The Trump administration is pausing $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender athlete policies, an official White House X account announced Wednesday morning.
The post alleged the Ivy League university’s policies are “forcing women to compete with men in sports” and ended with the Trump tagline, “Promises made, promises kept.”
The University of Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House announcement follows an executive order signed last month by President Donald Trump prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
The order, which referred to trans women as men, said having trans women and girls compete in women’s sports “is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
The order also stated that “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”
The University of Pennsylvania made national headlines in 2022 when a transgender student athlete, Lia Thomas, competed on the school’s women’s swim team and went on to become the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship.
Thomas faced intense backlash throughout her time competing, including repeated misgendering from conservative news outlets, some of which also posted pre-transition photos of her and used her deadname, meaning her legal name prior to transition.
Three former Penn swimmers filed a lawsuit last month against the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, the Ivy League and the NCAA for allegedly violating Title IX, a civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.
The Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday follows investigations it opened last month into the University of Pennsylvania over Thomas’ participation and San Jose State University over a player’s participation on the women’s volleyball team. The San Jose State student has never publicly commented on the controversy or confirmed that she is transgender.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request regarding whether the administration paused the university’s funding due to Thomas’ participation.
Trump’s executive order barring trans girls and women from participating in women’s sports rolled back Biden administration guidance that required schools to allow trans students to access school sports teams and sex-segregated facilities that align with their gender identities. The order tasked the Education Department with investigating potential violations.
White House officials told reporters at the time that the administration also planned to work with sports governing bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, to ensure the guidance is followed in noneducational settings.
Last month, a judge allowed two trans students who filed a lawsuit against New Hampshire’s law prohibiting trans girls from playing on female sports teams to expand their challenge to also include Trump’s executive order.
A federal judge in New Hampshire ruled last fall that the two girls could try out for their high school soccer and tennis teams while their lawsuit proceeds.
“I love playing soccer and we had a great season last fall,” one of the plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell, who is in 10th grade, said in a statement last month. “I just want to go to school like other kids and keep playing the game I love.”
Chris Erchull, as senior Staff Attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, one of the groups representing the teens, said the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting trans people “amount to a coordinated campaign to prevent transgender people from functioning in society.”
“The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel,” Erchull said in a statement last month. “School sports are an important part of education—something no child should be denied simply because of who they are. Our clients Parker and Iris simply want to go to school, learn, and play on teams with their peers.”
In addition to his order targeting trans student athletes, Trump also signed an order proclaiming that the government will recognize only two unchangeable sexes. He also signed orders barring trans people from serving openly in the military and restricting access to gender-affirming care for trans people younger than 19 nationwide. The latter two orders have been temporarily blocked by courts.
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