Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds joined President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Wednesday as he signed an executive order aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams.
The order would deny federal funds to schools that allow transgender women to participate in women’s sports at both the K-12 and collegiate level.
“I was proud to be with President @realDonaldTrump today as he signed an order to keep men out of women’s sports!” Reynolds posted to the social media website X, along with a video of Trump thanking her.
Reynolds was also in D.C. Wednesday to testify before a Congressional committee about Iowa’s efforts to create government efficiency.
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Iowa is among the states with state-level measures aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from competing in girls sports.
Reynolds signed a law in 2022 requiring school-sponsored athletic events to be designated as a men’s, women’s or coeducational sport. Athletes competing in women’s sports need to have female listed as the sex on their birth certificate.
There is not a similar prohibition for men’s sports in the bill.
“I applaud President Trump in his leadership to protect fair competition and allow girls and women to compete on an even playing field,” Reynolds said in a statement. “In 2022, I signed a law to prohibit biological males from competing in girls’ sports at all levels, signifying a victory for female athletes in Iowa. I am grateful to President Trump for taking this step to provide the same protections for all girls in sports.”
Gov. Kim Reynolds, surrounded by female athletes, signs House File 2416 into law in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol on Thursday, March 3, 2022. The law prohibits transgender women and girls from competing in female sports offered by Iowa schools, colleges and universities.
Also on hand in Washington, D.C. was Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who was one of Trump’s highest-profile Iowa endorsers in the 2024 Republican presidential caucuses. She said she was proud to join Trump as he signed the order.
“Every schoolgirl deserves the opportunity to safely compete and succeed in the sports she loves,” she said in a statement. “That’s why in Iowa, Governor Reynolds led the charge in signing a law to keep girls’ sports for girls, and I’ve fought to uphold half a century of landmark Title IX protections. Now, President Trump has cemented those protections so that young women across the country will compete on a fair playing field.”
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill focused on the same goal. The bill would amend Title IX to recognize sex “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” according to its text. Title IX is a federal civil rights law that bans sex and gender-based discrimination in schools.
Iowa’s four Republican representatives all voted in favor of it.
But statistics show relatively small numbers of transgender youth are participating in sports.
Federal survey data show transgender youth make up only 1.4% of American teenagers. And a 2017 study found that about 14% of transgender boys and 12% of transgender girls said they played sports.
NCAA President Charlie Baker said in January that of roughly 510,000 athletes competing in college sports, fewer than 10 have come out as transgender, the New York Times reported.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds joins Trump as he signs order targeting trans athletes
