US Olympic Committee excludes transgender women
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has quietly amended its regulations to bar transgender women from participating in women’s sports. With this move, the USOPC aligns itself with Presidential Order 14201, issued in January: Ban men from women’s sports.
Until now, the USOPC had left decisions about excluding trans athletes up to the national sports federations.
The amended policy statement was published Monday without announcement on the Committee’s website and was also sent by letter to the national sports bodies. With Trump’s presidential order, trans girls and women are excluded from school and college sports, and restrictions are also imposed on foreign trans athletes who wish to compete in the U.S. As the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place in Los Angeles in 2028, the new policy would also apply to both events.
In a press release, the National Women’s Law Center condemned the USOPC’s decision to amend its regulations.
“The world is watching with alarm at the loss of freedom and opportunity in our country, especially as the United States is expected to host future Olympic events,” said Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the Law Center.
“The Committee will learn, as so many other institutions have, that there is no benefit in appeasing the endless, shifting, and petulant demands coming out of the White House.”
“By giving in to political pressure, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes. The vagueness of the Committee’s policy will leave athletes unprotected from humiliating sex-testing practices. Athletes will now be subject to intrusive questioning and traumatizing physical exams to prove they are ‘woman enough’ to participate. The USOPC should focus its energy on the real and serious inequalities harming women athletes: fewer opportunities to participate in sports compared to boys and men; worse facilities, coaching, and equipment, putting girls and women at greater risk of injury; and widespread sexual harassment and assault against female athletes.”
