Happy New Year 2025

Tag: athletes

Massachusetts rep blasts Republicans for ‘weaponizing’ transgender athletes: ‘Politics at its worst’

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., ripped her Republican colleagues this week, saying they politicize the controversial issue of transgender athletes competing against girls and women.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association is one of at least three state athletic organizations to say they will continue to allow trans athletes to compete against biological females despite President Donald Trump’s recent executive order barring them from doing so.

This has led to Trump’s Department of Education launching Title IX probes against the Massachusetts, Minnesota and California athletic federations.

“We’re going to say no to those trans kids? You can’t be part of a team, you can’t learn the camaraderie and be part of your community and feel a sense of belonging? It’s just cruel,” Trahan said, via the Boston Globe.

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan joined striking St. Vincent Hospital nurses on the 51st day of their picket line to show her support April 27, 2021. (Ashley Green/Telegram & Gazette via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

Trahan, who said she has not heard much of an outcry from parents in her state, added that she believes the issue should be up to each individual sports body, not politicians.

“They’re experts. They’re dedicated to their sports and creating fair and responsible rules for participation. Many of them have already implemented changes to ensure fairness and safety,” she said.

“I think that’s where the decisions should be made, but it doesn’t stop my Republican colleagues from weaponizing this issue, and it has a lot of consequence as a result.”

Save Women’s Sports advisor Beth Stelzer holds a press conference outside the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta March 17, 2022. (Brett Davis/USA Today Sports)

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The NCAA, despite President Charlie Baker saying in December he knew of fewer than 10 transgender athletes in the association, recently followed Trump’s order and barred transgender athletes from competing against females.

“You can’t ignore the [NCAA’s] data,” Trahan said, “but it doesn’t stop them. They think it’s a political winner for them. Whether they believe it or not, it doesn’t even matter. They have set such a dangerous narrative in our country around denying the existence of trans people.

“There are a lot of creeps out there, so now someone gets to accuse a girl who doesn’t look feminine enough or doesn’t have pigtails in her hair?” Trahan added. “How does she have to prove [her gender]? It’s poor policymaking. It’s politics at its worst.”

President Donald Trump signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

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The debate reached a new level nearly three years ago when Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer at Penn, won a Division I title. Trump issued his executive order as part of his announced plan to “ban” trans athletes from competing against girls and women while campaigning.

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February 15, 2025
CA lawmakers introduce bill protecting girls from trans athletes after state refuses to follow Trump’s order

After California took a stance refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, state Republicans are taking matters into their own hands.

On Friday, California lawmakers introduced three bills in the state legislature aimed to combat trans inclusion. One bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, focused specifically on sports. His bill would require that students use all school facilities only play on sports teams based on their biological sex and not their gender identity.

“We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change at the state and local level,” Essayli said at a press conference outside the state capital building in Sacramento Friday.

Former San Jose State University volleyball coach, who was suspended and then let go from the program after filing a Title IX complaint over the school’s handling of a trans player last season, spoke at Friday’s press conference just days after her home was shot at. Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital she believes she was “targetted.” Police have not determined a suspect or motive.

“We need to make sure there’s DNA testing and moving forward there’s only women playing in women’s sports,” Batie-Smoose said at the press conference. “We definitely need to continue this fight and make sure that laws and legislation is changed so that we can have safe spaces for women and women in sports.”

Essayli’s bill would reverse a current law in California that protects trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.

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A law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow that law, even after Trump’s executive order went into effect, in a previous statement provided to Fox News Digital.

The U.S. Department of Education announced earlier this week that it is launching a Title IX investigation into the CIF over potential Title IX violations for its refusal to comply with Trump’s order.

In addition, residents have held protests and threatened lawsuits in response to the CIF’s current stance.

Essayli’s bill is the second proposal that California has seen to address the issue in 2025 alone.

California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.

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“Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair – it’s disheartening and dangerous,” Sanchez said in a statement announcing the bill.

California’s enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the issue over the last year alone. Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue.

A school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls’ cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they said “Save Girls Sports.”

The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told “transgenders have more rights than cisgenders” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.

In San Diego, a middle school was recently thrust into local controversy because of a transgender student using the girls’ locker room. San Elijo Middle School previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital, crediting its enabling of the transgender student to access the girls’ locker room to the school’s obligation of following state law.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted against a measure to carry out the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports or entering girls’ locker rooms, despite pleas from multiple parents at the meeting to take action to protect the girls at the school.

