Former U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, congratulating the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on a purported decision to limit eligibility in women's Olympic events to biological females via SRY gene screening. Trump attributed the change to his executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," reportedly signed in February 2025.
"Congratulations to the International Olympic Committee on their decision to ban Men from Women’s Sports. This is only happening because of my powerful Executive Order, standing up for Women and Girls!" Trump wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also credited President Trump, stating, "You cannot change your sex. President Trump's Executive Order protecting women's sports made this happen!"
The IOC's current policy, outlined in its 2021 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination, delegates the development of eligibility criteria to individual international federations rather than imposing a uniform genetic testing requirement across all sports.[1] No official IOC announcement matching the described SRY gene screening for all female categories has been issued as of late 2024.[1]
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) CEO Sarah Hirshland and Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Finnoff have discussed sex verification testing options at media events, noting that SRY gene tests used by federations like World Athletics and World Boxing are under consideration but not standard in the U.S.[2]
The debate coincides with U.S. Supreme Court reviews of state laws restricting transgender athletes in female school sports categories. In West Virginia's case (B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education), Attorney General Patrick Morrisey leads the challenge against federal Title IX interpretations; a certiorari petition was filed in October 2024.[3] Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador defended the state's Fairness in Women's Sports Act, with the Supreme Court vacating a lower court injunction in April 2024.[3]
| State | Lead Attorney General | Key Development |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | Patrick Morrisey | Cert petition filed Oct 2024[3] |
| Idaho | Raúl Labrador | SCOTUS vacated injunction Apr 15, 2024[3] |
Activists including Riley Gaines and Jennifer Sey have advocated for genetic testing to protect women's categories. Critics such as attorney Alejandra Caraballo have raised human rights and cost concerns over such tests.
Sources
- International Olympic Committee, "IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations (2021)," November 16, 2021, https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-framework-on-fairness-inclusion-and-non-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-gender-identity-and-sex-variations
- U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee / Various reports on USOPC media summits (e.g., Finnoff comments on SRY testing), accessed October 2024, https://www.usopc.org/
- Supreme Court of the United States dockets / SCOTUSblog summaries, "B.P.J. v. West Virginia" and "Labrador v. Poe," accessed October 2024, https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-1067.html (WV example)