to new research or new guidelines from medical experts in sports," posted advocacy nonprofit Athlete Ally. "Instead, it is the result of mounting political pressure and government hostility toward one of the smallest minorities in society, let alone sports."
Simone Biles returned to the headlines this week, with the seven-time Olympic gold medalist taking to X to voice support for trans athletes in women's sports, emphasizing that she believes the conversation "starts with empathy and respect."
Earlier this month, Biles called out anti-trans athlete activist and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines for ridiculing a Minnesota high school softball team, calling Gaines a "sore loser" and a "bully."
Gaines, who swam for the University of Kentucky, tied trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships. The event sparked her outspoken campaign against trans athletes in women's sports.
"You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans [athletes] feel safe in sports," Biles originally tweeted at Gaines.
Biles later clarified her comments, posting "I've always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport."
"The current system doesn't adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges," she continued.
While Biles apologized for a comment made about Gaines's body, she also defended her objection to Gaines singling out individual trans youth athletes.
"I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women's sports," said Biles. "My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful."
"Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over."
The English Football Association (FA) announced Thursday that it will ban trans women athletes from playing women's soccer starting with the 2025/26 season, with the governing body's new policy officially going into effect on June 1st.
Previously, the FA allowed trans women athletes to play on women's teams as long as they had "blood testosterone within natal female range."
The move comes after April 16th's landmark ruling from the UK's highest court, which states that gender equality protections only apply to what the court called "biological women" — and that trans women do not legally meet that definition.
The Scottish FA followed suit, also releasing its decision to ban trans women athletes from competitive play on Thursday.
Notably, there are currently no trans women playing anywhere on the UK's professional football pyramid. However, some 72 trans athletes played in FA grassroots matches over the last decade.
Today, an estimated 20 to 30 trans players participate in that growing grassroots system, an initiative created to advance the FA's four "game-changer" priorities — one of which is to "see a game free from discrimination."
“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game,” the association said in Thursday's statement.
"It is clear these abrupt changes have been made on legal advice following the recent UK Supreme Court ruling, as there remains no football-specific peer-reviewed research or evidence that shows the existing policies constitute a safety risk," stated advocacy group Pride Sports in response. "One consequence of these bans will, inevitably, be a rise in incidents of transphobia in football."