White House Celebrates Pressuring Olympics Into Banning Trans Women

The White House is not only celebrating but taking credit for the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in the 2028 Olympic Games.

The IOC announced Thursday that eligibility for female category Olympic events will be “limited to biological females,” determined by genetic testing. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately took to X to celebrate the news. 

“You cannot change your sex,” she wrote. “President Trump’s Executive Order protecting women’s sports made this happen!”

In February 2025, Trump passed the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which banned trans women from competing in women’s sports at all levels, and vowed to rescind  funds from any programs that refused to do so in the name of “safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” The order also pressured professional sports associations to adopt similar bans. 

Though it’s an issue that affects very few Americans, trans women’s participation in sports has become a fixation for Republicans who claim to support women’s rights, all the while passing abortion bans and limiting access to health care.

In reality, trans people make up about 1 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. population, and just 0.0002 percent of college athletes. Just 0.001 percent of Olympic athletes identify as trans. The political preoccupation with trans athletes is nothing but a scapegoat to distract from the many real inequities women and LGBTQ people face on a daily basis. 

Amid volatile debate, the IOC’s stance was highly anticipated. IOC President and former Olympic swimmer Kristy Coventry said the decision is “based on science and has been led by medical experts.” Trans women with reduced testosterone levels were previously allowed to compete. 

“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry said in a statement. “It would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.”

In the 20 years that trans women have been allowed to compete at the Olympics, there has been only one trans woman Olympian (New Zealand weightlifter Laura Hubbard in 2021), and she did not win a medal.