By Andrea Shalal and Daniel Trotta
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration will take a series of actions on Wednesday targeting the participation of transgender girls and women in school sports, a White House official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order directing federal agencies, including the Department of Justice and Department of Education, to interpret Title IX, a law that bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports, the official said.
The White House will also direct the State Department to review visa applications of transgender people for “fraud,” and planned to elevate the issue internationally, including at the United Nations, and in the private sector, the official said.
The U.S. will use “all of our authority and our ability” to enforce the order with regard to International Olympic Committee events on U.S. soil, the official said.
The official said the order was aimed at protecting girls and women in schools, citing what they described as thousands of complaints from people concerned about the integration of transgender athletes into sports.
It reflects a narrow interpretation of Title IX, arguing that it is a sex-based law that only protects people born as women, not those born as male who undergo surgery or hormone treatment, the official said.
Trump’s administration has taken aim broadly at transgender rights since taking office on Jan. 20. He issued an executive order attempting to deny the legitimacy of transgender identities by ordering government employees to refer only to “sex” and not “gender,” and declaring sex to be an “immutable biological reality” that precludes any change in gender identity.
Other executive orders have attempted to ban transgender people from serving in the military and to end any federal government support for healthcare that aids in gender transition.
While Trump supporters have hailed the president for making good on campaign promises, critics say Trump has overstepped his executive authority while attempting to restrict the rights of a small minority of people, who amount to 0.6% of the U.S. population over age 13, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rod Nickel)
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