Meanwhile, Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.

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Transgender athlete supporter Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside holds the progress pride flag as “Save Girls Sports” supporters Lori Lopez and her dad Pete Pickering, both of Riverside, listen to the debate as they join the overflow crowd converging outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Before that, a transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.

The two other bills that were introduced Friday, by Essayli and freshman Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, focus on empowering parents to remove their children from settings and situations that promote transgender ideology in public schools.

“Reestablishing the primacy of parental rights over dangerous indoctrination is a critical first step in reestablishing trust in our schools and educators,” Castillo said Friday.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 14, 2025
Linda McMahon speaks out on protecting women and girls from trans athletes during confirmation hearing

Linda McMahon made her stance clear on trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports during her confirmation hearing for education secretary on Thursday.

“I do not believe that biological boys should be able to compete against girls in sports, and I think now that certainly not only have the people spoken, because that was something that Trump ran very heavily on, but I believe the court has spoken,” McMahon said.

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Linda McMahon speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

Trump vowed during his 2024 campaign to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. Trump made good on that promise early when he signed the No Men in Women’s Sports executive order on Feb. 5.

Prior to that, the Supreme Court ruled in August to deny a Biden administration emergency request to enforce portions of the former president’s Title IX rewrites that would allow biological males in women’s and girls’ changing rooms.

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And as McMahon looks to get confirmed as education secretary, she insists on carrying out the original mission of Title IX, and keeping women’s sports for biological females.

“We are really back to what Title IX was originally established to do and that was to protect social discrimination. Women should feel safe in their locker rooms. They should feel safe in their spaces. They shouldn’t have to be exposed to men undressing in front of them,” McMahon said Thursday.

“I heard one person the other day say, ‘Well, guys should just hold the shower curtain in front of them so that they aren’t exposing themselves.’ I mean really, that’s just not what we should be doing. We should be making sure that Title IX, which is the law, should be enforced.”

The Biden administration education secretary, Miguel Angel Cardona, supported allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

Cardona helped draft the Title IX changes that would have prohibited blanket bans of transgender athletes on public school teams.

In a June 2021 interview with ESPN, Cardona said “transgender girls have a right to compete.”

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Linda McMahon testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Our LGBTQ students have endured more harassment than most other groups. It’s critically important that we stand with them and give them opportunities to engage in what every other child can engage in without harassment,” Cardona said.

“It’s their right as a student to participate in these activities. And we know sports does more than just put ribbons on the first-, second- and third-place winner,” he said. “We know that it provides opportunities for students to become a part of a team, to learn a lot about themselves, to set goals and reach them and to challenge themselves. Athletics provides that in our K-12 systems and in our colleges, and all students deserve an opportunity to engage in that.”

Now, under the Trump administration, there will be multiple layers of efforts to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, and McMahon’s agenda will be one of those layers if she is confirmed.

A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democratic, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 13, 2025
High school trans athletes fighting Trump’s executive order protecting girls’ sports in court

The families of two transgender high school athletes in New Hampshire have added President Donald Trump’s administration to a lawsuit challenging laws that prevent the athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

The teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit last year to challenge a current New Hampshire state law prohibiting trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. On Wednesday, a federal judge granted a request to add the Trump administration to the list of defendants over the president’s recent executive order.

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Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, which prohibited any federal funding for educational institutions that allow biological males to compete on women’s or girls’ sports teams.

New Hampshire was already one of 25 states with a law in place to enforce similar bans on trans inclusion, but Tirrell and Turmelle have been allowed to compete on girls’ teams anyway, thanks to the ruling of a federal judge in their state.

“The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel,” Chris Erchull, a GLAD attorney, said.

The lawyers claimed Trump’s executive order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money from being used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.

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The lawyers also claimed the executive orders unlawfully subject the teens’ schools to the threat of losing federal funding for allowing them to play sports.

The situation involving the two trans athletes has also prompted a second lawsuit after parents wore wristbands that read “XX” in reference to the biological female chromosomes, and were allegedly banned from school grounds for wearing them.

Plaintiffs Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote sued the Bow School District after being banned from school grounds for wearing the wristbands at their daughters’ soccer game in September.

