The Virginia High School League (VHSL) has announced that it will comply with the executive order banning transgender athletes assigned male at birth from competing in girls’ sports.
VHSL is the governing body for high school sports in the commonwealth. It represents 318 member schools and more than 177,000 student athletes.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on February 5 to limit participation in women’s and girls’ sports to athletes assigned female at birth.
The order claims that allowing transgender women and girls to participate in women’s sports is in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. It orders the Secretary of Education to “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions” against educational institutions that allow women not assigned female at birth to participate in women’s sports.
This order is specific to women’s sports and does not mention transgender men or boys participating in men’s sports.
Though transgender students in Virginia schools were previously allowed to participate in the sports that aligned with their gender identity, VHSL said in a statement Monday that its executive committee voted to comply with the executive order.
VHSL staff will “adjust the language to the VHSL handbook and policy manual in the coming days,” the announcement said.
This announcement comes after Gov. Glenn Youngkin posted on Facebook urging the league to comply.
“The Virginia High School League must change course immediately just like the NCAA. Virginia schools are at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal school funding if the VHSL doesn’t comply with President Trump’s Executive Order protecting girls sports,” Youngkin wrote on Friday. The NCAA, which governs collegiate athletics, announced on February 6 that it would comply.
In 2023, VHSL declined to accept Youngkin’s model policies that sought to require students to play on sports teams matching their gender assigned at birth. Those policies lacked clear guidelines for enforcement, and VHSL opted at the time to maintain its policy, The Washington Post reported.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
