- President Donald Trump's latest executive order looks to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports
- The MHSAA is waiting to see if the order is in conflict with the state's premier civil rights law
- Video shows an MSU professor explaining the functions of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and it's potential impacts on MHSAA
An executive order from the Trump Administration has Michigan school athletic officials checking to see if the order conflicts with state law.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports'. The executive order seeks to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports and penalize groups that fail to comply.
"You will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding. There will be no federal funding," President Trump said Wednesday.
WATCH: NCAA CHANGES TRANSGENDER SPORTS PARTICIPATION POLICY FOLLOWING TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER
The Michigan High School Athletic Association says there are two transgender female athletes who were granted waivers to compete in their sports for the 2024-2025 school year.
MHSAA says there are more than 170,000 student-athletes competing within the organization.
"The MHSAA is awaiting further guidance as to potential conflicts between yesterday’s executive order and Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act," MHSAA spokesperson Geoff Kimmerly said in a statement.
The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 prohibits discrimination in sectors like employment, housing and education based on several factors such as race and national origin.
WATCH: TRUMP SIGNS ORDER RESTRICTING TRANSGENDER WOMEN FROM COMPETING IN FEMALE SPORTS
In 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed new amendments to the bill into law that included sexual orientation and gender identity according to Heather Johnson, an adjunct professor at Michigan State University's College of Law
"[The executive order] is just unprecedented and outside the process of a regular Title IX adjudication," Johnson said. "This doesn't really impact the majority of [MHSAA's] athletic programs or teams."
The president's executive order said allowing biological men to 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.'
Johnson, who is part of the LGBTQ+ community sees the order as intimidation towards underrepresented groups.
"We can't just erase whole swaths of the population," Johnson said. "We have intersex people. There are non-binary people. We have trans people. They are legitimate and they deserve civil rights."
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