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In the lawsuit filed by Fellers and Foote, they alleged they were told by school officials to remove the armbands or they would have to leave the game.

Both of the fathers say the intention of the armband was not to protest Tirrell, but to support their own daughters in a game that featured a biological male.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 13, 2025
Former Lia Thomas teammate calls out Democrats still fighting for trans athletes in women’s sports

EXCLUSIVE: Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Grace Estabrook was one of the many young women who shared a pool and locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2021-22 season.

From 2019, when she was first told Thomas would be joining her team, until her senior year in 2022, Estabrook alleged she was repeatedly pressured by the university not to oppose Thomas’ inclusion on the team. Estabrook told Fox News Digital that administrators tried to convince her that she would never get a job or get into grad school if she spoke out against it and that any issue she had with the situation was because she had a “psychological problem.”

And in between the practices and meets that made her feel “uncomfortable” and “powerless,” Estabrook says she also witnessed the mainstream media celebrate Thomas as a civil rights icon and even be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

But now, in 2025, Estabrook is one of three former UPenn swimmers who have filed a lawsuit against the university, the Ivy League and the NCAA over its handling of the situation as the tides on the issue turn in the court of public opinion.

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Penn’s Lia Thomas waits to swim in a qualifying heat of the 200-yard freestyle at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard University, Feb. 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Fox News Digital reached out to UPenn for comment.

Recent data suggests the vast majority of Americans now oppose trans athletes in women’s sports. The NCAA recently changed its policy to prevent them from competing in the women’s category after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to address the issue last Wednesday.

Still, many Democrats continue to fight for trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports, and multiple states have not complied with Trump’s order.

For Estabrook, who says she lived through the experience of changing her clothes with Thomas in the room and being threatened not to complain about it, the thought of elected officials still fighting for a cause that ensures other women experience what she did is “depressing.”

“That’s just really depressing,” Estabrook said. “I just don’t know why anyone would want to perpetuate abuse to women on large scales like this. I think that’s why we are doing what we’re doing. It’s because we want a clear court decision that will help institutions be able to set clear policies to make sure this never happens again. We want that enduring legal precedent. … It’s depressing, but that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Estabrook’s journey throughout the situation with UPenn has featured frequent “depressing” moments.

Her locker was only a few feet away from Thomas in the locker room, forcing her to back herself into a corner for the sake of her own comfort.

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“I would kind of back into a corner that had low visibility and just try to change as quickly as I could, and I had other teammates who would go into the bathroom stalls and change in there,” Estabrook said.

“We were the ones that were forced into hiding, it was very uncomfortable, and there was just this constant fear and disruption of peace of like, ‘OK, I just don’t have a safe environment here anymore,’ not only physically but emotionally and psychologically, and it was just incredibly stressful. I look back on it and I don’t know how I endured that.”

Estabrook added that the situation put “incredible” stress on both her mind and body, and it disrupted her swimming ability.

The positive media coverage of Thomas was the insulting cherry on top of the situation for Estabrook. She said that many times when she and her teammates traveled to a meet, they not only had to deal with the anxiety of Thomas in their space but also a horde of reporters there to cover the trans athlete in a positive light.

“I just remember feeling, ‘This is so alien,’” Estabrook said. “It just felt like it was this whole celebration of Thomas and the whole transgender ideology movement.”

“All of the media I remember seeing or reading at the time was celebrating Thomas as this groundbreaking figurehead of the transgender community … there was just such a celebration of it that it was really pushed in our faces and forcing us to accept it.”

Estabrook said the hardest moment of the experience came at the 2022 Ivy League championships. She hoped that Thomas would be ruled ineligible to participate. However, the Ivy League allowed Thomas to swim. Thomas ultimately set pool records in every individual event the athlete competed in and topped the victor’s podium four times.

Thomas went on to put up a similar performance at the 2022 NCAA championships. There, Thomas ended up in an infamous tie with former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. That tie ultimately sparked the seeds for change that gave Estabrook and countless other women hope when the experience prompted Gaines to speak up and become a prominent advocate for women’s athletes seeking protection from trans inclusion.

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Former UPenn swimmer Grace Estabrook (Grace Estabrook)

“I was just so grateful for her bravery,” Estabrook said. “I really do feel empowered by the work that Riley Gaines has been doing and seeing women jump on that same train and start to speak out. … It empowered me to be able to do the same.”

