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Melania Trump has issued a rare political message addressing the LGBT community.
On Tuesday (June 30), the Supreme Court issued a joint ruling on two cases regarding transgender athletes.
In a 6-3 decision, the court upheld laws in Idaho and West Virginia that prevent trans athletes from joining girls' and women's sports teams.
The ruling overturns earlier decisions that sided with two transgender students, Lindsay Hecox from Idaho and 15-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson from West Virginia, who challenged the bans.
The court found that the laws do not violate Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in education.
The decision is expected to have wider implications, with at least 25 other states already enforcing similar restrictions on transgender athletes.
However, it remains unclear how it will affect ongoing legal challenges in states including California and Connecticut.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in the majority opinion that "states may maintain women's and girls' sports for biological females".
"Put simply, the statute and regulations do not speak to that issue in a way that could properly be interpreted to require schools to allow biological males to participate in women’s and girls’ sports," he continued.
"The question before the Court is: Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women's and girls' sports for biological females?
"In other words, may schools determine eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes," he added.
The First Lady, who very rarely makes political statements, weighed in on the ruling on social media by quoting a section of her self-titled book.
"As many of you may know, I fully support the LGBTQIA+ community. But we must also ensure that our female athletes are protected and respected," she wrote.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has now legally confirmed this opinion: 'Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females? ... The answer is yes.'"
Melania penned that it is possible to support "the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and also protect opportunities for female athletes".
"Respect everyone and keep girls' sports fair. Both ideals are essential," she concluded.
The decision was met with criticism from transgender rights advocates.
Sasha Buchert, Senior Attorney and Director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, Lambda Legal, said in a statement shared with ACLU: "This ruling is deeply harmful for transgender women and girls who only asked for the ability to participate in sports with their peers."
“Countless studies have demonstrated the myriad benefits that come with participation in team sports. Now, one population, transgender youth and collegians, are targeted for specific and baseless discrimination.
"We will not be deterred and will continue to fight back to secure the equal participation that all youth, including transgender youth, deserve," Buchert added.
Joshua Block, Senior Counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, also slammed the decision, pointing out that the "equality of transgender women and girls takes nothing away from, and in fact promotes, the equality of all women and girls".
"We will continue to advance the fundamental principle that all young people deserve equal opportunity to thrive and succeed," Block said.
President Donald Trump called the Supreme Court's decision a "BIG WIN" on Truth Social.
"The United States Supreme Court just RULED AGAINST MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS," he continued.
"Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP."
The conservative-majority Supreme Court has previously upheld several policies affecting transgender people, including allowing the Trump administration to enforce a Pentagon policy banning transgender individuals from serving in the military.
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President Donald Trump is celebrating after the US Supreme Court ruled that states can ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports.
The court voted 6 to 3 to overturn lower court decisions that had sided with transgender students challenging laws in Idaho and West Virginia.
The justices ruled that the state laws do not violate the Constitution, while unanimously agreeing that the restrictions also do not breach the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.
Reacting to the decision, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The United States Supreme Court just ruled against men playing in women's sports. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!"
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion that "states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females."
The ruling allows schools in Idaho and West Virginia to determine eligibility for girls' and women's sports teams based on a person's sex assigned at birth. The decision is also expected to influence similar laws across the country.
The legal battle centered on Idaho's Fairness in Women's Sports Act, passed in 2020, and West Virginia's Save Women's Sports Act, passed in 2021. Lower courts had previously blocked both laws after finding they violated constitutional protections and Title IX, leading the Republican led states to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Trump made transgender issues a major part of his 2024 presidential campaign, including running advertisements criticizing then Democratic nominee Kamala Harris' policies.
Ahead of the election, Trump also said in a Truth Social video: "The left-wing gender insanity being pushed at our children is an act of child abuse."
He continued: "Very simple. Here's my plan to stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth."
The issue has remained one of the most closely watched cultural and legal debates in the United States.
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who competed on the women's team after previously swimming on the men's team, became one of the most recognizable figures in the debate.
Thomas previously responded to critics in an interview with WHYY: "You don't get to pick and choose when you see me as a woman. You don't get to say, 'You can be a woman in these situations, but not in these' because you would never do that to a cis woman."
More recently, California high school athlete AB Hernandez drew national attention after winning the girls' high jump, long jump and triple jump events at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Track and Field Masters meet, adding fresh attention to the discussion over transgender participation in girls' and women's sports.
Donald Trump has slammed the inclusion of transgender women competing in women's sports, claiming that records "are now being smashed with ease" and that women's sports "as we know it will die".
Delivering his first major speech since exiting the White House back in January, the former president appeared at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida on Sunday (February 28).
