Trump Signals He Will Ban Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports via Executive Action

Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters in Atlanta on Oct. 15, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday told a Fox News-hosted town hall event that he would ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports through executive action.

The former president and GOP presidential candidate was asked by a voter about whether he plans to address transgender athletes in women’s athletics.

“It’s such an easy question, and everybody in the room ... know[s] that answer, we’re not going to let it happen,” Trump responded.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education released rules changing Title IX, the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination by sex in education programs and schools that get federal money. The rules targeted discrimination based on gender identity for the first time, although they were struck down by the Supreme Court in August.

Pointing to a recent example, Trump made reference to a volleyball match with an athlete who “transitioned from man to female” and slammed the ball and “hit the girl in the head.” Trump was apparently referring to a video of San Jose State University’s Blaire Fleming spiking the ball into a female player’s face.

According to a legal complaint filed in federal court, one of San Jose State’s volleyball players is a male. Fleming had told Brooke Slusser, another member of the team, earlier this year that he was born male, according to a Sept. 23 filing. Slusser is one of the plaintiffs in the case.

“I never saw a ball hit so hard ... hit the girl in the head. But other people ... they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men,” Trump remarked.

Trump said that his administration will “stop it” because “it’s a man playing in the game.” He added, “Look at what’s happened in swimming. Look at the records that are being broken.”

Pressed by Faulker on what actions he might take, Trump said that “you just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen ... not a big deal.”

Trump has said on multiple occasions during the 2024 campaign season that he would bar transgender individuals from competing against females if he is elected again.

The female player who was spiked in the face was unharmed and San Jose State University ultimately lost the match. However, several colleges in recent weeks have canceled matches against San Jose State University’s team.

Boise State forfeited a game on Sept. 28, one of four programs that have canceled on San Jose State in the last three weeks. Utah State announced Wednesday it was forfeiting its Oct. 23 contest versus San Jose State. That was on the heels of Wyoming issuing a statement saying it would forfeit its game against the Spartans, who they were supposed to play earlier this month in Laramie, Wyoming.

On Oct. 15, the University of Nevada made it clear that its Oct. 26 volleyball match against San Jose State will go on as scheduled after the team’s players released an independent statement saying they would “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.”

“We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld,” read the Nevada players’ statement, which the university said Monday was released the day prior without consultation with school officials.

Nevada’s Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo wrote Tuesday on the social platform X that he “wholeheartedly respect[s] the decision of the players. No student athlete should ever be pressured to play a game where they don’t feel safe—period.”

San Jose State has not made any public comments about the issue. The Epoch Times has contacted the university for comment.

In his first term in office, Trump moved to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, which was rescinded by the Biden administration in early 2021.

“Transgender servicemembers will no longer be subject to the possibility of discharge or separation on the basis of gender identity,” the White House said on Jan. 25, 2021, five days after President Joe Biden took office.

During the Fox News town hall, Trump was asked a range of questions on primarily social issues from an all-female audience, including in vitro fertilization, or IVF, a fertility treatment, as well as on abortion and states’ rights.

The Epoch Times contacted the Harris campaign for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.