More hope came this past year after Trump pledged during a Fox News town hall interview in October that, if elected, he would ban trans athletes in women’s sports. Trump won the election, and exit polls suggested the issue of trans inclusion played a prominent role in the decision of many moderate voters.

Trump quickly made good on his promise, signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order last Wednesday. For Estabrook, seeing this come to fruition has gone a long way in affirming her political beliefs.

“I was very excited to hear that and even more excited when that became a reality last week so quickly after he took office,” Estabrook said. “It’s just very encouraging to see that we have a president who is just so supportive of us and is also seeing this in accordance with reality.”

Estabrook’s lawsuit, which has been filed alongside former teammates Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski, seeks to have all of Thomas’ records and accolades as a woman swimmer revoked.

In addition to Estabrook’s lawsuit, Trump’s Department of Education has launched an investigation into potential Title IX violations that occurred at UPenn and has also advised the NCAA to discard Thomas’ accolades in the women’s category.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 12, 2025
San Diego fails to pass measure protecting girls from trans athletes despite pleas from parents

A middle school in San Diego has been thrust into local controversy because of a transgender student using the girls’ locker room.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted against a measure to carry out the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports or entering girls’ locker rooms.

Vice Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Jim Desmond brought forth the proposal at a San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday. However, the measure did not get any votes from other supervisors outside of Desmond.

“People came into the meeting with their minds already made up on the issue,” Desmond told Fox News Digital.

“The rest were mothers who just didn’t think it was fair or safe for males to be playing in girls’ or women’s safe. So the room was probably 60-40 in favor of letting them play, but I think that’s just the turnout of who was able to take the day off and come down here. I think the vast majority of the people in San Diego County agree that males should not be playing in women’s and girls’ sports.”

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Tuesday’s meeting featured several arguments from concerned parents who expressed their concern over their daughters being forced to share locker rooms with biological males.

The middle school where this controversy is taking place, San Elijo Middle School, provided a statement to Fox News Digital, crediting its enabling of the transgender student to access the girls’ locker room to the school’s obligation of following state law.

“Public school districts in California are governed by, and must act in accordance with, California state law and the California Education Code,” San Elijo Middle School’s statement reads.

“As a California public school district, we will continue to follow state law and guidance from the California Department of Education to ensure that all students are treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. Our district remains committed to upholding policies that support all students, in accordance with state protections and anti-discrimination laws.”

President Donald Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order last Wednesday, which cuts federal funding for any educational institution that allows biological males to compete with girls and women.

However, multiple states, including California, have insisted they will not comply with Trump’s order. According to USA Facts, California public schools receive about $16.8 billion per year, which is 13.9% or one in every seven dollars of public school funding, which is well above the national average.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records,” a CIF statement said.

Desmond said that many of his local constituents reached out to him expressing concern and disbelief about the state’s handling of the situation.

“They think it’s crazy, and I’ve heard questions of ‘is it even legal?’” Desmond said.

For Desmond, as a Republican, he sees the Democrat refusal to comply with Trump’s order as an issue that will continue to harm support for the party in his state.

“These people didn’t get the message in the last election and they’re just digging the hole deeper. They’re doubling down, digging their heels in the ground, ‘yes we’re right,’” Desmond said, adding that he thinks and hopes the trans athlete debate will strengthen Republican support in California.

TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND

“I think it’s empowering us with the new administration to stand up and do what’s right. And that’s all we’re trying to do, we’re not trying to discriminate against anybody. If you want to be trans, if you want to identify as another [gender], fine, go for it, you have that right, but where do your rights end and somebody else’s begin? You can’t have one boy cause 30 girls to have to leave and go change some place else, that’s not right, we need a better system.”

The decision by California not to comply with Trump’s order has recently prompted backlash and even protests and threats of lawsuits by the state’s residents.

On Friday, residents gathered in Long Beach, California, to protest outside a CIF federated board meeting. The protesters then spoke at the board meeting, pleading with the CIF officials to follow the president’s order and threatening civil lawsuits against the CIF and state.

Currently, there is one lawsuit against the CIF and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, over a situation at Martin Luther King High School involving a trans athlete on the girls’ cross-country team.

A recent school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls’ cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they said “Save Girls Sports.”

