Harvard Removes Transgender Inclusion Policy From Athletics Site After Trump Bans Trans Women From Women’s Sports

Harvard Athletics removed a policy promising inclusion for transgender athletes from its website Wednesday after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at the school and collegiate levels.

Through Tuesday, Harvard Athletics’ Transgender Inclusion Policy affirmed Harvard’s commitment to creating “a space that is welcoming and inclusive to all identities; including but not limited to gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the policy had been removed from Harvard Athletics’ webpage. The department’s other Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Policies — featured on the same page — still included language protecting students and staff from exclusion based on “sex, including sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Trump’s order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” allows federal agencies to reinterpret Title IX and define “sex” as one’s sex assigned at birth. It would effectively disallow transgender women from participating in women’s athletics.

Under the order, the federal government will cut funds to educational institutions that allow trans women to compete in women’s sports. The order also directs the U.S. Department of Education to “prioritize” Title IX actions against schools that do not bar trans women from women’s locker rooms.

The order comes one day after three former athletes at the University of Pennsylvania sued Harvard, Penn, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Ivy League for allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete for Penn’s women’s team in the 2022 Ivy League Championship, claiming the defendants violated Title IX regulations.

Harvard defers to NCAA regulations for policies governing trans athletes’ participation in specific sports.

Trump’s order could force the NCAA to alter its policies for allowing transgender athletes to compete. Currently, the NCAA’s transgender athlete participation policy allows athletes to compete on women’s teams if their testosterone levels remain below a maximum limit, determined on a sport-by-sport basis.

NCAA President Charlie Baker ’79 wrote in a press release that Trump’s order “provides a clear, national standard.”

“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,” Baker wrote. “We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”

The executive order, Trump’s 46th since taking office on Jan. 20, joins a series of other actions aimed at limiting trans rights.

Trump called the ban “common sense” at the signing ceremony, which happened on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and signed the order while surrounded by young female athletes.

Trump previously signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to remove policies that “promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology.” He then signed another order reverting Title IX policies to those in place during his first term, a reversal of an overturned Biden-era widening of Title IX understanding that increased protections for trans students.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.