Trump bans transgender athletes from women’s sports, Fresno County supervisor and CSUF professors weigh in

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban transgender women and girls from competing in female sports -while some people in favor of the ban said this will protect women athletes, opponents are not convinced.

Dozens of women and girls stood behind President Trump signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order.”

“Young girls and women and adult women, yeah, you are now safe to compete and do the very best that you can against other women,” Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld said.

The Trump Administration said this order aims to protect women athletes to have safe and fair athletic opportunities.

But people like Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Associate Professor at Fresno State, Dr. Katherine Fobear believe this won’t help women.

“This is a very much a bogus claim of protection as well as a non-issue that has become an issue for, I think, very political purposes,” Fobear said.

Another Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Fresno State Professor Kathryn Forbes believes this could do more harm than good.

“What other kinds of things are you disallowing in terms of gender expression within K through 12 and in college, and what kinds of legal protections are you going to deny them at that point?” Forbes said.

The issue of transgender women in women’s sports was a large topic leading up to the November elections.

After winning the election, Trump pledged to “Keep men out of women’s sports.”

Bredefeld said the ban is long overdue.

“This attack by the prior administration on women and women’s sports is unprecedented and quite frankly, the biggest disgrace I’ve seen in a long time,” Bredefeld said.

The CIF responding to the order in a statement reading in part:

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.
CIF.

“That dangerous, destructive ideology that infected women’s sports is over,” Bredefeld said.