The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told “transgenders have more rights than cisgender[s]” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.

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That is just one controversy in the state that has erupted over the last year from its laws that enable trans inclusion in girls’ sports.

Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.

A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.

California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 12, 2025
Education Department calls on NCAA, NFHS to strip awards, records ‘misappropriated’ by trans athletes

The United States Department of Education is calling on the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to strip the records and awards “misappropriated” by transgender athletes competing in girls and women’s sports less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively banning them from competition.

The statement follows a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) to the NCAA and the NFHS on Tuesday urging the organization to “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker give a television interview during the game between the UCLA Bruins and the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 25, 2023 in Greenville, South Carolina. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The statement went on to call on the organizations to strip any accolades from those athletes that “unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics,” adding that doing so would align the groups with the new policy.

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Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order on Wednesday, which will require entities that receive federal funding to align with Title IX, which the Trump administration changed last week to recognize protections on the basis of biological sex — undoing former President Joe Biden’s 2024 rewrite.

Surrounded by female athletes, Trump declared at the signing ceremony that “the war on women’s sports is over.”

In response to the executive order, NCAA President Charlie Baker later released a statement stating that the Board of Governors would review the executive order and take steps to align the organization’s policy in the coming days.

A general view of NCAA pool flags. (Scott Taetsch/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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“We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” the statement read.

“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”

The following day the NCAA officially updated its gender eligibility policy that “limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Candice Jackson, Deputy General Counsel, said in a statement Tuesday that the NCAA’s decision to change its policy was only the first step.

“The next necessary step is to restore athletic records to women who have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades. The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes.”

The executive order has been met with pushback.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week.

The Education department’s latest plea is also expected to be met with similar rebuffs.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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February 11, 2025
Neil deGrasse Tyson catches flak on social media over ‘curious’ post about athletes praising God

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson took flak on social media over a post about professional athletes thanking God when they win a major sporting event.

Athletes have routinely spoken openly about their faith and beliefs in God and Jesus. NFL players like C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels, Harrison Butker, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and others have credited their abilities and winning ways to their faith.

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Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, an executive producer for “Shot in the Arm,” poses on the red carpet before the world premiere for “80 For Brady” during the Palm Springs International Film Festival in Palm Springs, California, on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK)

“Curious that talented athletes frequently credit God when they win, but we rarely see them blame God when they lose,” Tyson wrote on X.

Tyson’s curiosity drew backlash on social media. One person pointed to Texas Longhorns cornerback Jahdae Barron’s speech about the trust in his faith as a counterpoint to Tyson’s post.

Hurts, Darius Slay and head coach Nick Sirianni both spoke about faith following their win.

“God’s blessed us very much,” Sirianni told FOX’s Tom Rinaldi. “He gave us all the talents to be able to get here, so first and foremost, thanks to Him. … Thank God, thank you Jesus.”

EAGLES’ JALEN HURTS, NICK SIRIANNI PRAISE GOD AFTER WINNING SUPER BOWL LIX: ‘THANKS TO HIM’

Neil deGrasse Tyson during the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Jan. 28, 2018. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY)

During the trophy presentation, he said to Terry Bradshaw, “All glory to God.”

Slay thanked his “Lord and Savior” when speaking with the NFL Network after the game.

In speaking with Erin Andrews, Jalen Hurts, the game’s MVP, said, “God is good. He’s greater than all the highs and the lows.”

Stroud, the Houston Texans’ quarterback, revealed his faith-based answer when asked about his goals for 2025.

“Lock it back in with the Lord. Kinda in the lukewarm season – one foot in, one foot out. The Lord has helped me get outta that,” he said. “So, that’s really my 2025 goal is to be locked in with the Lord as much as possible.

Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers players kneel to pray on the field after an AFC wild card game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Jan. 11, 2025. (Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)

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“You know, fasting and praying, being part of a church here in Houston. That’s my 2025 goal, being closer to the Lord.”

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

February 11, 2025
Trump reacts to athletes emulating his dance moves

One major trend that sparked in the sports world ahead of the 2024 presidential election was athletes emulating President Donald Trump’s dance moves during a game or match.

San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa did the Trump dance and followed it up by showing off his “Make America Great Again” hat after a win during the season. In the Octagon, UFC star Jon Jones hit the Trump dance in front of the president after winning a fight.

