CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK/AP) – West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey was in Washington as President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls from women’s and girls’ sports.
The order, which Trump signed at an afternoon ceremony Wednesday, marks another aggressive shift by the Republican president’s second administration in the way the federal government deals with transgender people and their rights.
“Today’s an incredible opportunity to make sure that the American public knows that common sense is being restored,” Morrisey said. “President Trump’s announcement is going to protect so many young athletes and the young women who have utilized sports to advance their careers and to pave the way for leadership.”
The president put out a sweeping order on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and in policies such as federal prison assignments.
Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.
He leaned into the rhetoric before the election, pledging to get rid of the “transgender insanity,” though his campaign offered little in the way of details.
WATCH Below: President Trump signs executive order
President Trump signs executive order barring trans athletes from women’s, girls’ sports (Video Courtesy: Nexstar Washington DC Bureau)
During his tenure as West Virginia’s Attorney General, Morrisey spearheaded several lawsuits trying to ban transgender youth from women’s and girls’ sports in the Mountain State, even urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the state’s case regarding the Save Women’s Sports Act, which would require athletes to compete in sports based on their biological sex at birth regardless of their gender identity.
In April 2024, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to block the law saying that it violates the rights of transgender students. The decision was made in the case of B.P.J., a transgender Bridgeport student who wanted to compete on the girls’ track team.
Along with that case, Morrisey also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review another April ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals after the court sided with a West Virginian diagnosed with gender dysphoria who sued the State arguing the lack of West Virginia Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care violated the Fourteenth Amendment, Medicaid Act and Affordable Care Act.
In his inauguration speech last month, Morrisey also vowed to eliminate the “woke virus” in schools, saying in part that “there will be no more DEI, no more radical agendas, no more brainwashing, no more confusion about the differences between boys and girls.”
“West Virginia was out in front protecting the integrity of women’s sports. I was out in front as the attorney general defending that law,” Morrisey said. “Now, as governor, I’m going to keep pushing, and I’m going to support this president. We’re going to see all the litigation through and we’re going to let everyone know that there are two sexes, men and women. And we’re not going to let the craziness come in its way.”
Wednesday’s order — which coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day — involves how his administration will interpret Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.
“This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.
Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation. The last two presidential administrations — including Trump’s first — offer a glimpse at the push-pull involved.
At the ceremony, Trump said that any school that allows a transgender athlete to play women’s sports would be investigated for alleged Title IX violations and potentially lose their federal funding.
Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term, issued a Title IX policy in 2020 that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and required colleges to investigate claims only if they’re reported to certain officials.
The Biden administration rolled back that policy last April with one of its own that stipulated the rights of LGBTQ+ students would be protected by federal law and provided new safeguards for victims of campus sexual assault. The policy stopped short of explicitly addressing transgender athletes. Still, more than a half-dozen Republican-led states immediately challenged the new rule in court.
“All Trump has to say is, ‘We are going to read the regulation traditionally,’” said Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor at Duke Law School.
How this order could affect the transgender athlete population — a number that is incredibly difficult to pin down — is uncertain.
The Associated Press reported in 2021 that in many cases, the states introducing a ban on transgender athletes could not cite instances where their participation was an issue. When Utah state legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Spencer Cox in 2022, the state had only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. It did not regulate participation for transgender boys.
“This is a solution looking for a problem,” Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection of gender, sports, media and culture, told the AP after Trump was elected.
Yet the actual number of transgender athletes seems to be almost immaterial. Any case of a transgender female athlete competing — or even believed to be competing — draws outsized attention, from Lia Thomas swimming for the University of Pennsylvania to the recently completed season of the San Jose State volleyball team.
In West Virginia’s 2024 Primary Election for Governor, many of the Republican candidates’ television ads focused on transgender issues, vowing to bar transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. Just a week before that primary election, an exclusive 13 News/Emerson College poll found that 54% of Republican voters for the Primary were “very concerned” transgender issues, while only 20% had no concern at all.
A UCLA demographic study of the Mountain State last year found that fewer than 1% of West Virginians identify as transgender.
Around the time of that poll, Fairness West Virginia said it was concerned for young people who identify as transgender in middle school and high school because they have among the highest depression and suicide rates in their peer groups.
The Associated Press, WOWK and WBOY contributed to this report.
