President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 5 banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports at any institution receiving federal funding.
Baptist pastor and Ohio State Rep. Gary Click (R-Fremont) – the sponsor and primary driver behind Ohio’s transgender sports ban – received an invitation to the White House and attended the executive order’s signing alongside anti-transgender activists from across the country.
The executive order amends language in Title IX – the landmark 1972 case that prohibits sex discrimination at public schools and universities – to cut federal funding to institutions that allow trans women and girls to compete in female athletic categories. It followed the Jan. 14 passage in the U.S. House of a blanket ban on transgender women in sports.
Ohio House Bill (HB) 68 – which Click also sponsored – was passed in the legislature, vetoed by Gov. Mike Dewine, with the veto overridden by a Republican supermajority in January 2024.
The law took effect in August 2025, barring transgender women from competing in women’s sports and banning legal access to gender-affirming health care for trans Ohioans under 18.
Signing the order
Hours before Trump publicly signed the order, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a prepared statement to the press.
“Gender ideology insanity is over,” she told reporters.
After taking the podium, Trump called the move “the latest in a sweeping effort to reclaim our culture.”
“All they want to do is transgender,” he said. “And if they continue, I think we’re going to end up, ultimately – well, it’s not going to matter, because we’ll never go along with them and we’ll just keep winning elections.”
“Nobody is going to be able to do a damn thing about it, because when I speak, we speak with authority,” Trump added.
Anti-transgender legislation in Ohio
Click – who earned a degree in religious education from the unaccredited Midwestern Baptist College in 1990 – has been the primary driver of much of the state’s anti-transgender legislation since he was first elected to represent Ohio’s 88th congressional district in 2020.
Most notably, he is the primary architect of HB 68, which also absorbed language from the original “Save Women’s Sports Act,” banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports from kindergarten through college.
In 2024, Click’s name was attached either a sponsor or co-sponsor to nine of the 14 pieces of anti-transgender legislation that appeared before lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse. That legislation included a bill that would require transgender people to disclose their former legal names in order to run for office, and a bill that would ban drag and gender performance in most public venues.
He also co-sponsored Ohio Senate Bill (SB) 104 – which will require transgender people to use the bathroom that matches the gender marker on their original birth certificate – and HB 8, which will require school staff to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents or guardians when it takes effect in April.
Click maintains a close relationship with the Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) – a far-right Christian lobbying organization that was designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center between 2015 and 2016.
He also partnered closely with the out-of-state, anti-transgender organization Partners for Ethical Care to organize public testimony from out-of-state, anti-transgender activists Chloe Cole, Prisha Mosley and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines.
Gaines was visible behind President Trump while he signed the order.
In a Feb. 5 statement, Click said he was “honored” to attend the signing and that “America is waking up from woke.”
Targeting a handful of athletes
During a Dec. 2024 Senate panel, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Charlie Baker told lawmakers there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes competing at the collegiate level of more than 500,000 across the country.
On Feb. 6, the NCAA announced the reversal of its 15-year policy, banning all transgender women from competing in all women’s sports.
In 2023, a representative for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) told Newsweek there were just five transgender girls playing on girls sports teams from kindergarten through high school.
In addition to a blanket sports ban for transgender women, the president also directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deny entry at the border to transgender women if they are “seeking to participate in women’s sports.” However, the order’s far-reaching language could affect transgender women seeking entry to the U.S. for any reason.
The order also directs the U.S. secretary of state to place direct pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban transgender people from competing in the games.
Just one out transgender woman has competed in the Olympic games: Laurel Hubbard competed in the womens’ weightlifting category during the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.
She did not place on the podium. 🔥
Ignite action
- If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
- To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state senator, click here.
Know an LGBTQ+ Ohio story we should cover? TELL US!
Submit a story!
