President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is set to ban transgender athletes from entering the United States to compete in sports.
The Guardian reports that the U.S. State Department ordered visa officers worldwide to deny lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer athletes attempting to enter the country for sports competitions.
The memo from Sunday allegedly instructs officers to apply the ‘permanent fraud bar’ against trans applicants, triggering a lifetime ban from the United States.
“In cases where applicants are suspected of misrepresenting their purpose of travel or sex, you should consider whether this misrepresentation is material such that it supports an ineligibility finding,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the memo.
The move reaffirms the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict trans athletes involvement in women’s sports ahead of the Olympic Games hosted in the U.S. in 2028.
Recall that Trump signed an executive order on February 5, 2025, titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,’ barring transgender athletes from women’s sports.
