By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle
Two executive orders signed Tuesday by Gov. Mike Braun sought to reinforce prohibitions for collegiate transgender athletes.
The Republican governor said the orders intend to “protect women’s sports” and “make clear that Indiana does not endorse the gender ideology that has put women’s sports in danger.”
“Women’s sports create many opportunities for young women. Allowing biological men to compete against women in female-only sports destroys those opportunities,” Braun said at a news conference. “Hoosiers overwhelmingly agree that they don’t want men competing in women’s sports.”
One of the orders requires Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education (CHE) to review policies at the state’s colleges and universities “to ensure compliance” with the state’s educational institutions must comply with the 2020 Title IX Rule, rather than former President Joe Biden’s 2024 rule that extended protections to transgender student athletes.
CHE must complete the review by Sept. 30 and publish a written report by Dec. 31.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to ban transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ sports. The Indianapolis-based NCAA has since issued a new policy that no longer allows transgender women to compete in women’s college sports.
Legislation barring transgender women from playing on collegiate women’s sports teams is also advancing in the legislature.
House Bill 1041 would require all sports teams at Indiana’s public and private higher educational institutions to be either male, female or coeducational. Athletes assigned male at birth would be barred from participating in a “female, women’s, or girls’ team or sport.”
Colleges and universities would have to establish grievance procedures, and students who are “deprived of an athletic opportunity” or are injured as a result of violations would be able to file civil lawsuits.
Lawmakers approved a separate bill in 2022 to ban transgender girls from participating in K-12 sports.
Braun said his order “wasn’t done to dovetail any particular piece of legislation,” but rather “was to put out a clear statement on where we stand as a state,” and guarantees that Indiana’s prohibitions remain in place — given that NCAA and federal policies can “ebb and flow.”
A second executive order reiterates that state agencies must “adhere” to definitions for “sex,” “gender,” “women,” “male,” “citizen,” “individual” and “person” that are already in code.
It additionally bars the use of state funds “to promote gender ideology,” and directs agencies to “avoid using terms that obfuscate the fundamental, deeply rooted legal distinction between men and women,” including phrases like “chest feeding,” “birthing persons,” “men with periods,” and “people who menstruate.”
When asked if Hoosiers can still petition a judge to change the gender on their birth certificate, Brun said “that would probably have to be determined by the courts.”
