Quote:IOC likely to announce new policy early in new year after findings of a scientific review about the permanent physical advantages of being born male

Quote:The International Olympic Committee is set to announce a ban on transgender women in female competition early next year after a science-based review of evidence about permanent physical advantages of being born male.

The IOC’s guidance to Olympic sports has until now been that transgender women can compete with reduced testosterone levels but leaves it up to individual sports to decide. That is now set to change under its new president, Kirsty Coventry, who has promised to protect the female category.

The committee’s medical and scientific director, Dr Jane Thornton, last week presented to IOC members at a meeting in Lausanne the initial findings of a science-based review into transgender athletes and competitors with differences of sexual development (DSD) competing in female sport.

Sources said the presentation by Thornton, a Canadian former Olympic rower, stated that scientific evidence showed there were physical advantages to being born male that remained with athletes, including those who had taken treatment to reduce testosterone levels.

“It was a very scientific, factual and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” one source said. Another IOC insider said there had been hugely positive feedback from IOC members about the presentation.

Quote:The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The new policy, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” and references Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to “rescind all funds” from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in women’s sports.

Quote:The University of Pennsylvania will block transgender athletes from female sports teams and erase the records set by swimmer Lia Thomas as part of an agreement with the federal government, the Department of Education said.

The agreement comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader restrictions on transgender people, as it steps up its efforts to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports nationwide and serving in the military.

Quote:Transgender women will be banned from playing on women’s soccer teams in England and Scotland following a U.K. Supreme Court ruling last month, the sport’s governing body said Thursday.

The Football Association said it had decided to change its rules that had allowed transgender athletes to play on women’s soccer if they had reduced testosterone levels. The Scottish Football Association made a similar decision that applies to competitive women and girls’ soccer.

Quote:Republicans in the State Senate want biological gender [sic] to determine who plays on school sports teams. Female members of the caucus introduced the Save Women’s Sports Act.

Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan says she was forced to compete against an athlete who previously swam on the men’s team.

“He broke records in every single event that he swam and he went on to win the NCAA championship and the 500 freestyle becoming the first women’s team champion in our team history,” Scanlan says.

Prime Sponsor of Senate Bill 9 Sen. Judy Ward says males have biological differences that can be dangerous in women’s sports.

Quote:Sebastian Coe has vowed to “doggedly protect the female category and do whatever it takes to protect it” after World Athletics became the first sport to introduce DNA tests for elite female athletes.

Lord Coe insisted that the new policy, which he said would involve a one‑time cheek swab or dry blood test that was noninvasive, was necessary to protect fairness in the female category. World Athletics hopes to have testing in place in time for its outdoor world championships in September.

Quote:Newsom made the comments on the inaugural episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” featuring Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an organization that brings conservative politics to high school and college campuses. 

The governor announced the new podcast venture last month, promising frank conversations with some of the “biggest leaders and architects in the MAGA movement.” The first episode, which aired Thursday, saw Newsom engage in a friendly back-and-forth with Kirk, at one point asking him what advice he had for the Democratic Party. 

“Get better ideas, governor,” Kirk responded. “You, right now, should come out and be like, ‘You know what? The young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports — that shouldn’t happen.’ You, as the governor, should step out and say, ‘No.’” 

Kirk was referencing a transgender high school student’s victory in a girls’ triple jump event in California last month. He pressed Newsom to speak out against the student’s participation. 

“I think it’s an issue of fairness; I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom said. “It’s an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.” 

Newsom, a likely contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, is the highest-profile Democrat so far to explicitly question or oppose the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s athletics. 

Quote:a recent New York Times/Ipsos poll that found 79 percent of Americans believe trans athletes should not be allowed to participate in women’s athletics. 

Quote:All track and field athletes wishing to compete in the elite women’s category will be required to prove they are biologically female via a cheek swab under new rules set to be adopted by the sport.

World Athletics is consulting with athletes on the impact of proposed changes to its regulations on the eligibility of transgender women and athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).

The effect of the new proposals would be to treat both transgender and DSD athletes the same, with all athletes wishing to continue – or start – competing in the elite female category required to prove they are biologically female through a cheek swab.

Quote:The order will establish sweeping mandates on sex and sports policy and will direct federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, to interpret federal Title IX rules as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports categories, according to a White House document on the executive order obtained by ABC News.

Titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," the order will mandate immediate enforcement, including against schools and athletic associations that "deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms," according to the document, and will direct state attorneys general to identify best practices for enforcing the mandate.

Quote:Texas Democrats Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar voted with Republicans to pass legislation that would ban trans women and girls from competing in women’s sports.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act passed the House in a 218 to 206 vote on Tuesday (14 January), backed by a large majority of Republicans, and two Democrats. Three Republicans and six Democrats did not vote, and one Democrat, Don Davis of North Carolina, voted “present.”

The legislation would amend Title IX, the civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination, in order to ban schools that receive federal funding from allowing trans girls and women from taking part in athletic programs or activities “designated for women or girls.”

The bill defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

Quote:Two high school cross-country runners and their families are suing a California school district, alleging their "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts were likened to a swastika.

Plaintiffs Kaitlyn and Taylor, two athletes at Martin Luther King High School in ninth and eleventh grade, respectively, wore T-shirts bearing the messages "Save Girls’ Sports" and "It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY."

The girls wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who didn’t consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing Taylor from her spot, the complaint alleged.

Quote:Athletic department school officials allegedly forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a "hostile" environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.

Quote:"T.S., who had held a position on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 since August 2024 was removed from the girls’ Varsity Top 7 to make room on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 for an eleventh-grade transgender student and T.S. was relegated to the junior varsity team for one of the most important meets of the season for college recruitment," the complaint said.

According to the girls' Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney, Julianne Fleischer, the lawsuit claims there were violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and their Title IX protections.

Quote:"We're seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports," Fleischer told Fox News Digital. "And so there's lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We're hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that we're going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another."

Under the Biden-Harris administration, Title IX was amended to include discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled against one of Biden's requests in August that would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it.