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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump will not back down on his executive orders to protect women’s and girls’ sports.
Leavitt shared the support with reporters during her daily briefing in Washington, addressing a recent controversy about transgender athletes in Maine.
“Well, the Department of Education has sued the state of Maine as you know. There’s ongoing litigation,” Leavitt stated.
“The president has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women’s sports, which he believes is an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars, and so that fight continues, and the president won’t back down. Again, this is a common sense policy. Eighty percent of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women’s sports so the president will stand by this commitment,” Leavitt said.
Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 6 to keep men out of women’s sports.
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” the order read.
“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,” the order added.
On March 6, the president also signed a proclamation in support of Women’s History Month.
“On day one, I delivered on my promise to sign an Executive Order recognizing that women are biologically female, and men are biologically male. As a result, the United States will no longer allow ‘X’ gender marker on Government forms, and the United States Passport Office will now only issue passports with a ‘M’ or ‘F’ sex marker matching an individual’s biological sex at birth,” the proclamation stated.
“I also signed an Executive Order to protect women’s sports and directed the Department of Education and other executive departments and agencies to launch Title IX action against federally funded schools and States who refuse to uphold fair competition and dignity for female athletes,” it noted.