US PRESIDENT Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intending to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX (prohibiting discrimination against women and girls in federal-funded programmes) in alignment with the Trump administration’s view that gender identification does not affect biological sex.

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in the East Room that included politicians and female athletes who have come out in support of a ban.

The timing of the order coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and is the latest in a string of executive actions from the Republican president redefining sex and gender policy.

“Contrary to what the president wants you to believe, trans students do not pose threats to sports, schools or this country, and they deserve the same opportunities as their peers to learn, play and grow up in safe environments,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Centre.

Pushback on some of the administration’s initiatives has already begun in court. Transgender people have sued over several of the policies and more are likely to come.

Civil rights lawyers handling the cases have asserted that in some instances, Trump’s orders violate laws adopted by Congress and protections in the constitution — and that they overstep the authority of the president.