Citing the school’s past policies allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports, the Trump administration last week said that it had suspended some $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania. The funding freeze, which involves discretionary money from the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, is distinct from an ongoing Department of Education investigation into Penn’s handling of transgender-identifying students in its sports programs.
Some suggest that the pause is bigoted; a New York Times piece, for example, framed the move as part of the Trump administration’s “campaign against transgender people’s participation in public life.” But the underlying principle is clear: institutions that disregard fairness and biological reality should not expect federal financial support.
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Penn, for its part, insists that it was simply following NCAA and Ivy League policies. But complying with policies that harm women isn’t a virtue. President Trump is right, then, to leverage federal funds to ensure that Penn and other schools abandon these polices—and prioritize fairness and reality over progressive dogma.
In 2022, I witnessed the public response to Penn’s approach firsthand when I attended the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship at Georgia Tech. There, Lia Thomas, a male athlete from the University of Pennsylvania, won a championship title in women’s swimming.
Afterward, I watched a protest organized by a group called Save Women’s Sports. Most people leaving the venue offered the protesters a thumbs up, a nod of approval, or a supportive comment. Only a few scowled or otherwise signaled their opposition.
The scene reinforced what I already knew. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that allowing men to participate in women’s sports is unfair and unreasonable.
The presence of male athletes in women’s sports has become an unexpected political flashpoint—not because the issue is complicated, but because it is so straightforward. If politicians are willing to lie about something this absurd, we wonder, what else are they lying about? Some consider the issue trivial, but its absurdity draws a political dividing line: Are you on the side of common sense, or of a fanatical ideology?
An increasingly bipartisan majority of Americans take the side of common sense. A January New York Times/Ipsos poll found that 79 percent of Americans opposed allowing “transgender female athletes”—that is, males—to compete in women’s sports. Only 18 percent supported it. Even California governor Gavin Newsom, a staunch progressive, has publicly broken with his party on the issue. When figures like Newsom start voicing concerns, gender ideology is no longer just a conservative talking point.
At its core, the controversy isn’t just about sports. It’s about whether we live in a society governed by truth or one dominated by ideological fantasies. The Trump administration’s decision to suspend funding for Penn sends a clear message: institutions that embrace irrationality will face consequences. That’s precisely how it should be.
Top Photo by: Jumping Rocks/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