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President-elect Donald Trump greets Jon Jones after he defeated Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier in an interview before Super Bowl LIX that he never expected his dance moves to go viral.

“We do these rallies. They’ve always been great, but they got really great, and I don’t [know] what it is,” he said. “I try and walk off sometimes without dancing and I can’t. I have to dance because it’s just, it just got something special about it.”

Jones called UFC 309 – his win over Stipe Miocic and doing the Trump dance – the “biggest moment of my life.”

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San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa celebrates after sacking Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield during the second half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

“… And tonight was incredibly special,” he said in November, via MMA Fighting. “Finishing (Daniel Cormier) is up there too. Stephan Bonnar was the first star that I fought as a young man. Everybody around me told me that I was no one and that I couldn’t do it, and I had to really work on meditation and bringing up my self-esteem for the first time to beat Stephan Bonnar. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ taught me that I could be great. Kid from a small [town], never great at anything, I became a champion. D.C., it was just very personal.

“And tonight, tonight is the biggest moment of my life. To talk about Jesus in front of our president and let the world know how truly proud I am to be an American champion, it felt awesome, man. To finish Stipe, it felt awesome.”

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris to win a second term in the White House.

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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

February 9, 2025
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The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)’s refusal to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports has prompted outrage within the state.

On Friday, residents gathered in Long Beach, California, to protest outside of a CIF federated board meeting.

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The protesters then spoke at the board meeting, pleading with the CIF officials to follow the president’s order.

Protesters even threatened civil lawsuits against the CIF and state in case they continue to refuse compliance with Trump. Currently, there is one lawsuit against the CIF and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, over a situation at Martin Luther King High School involving a trans athlete on the girls’ cross-country team.

“There will be more lawsuits to follow if the CIF does not follow federal law,” said Julianne Fleischer, a Legal Counsel at Advocates for Faith & Freedom, at the event. “I want CIF to know that it is important you follow federal law or you will be held accountable for failing to enforce federal law throughout the school districts … with more lawsuits they’re going to spend significant funds on litigation.”

Trump’s executive order states that any school receiving federal funding that allows biological males to compete in the girls’ or women’s category will lose that federal funding. According to USA Facts, California public schools receive about $16.8 billion per year, which is 13.9% or one in every seven dollars of public school funding, which is well above the national average.

Many of the protesters there made it a point to warn the state of the consequences of losing that federal funding.

A California school district employee showed up at the protest to plead with the CIF to follow Trump’s order. Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified School Board President, spoke from her perspective as a mother and became visibly emotional when she scolded the CIF for its decision, calling it “shameful.”

“Whoever is in CIF at the top level putting out those woke weird toolkit on telling boys about how to compete against girls, if you’re a part of that, you’re disgusting, and you need to step out of here,” Shaw said.

In California, a law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, giving California students at the scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”

California Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as, “A person’s actual sex or perceived sex includes a person’s perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth.”

CIF Bylaw 300.D. mirrors the Education Code, stating, “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”

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These laws and the subsequent enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state have resulted in multiple controversies over the issue in the last year alone.

At Martin Luther King High School, the father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans cross-country athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school had been told that “transgenders have more rights than cisgender[s]” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.

That father, longtime firefighter Ryan Starling, showed up at the protests and board meeting on Friday and shared his daughter’s story.

“We’re asking you guys today to be bold and be brave and stand up for our girls,” Starling said.

Starling also suggested that the CIF set up a category specifically for trans athletes, to avoid exclusion.

“How about you make an open category? Start protecting our girls immediately so that everybody can still compete, but that everybody has their place,” Starling said.

Starling’s family is a plaintiff in the current lawsuit against CIF and Bonta. The suit challenges AB 1266, which allows transgender athletes to compete against girls and women, claiming it is a Title IX violation.

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“Plaintiffs seek a federal ruling that AB 1266 violates Title IX as well as a decision holding the District accountable for violating their First Amendment rights. They demand injunctive relief to stop schools from forcing biological girls to compete with and against males, a judgment affirming sex-based protections in athletics and compensation for damages caused by these discriminatory policies,” an Advocates for Faith & Freedom spokesperson said.

The issue of trans athletes competing with girls and women has caused other controversies within the state in recent months.

Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.

A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, and Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.

California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 8, 2025