The VHSL said Monday it will comply with President Donald Trump's executive order to keep transgender women from playing on women’s high school sports teams.
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The Virginia High School League announced Monday afternoon that it will comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to keep transgender women from playing on women’s high school sports teams.
The league’s executive committee voted Monday to change the policy.
The VHSL is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the state. There are 318 member schools in the VHSL and more than 177,000 students who compete each school year in sports and academic activities.
“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,” said VHSL executive director Billy Haun in a statement. “The compliance will provide membership clear and consistent direction.”
The VHSL said its executive committee directed “staff to immediately propose policy changes in the form of emergency legislation to comply with the Executive Order.” The VHSL said it would change its handbook and policy manual in the “coming days.”
Trump signed the executive order Feb. 5.
“From now on women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said Feb. 5. “With this executive order the war on women’s sports is over.”
Trump’s order directs the Education Department to inform schools that if they allow transgender athletes to compete they will be in violation of Title IX. Title IX is a federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools. Under Title IX, schools that discriminate based on sex are not eligible for federal funding.
In a post on X Feb. 8, Gov Glenn Youngkin (R) encouraged the VHSL to follow the executive order.
“Biological boys should not be competing against girls. This is just common sense,” Youngkin wrote on his post. “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.”
In 2014, the VHSL approved the participation of transgender athletes in prep sports. The motion passed by 27-0 vote of the league’s executive committee, which is made up of school principals and athletic directors, among others, from throughout the state.
