“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,” the executive order said.
Trump also said he would be pushing the International Olympic Committee to change its rules on transgender athletes before the Games return to American soil in 2028 in Los Angeles.
He said he had ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “make it clear” to the IOC that “we want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
Trump added that he had directed Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem to deny visa applications “made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes to try and get into the Games.”
In October last year, New Zealand’s Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop asked Sport NZ to review and update its Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport.
Advocacy group InsideOut meanwhile maintains that any review involve the trans community itself, and not be used as a disguise to exclude vulnerable communities for non-sporting reasons.
Bishop said he believed the guidelines do not reflect expectations that sport be about fairness and safety as well as diversity, inclusion and equity.
“The guiding principles, published in 2022, were intended to be a helpful guide for sporting bodies grappling with a tricky issue. They are intended to be voluntary, not mandatory.”
He said he has met a range of individuals and groups, and sought advice from Sport NZ on “this genuinely difficult issue”.
“The National-New Zealand First Coalition Agreement commits the Government to ensuring publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender.
“It is important that transgender people feel able to participate in community sport – but there are obviously difficult issues for sporting bodies to grapple with around fairness and safety as a result of that participation.”
He said he expected an update from Sport NZ in the coming months.
- with AFP
