By DIRK VANDERHART and TIFFANY CAMHI/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The latest in a flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump is a push to keep trans women out of women’s sports. The “No Men In Women’s Sports” executive order follows other measures Trump has signed targeting transgender participation in the military and access to health care.
Oregon allows transgender youth to participate in competitive athletics in alignment with their gender identity. According to the organization that governs high school sports, the Oregon School Activities Association, students are allowed to participate in athletics or activities in line with “their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.”
Oregon Republicans have pressed for years to ensure trans girls don’t participate in girls sports. They cheered Wednesday’s order.
House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said she’d soon introduce a bill to redraw the lines of high school athletics, consistent with Trump’s executive order.
“Women have fought for — and earned — respect and support for themselves in sports and have made incredible gains in doing so. We must defend that progress and stand up for fairness.” Drazan said in a statement released on National Girls and Women’s in Sports Day. She added that it’s possible to “respect the dignity of every individual without endangering women in sports.”
Drazan’s proposal has plenty of company. At least three other bills filed by Republicans in Salem this year propose to limit the participation of transgender athletes in competitive sports.
Senate Bill 618, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, would require school districts to ensure that “every athletic competition or extracurricular sport is expressly designated by the biological sex of the students who participate in the competition or sport.” The bill goes on to say there is no restriction by gender for students interested in competing in male sports.
Bonham, who was on hand to witness Trump sign the order Wednesday, said it was “a huge step forward, and Oregon leaders ought to follow suit to ensure our girls are protected.”
But history suggests the Republican proposals have little chance in a Legislature dominated by Democrats who oppose Trump’s policies. GOP lawmakers have introduced similar bills each year since 2023, but none has been granted a hearing.
Top Democratic lawmakers did not offer a response to Trump’s order or the Republican proposals when asked Wednesday.
That doesn’t mean Trump’s order won’t have the power to change state policy. School groups were still working to understand the impact of the pronouncement Wednesday afternoon.
In a statement provided to OPB Wednesday, OSAA officials said it is reviewing the executive order and “its potential effect on current Oregon nondiscrimination law.”
“The OSAA will continue to act under the direction of the Association’s members and in compliance with applicable law to support meaningful and enriching participation opportunities for tens of thousands of Oregon students,” said an OSAA spokesperson in an email.
The Oregon School Boards Association said Wednesday state school districts would look to guidance from OSAA and the Oregon Department of Education for how the order would impact them.
Losing federal funding would be devastating to many Oregon districts, but OSBA spokesperson Jake Arnold noted “there are likely many steps before federal funding can legally be removed.” That includes a complaint being filed with a federal agency, an investigation into the complaint, and a formal decision that could be challenged in court.
“Ultimately the courts will decide the parameters,” Arnold said in an email. “Typically, schools are given the opportunity to adjust before federal action is taken.”
Basic Rights Oregon, the state’s leading advocacy group representing LGBTQ+ people, said the order threatened kids’ ability to participate in sports with their friends.
“Transgender people are a very small portion of the population, and targeting transgender girls who want to play sports makes them vulnerable to isolation and bullying,” the group said in a statement. “Furthermore, this EO cannot be enforced without investigations by the federal government, which puts all families’ and kids’ privacy at risk.”
The advocacy group said it would wait to see whether Trump’s order will have real impact, noting that some others had been blocked or delayed since he took office last month.
- This story originally appeared Feb. 5, 2025 on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Oregonians have always been respectful and generally accepting of other’s differences. Let’s not take this step towards regulating those differences. No good can come of that path.