The fallout from the Trump administration’s assault on LGBTQ+ rights reached two universities last week in decisions bowing down to diktats around trans student-athletes and so-called “gender ideology.”

At Stanford University, officials intend to bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, the Stanford Daily reports. The changes apply to athletes assigned male at birth and assigned females who have begun hormone therapy, according to a policy document obtained by the Daily. Those student-athletes can still practice with women’s teams but can no longer compete with them.

Related

NCAA bans trans women from sports without even consulting its own doctors
Critics of the ban say it does nothing to actually protect women’s sports.

No similar bans apply to athletes competing on men’s teams, who can participate regardless of their assigned gender at birth, according to the document.

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The policy aligns with both President Trump’s executive order banning trans student-athletes from competition and an NCAA directive issued in response.

The NCAA revised its policy the day after Trump signed his order, titled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” on February 5. The order calls the purge of transgender women and girls in sports “a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth” and directs all federal agencies to withhold funding from educational institutions that allow trans student-athletes to play.   

“These policies are unfair to female athletes and do not protect female safety,” the order reads.

On Friday, Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents passed a resolution banning all drag performance on its 11 university campuses, the Texas Tribune reports.

The resolution, approved in a unanimous vote, says the board recognizes the need for universities to foster a sense of community and belonging among students but adds that drag shows are “inconsistent with [the system’s] mission and core values, including the value of respect for others.”

Drag shows are “likely to create or contribute to a hostile environment for women,” contrary to university and federal anti-discrimination policies, the resolution claims.

“These events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex for many members of the respective communities of the universities, particularly when they involve the mockery or objectification of women,” the resolution states.  

It echoes similar language found in Trump’s “gender ideology” exective order, officially titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government.”

Both Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have warned that federal and state funds won’t be allocated to institutions “promoting” any activity not in compliance with a definition of two “immutable” sexes, male and female.

In 2023, West Texas A&M University called off an on-campus drag show, inspiring a student-led lawsuit that argued the cancellation violated students’ First Amendment rights and a state law that prohibits universities from barring student organizations from using their facilities on the basis of political, religious, philosophical, ideological or academic viewpoints.

West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler called drag “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.”

The court has allowed the cancellation to stand while it decides the case.

“They are imposing a restraint on an entire category of protected speech under the First Amendment and in no public college campus should that ever occur per our Constitution,” said JT Morris, senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, of the regent’s decision Friday. Morris represents the students in the West Texas A&M case.

Last year, Texas A&M University cut an LGBTQ+ studies minor and stopped offering gender-affirming care at student health centers.  

The Trump administration has used several cabinet-level agencies to go after educational institutions it deems are out of compliance with its executive orders. The Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education has gone after schools and sports associations in California and Minnesota.

The same office and the Departments of Justice and Agriculture have threatened Maine with a cut-off of federal funds over Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) refusal to bow down to administration demands over trans student-athletes.

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