Trump says 'we got men out of women's sports' as SCOTUS considers transgender athlete bans

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: President Donald Trump proudly declared that he got “men out of women’s sports” just days after the Supreme Court heard arguments on two transgender athlete cases involving state laws protecting girls’ and women’s sports.

During a dedication ceremony at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, January 16, the president claimed, "Transgender insanity is out of our schools and out of our lives."

"And we got men out of women’s sports – officially, out of women’s sports," Trump asserted. "And everyone said, well, that's an 80/20 issue. No, that's a 98/2 issue. I don't even think it's 98/2."

Trump's moves to keep transgender athletes away from girls' and women's sports

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump’s focus has been on keeping transgender athletes away from girls’ and women’s sports.

In February last year, he even signed an executive order called "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," which "oppose[s] male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth."

One vital point of the order states, "prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions (including athletic associations composed of or governed by such 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."

Following this, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) updated its policy in accordance with the order. Many sports governing bodies did the same, except a few Democrat-controlled states, like Maine, California, and Minnesota.

It also led to legal cases, like Little v Hecox and West Virginia v BPJ, which were heard before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The apex court is believed to be considering if the laws in those states, Idaho and West Virginia, breach the Constitution's equal protection clause and the landmark federal law Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, before giving the judgment.

Karoline Leavitt backs Trump's efforts

Meanwhile, during a press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted the government’s efforts to fight “for what's right and what's just for women in this country.”

She said, “The administration … [has] taken action on a number of fronts against these states who are failing to uphold the president's executive orders and this administration's policy of simply protecting women and women's sports and women's private spaces.”

“We've gone to the mat with large universities in this country, as well, to try to fight for what's right and what's just for women in this country,” Leavitt stressed.

The 28-year-old also vouched that Trump “speaks on common sense on this issue, that women's sports and private spaces should be protected and that there are two genders, there are two sexes — that is not something we should be afraid to say in this country.”