On Feb. 4, 2025, female athletes across the country posted pictures of their teammates to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. President Trump celebrated in his own way: publishing an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” the following day.

The executive order announced the Trump administration’s opposition to male participation in women’s sports, citing a lack of fairness, safety and truth. 

Following Trump’s order, on Feb. 6, 2025, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced an immediate change to its policy on transgender student participation in sports. The new policy stated that student athletes assigned male at birth (AMAB) may not compete on women’s sports teams. It also said that transgender female athletes could continue to compete on men’s teams.

Though the new NCAA policy directly affected fewer than 10 collegiate transgender female student athletes, this anti-trans sentiment is reflected in high schools and middle schools across the country. Currently, 27 U.S. states have laws restricting transgender girls from participating in women’s sports.

By attacking nearly 700,000 transgender youth and young adults’ ability to participate in sports, the U.S. government deprives these young people of opportunities to get regular exercise and have healthy social interactions. The new Trump administration’s and NCAA’s policies should be reversed because they are destructive to young people’s mental health.

Margaret Burke ’27, a member of the girls varsity basketball and volleyball teams, shared her experience playing school sports. “Some of my favorite memories at Urban are of playing sports and bonding with my teammates,” she said. “Especially in high school, everyone should be allowed to play on the sports team they want.” 

Many argue that it is unfair for AMAB athletes to compete in women’s sports due to hormonal differences, pointing to biological males’ typically higher testosterone levels, which can make them naturally faster and stronger. However, there are ways for people to decrease their testosterone levels, like hormone therapy.

Although the new NCAA policy does not mention testosterone levels, the previous policy required that transgender female athletes take testosterone suppressants for at least one year before participating on women’s sports teams. Many transgender female athletes consequently do hormone therapy, which decreases testosterone levels, lean body mass, muscular area and muscular strength, according to the National Library of Medicine. Hormone therapy and other practices help level the playing field for transgender and cisgender women, though it may never be completely equal due to biological factors.

Contrary to the widespread belief that trans women will always be much stronger than their cisgender female counterparts, transgender women have certain physical disadvantages compared to cisgender women. A 2024 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that trans women performed worse than cisgender women in tests measuring lower-body strength and lung function. Transgender women and cisgender women performed equally in tests measuring bone density, which relates to muscle strength. 

The argument that transgender women are at too steep of a physical advantage to compete against cisgender women in sports disregards many nuances and is not a strong enough reason to justify executive bans.

California has legislation that explicitly protects the rights of trans female athletes, and many transgender girls compete in high school sports across the state. San Francisco Waldorf High School student Saniyah Mager ’26 is the captain of Waldorf’s volleyball team and played on the team with a transgender teammate. 

“She was the most energized person on the court. She brought good, positive vibes and just tried her hardest,” Mager said in an interview with The Urban Legend. “Even if no one else [was] happy with you, she was always there to give you a high five or just tell you you’re doing great.”

In 2024, Stone Ridge Christian School withdrew from a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoff volleyball game against Waldorf over suspicions that a player on Waldorf’s roster was transgender.  

“I think she acted very strong, but I know that it bothered her a little bit, which is valid,” Mager said. “It really built her character, and I think she tried not to let it affect her mental health.” 

We must resist acts of transphobia so that high school students like Mager’s teammate do not have to fight to play a sport they love. It is important that executive and NCAA policies allow transgender women to play on teams that align with their gender identity, rather than only their sex assigned at birth. 

“If trans women were forced to play on men’s teams, that would be even worse for their mental health because they would be severely mistreated and left out,” Simon Coyne Sutton ’28 said.

Although the Trump administration continues to attack transgender female athletes, many stay hopeful for a more inclusive future. “Let everyone play how they want to play. If you’re not happy with it, then don’t play the sport,” Mager said.