President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2025 prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in women's sports in K-12 schools, colleges and universities that receive federal funds. Trump stated at the signing ceremony: "we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls." Since 2020, 27 states have passed laws banning transgender athletes from participating in sports based on their gender identity.
Supporters of these bans often argue they protect women and girls from unfair or unsafe competition. But a survey of 1,000 American adults by political scientists at UMass Amherst found that people with negative views of women are more likely to support restrictions on transgender athletes than those with positive views of women.
When respondents rated their feelings toward women on a scale from 0 to 100, about 45 percent of those with the most positive views of women supported restricting transgender sports participation. Among those with the most negative views of women, 58 percent supported restrictions.
The researchers also measured "hostile sexism," using questions about whether women seek power by controlling men, are too easily offended, or exaggerate problems at work. Among the least sexist respondents, 28 percent supported banning transgender people from sports matching their gender identity. Among the most sexist, 79 percent did.
Supporters of Title IX, the law requiring schools that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunities in athletics, were less likely to favor bans. About 43 percent of Title IX supporters favored restrictions, compared with 70 percent of Title IX opponents.
The survey found that about half of all respondents supported restricting transgender youth from joining school-sponsored sports teams that match their gender identity.