And after teasing a third presidential run - telling the crowd "I may even decide to beat [the Democrats] for a third time" - Trump turned his attention to transgender athletes, focusing primarily on trans women in sports.
Addressing the applauding audience, the 74-year-old slammed Biden's policies and said: "A lot of new records are being broken in women’s sports, I hate to say that ladies, but you have got a lot of new records that are being shattered."
Watch Trump's address below:Trump added: "Young girls and women are incensed that they are now being forced to compete against those who are biological males. That is not good for women.
"That is not good for women’s sports, which worked so long and so hard to get to where they were.
"The records that stood for years and decades are now being smashed with ease, smashed. If this is not changed women’s sports as we know it will die and end."
During his speech, Trump also mimicked female powerlifters, earning him laughs from the crowd.
Concluding his point, Trump told those in attendance: "I think it's crazy what is happening, we must protect the integrity of women’s sports.
"And I don’t even know, is that controversial? Someone said, 'Well that’s going to be very controversial', and I said, 'That’s okay, you have not heard anything yet.'"
After making his point, many of those in the crowd stood to give the former president a standing ovation.
Trump's speech comes days after the House passed a historic gay and transgender reform bill aimed at safeguarding the equalities of the community.
Additionally, Trump would take aim at his successor, President Joe Biden, describing these early days in Biden's reign as "the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history".
The International Olympic Committee has confirmed that transgender women athletes will be banned from competing in all female events at the Olympic Games, starting with the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The decision applies across both individual and team competitions and forms part of a wider eligibility policy overhaul.
According to the IOC, the new rules are designed to ensure fairness in women’s sport. The policy will not be applied retroactively and will not affect grassroots or recreational sports programs. Instead, it focuses solely on elite Olympic competition and related IOC events.
The move has quickly drawn global attention, including a response from US President Donald Trump, who took to Truth Social to react to the announcement. He wrote: "Congratulations to the International Olympic Committee on their decision to ban Men from Women’s Sports. This is only happening because of my powerful Executive Order, standing up for Women and Girls!"
The International Olympic Committee stated that eligibility for female categories will now be limited to biological females. This will be determined through a one-time test for the SRY gene, which the IOC says is fixed throughout life and provides evidence of male sex development.
The organization said the policy "protects fairness, safety, and integrity in the female category" and pointed to scientific findings that males retain physical advantages in strength, power, and endurance.
The restriction will also apply to athletes with differences in sex development, including competitors like Caster Semenya, as part of a broader tightening of eligibility rules.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said the policy had been a priority before Trump returned to office. She stated via Sky Sports: "The policy was a priority for me way before President Trump came into his second term, so there has not been any pressure from us to deliver anything from anybody outside the Olympic movement."
She added that the IOC worked with more than 1,000 athletes while developing the framework and emphasized the importance of safeguarding and support systems during implementation.
The decision marks a shift from the IOC’s earlier stance, where individual sports were responsible for setting their own rules. Coventry began pushing for a unified policy after taking over leadership in 2025.
Pressure had been building from multiple sides, including political influence from the United States ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics.
The new policy will take effect in July 2028, with the IOC now working alongside international federations and national Olympic committees to finalize how the rules will be implemented.
A bill has been signed into law prohibiting transgender girls from taking part in female sports in schools, Reuters reports.
The bill, set to take effect on January 18, was signed into law on Monday, October 25, by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and bans trans girls in public schools from playing sports alongside cisgender girls.
Those in favor of the bill say that it is supposed to ensure there is fairness in school sports. They believe trans girls have an inherent physical advantage over their cisgender peers.
Equal rights advocates, however, have branded such measures as discriminatory. They argue there is little to no evidence that transgender girls have an innate advantage.
This certainly isn't the first bill of this nature - similar measures have been taken in other conservative parts of the US. In fact, seven other states have seen the passage of similar laws just this year, per Reuters.
In March 2020, Idaho prohibited athletes who were assigned male at birth from competing on sports teams against athletes who were assigned female at birth in public schools or colleges.
However, the enforcement of the law has been blocked by a federal court as it awaits the outcome of a legal challenge against the ban.
Other states whose legislation has mirrored the Idaho law include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, and West Virginia. South Dakota's governor, however, acted by executive order. Some of these states are also experiencing a challenge by the courts.
At least 35 bills with the aim of barring transgender youngsters from the world of sport have been put forward in 31 states this year - an increase from 29 in 2020 and two in 2019, according to statistics by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Texas law has been condemned by trans activists online, with LGBTQ writer Charlotte Clymer tweeting: "Greg Abbott just signed a bill in Texas this evening that bans trans children and student-athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their authentic gender identity.
"Overruling medical experts and iconic women athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Billie Jean King."
Another wrote: "Texas is so broken by hatred I don't know if it'll ever be a normal state. For shame."
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