UPDATE - Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday intended to ban transgender women from competing in women’s and girls' sports.

"With this executive order, the war on women's sports is over," he said.

Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports” order during an Oval Office ceremony on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, calling his action "historic."

"Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls. From now on, women’s sports will be only for women," he added.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the order seeks "to defend the safety of athletes, protect competitive integrity and uphold the promise of Title IX."

"This common sense action from President Trump ends the disgusting betrayal of women and girls by the previous administration who, for years, catered to radical activists who wanted biological males to be treated as women in workplaces, showers, competitive sports, prisons and even rape shelters. Gender ideology insanity is over," she added.

Trump's order empowers the Education Department to take action under Title IX, a 1972 civil rights law that prohibits educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating based on sex.

It instructs the department to prioritize enforcement against institutions "that deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women's category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males."