The Virginia High School League (VHSL) announced on Monday that its executive committee voted to bring its league in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
Trump signed the executive order this past Wednesday, fulfilling one of his main campaign promises of keeping biological men out of girls and women’s sports.
The order was signed on Nationals Girls and Women in Sports Day, which celebrates females athletes in women’s sports and those committed to providing equal access to sports for all females.
The VHSL, which governs high school sports in the state, will comply with the executive order effective immediately.
“The VHSL is an association comprising 318 member schools with more than 177,000 students participating yearly in sports and academic activities. The VHSL is the governing body, and our member schools look to and rely on the VHSL for policy and guidance. To that end, the VHSL will comply with the Executive Order,” VHSL Executive Director John W. Haun said in a statement.
“The compliance will provide membership clear and consistent direction.”
TRUMP SIGNS ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ EXECUTIVE ORDER
The statement also noted that the VHSL executive committee directed staff to immediately propose policy changes in the form of emergency legislation to comply with the executive order. Language will be adjusted in its policy manual soon.
“This doesn’t have to be long. It’s all about common sense,” Trump said before signing the order last week, adding that “Women’s sports will be only for women.”
“The war on women’s sports is over,” he said.
Since Trump signed the order, the NCAA has also officially banned trans athletes from participating in women’s sports. Their announcement came one day after the signing, a quick response for the collegiate governing body.
“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team,” the new policy reads. The policy does allow biological females to compete in men’s sports.
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
Independent Women ambassadors Riley Gaines, Payton McNabb, Paula Scanlan, Sia Liilii, Lauren Miller, Kim Russell, Kaitlynn Wheeler, Linnea Saltz and Lily Mullens were present when Trump signed the executive order in the East Room of the White House.
Gaines, who hosts OutKick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast, was among those fighting for fairness in women’s sports after being outspoken about her experience swimming against Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who won the women’s NCAA Championships in 2022.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing before Trump signed the executive order that it “upholds the promise of Title IX.”
“President Trump pledged to restore common sense to our country, and he’s continuing to deliver on that with an executive order that he will sign later today,” she added. “The president will be signing an executive order, keeping men out of women’s sports to defend the safety of athletes, protect competitive integrity and uphold the promise of Title IX.”
Leavitt also called upon the Senate to pass the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act, which the House sent through last month. The bill would ban biological males from participating on girls’ school sports teams while also amending federal law to specify that student athletes must participate in school sports that coincide with their birth gender.
Virginia voted blue in the 2024 presidential election, with 52.1% of votes going to former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump received 46.3% of the vote.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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