How will Trump's ban on trans athletes in girls’ sports impact Washington state?

Student athletes in Washington won’t see any immediate changes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for middle and high school sports, said Thursday it is waiting for legal guidance before making any changes.

“The WIAA remains committed to following Washington state law,” a WIAA spokesperson said in a statement. “Until the Association sees full language of the executive order and conducts further legal review, its impact on participation in Washington public schools is unknown.”

RELATED: Olympia protest joins national day of action in state capitols across the USA

The agency said it will continue to work with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Attorney General’s Office “on remaining in compliance with the law,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson in Attorney General Nick Brown's office said Thursday that the office is “still looking at this order” and is “limited in what we can say in terms of providing legal advice or analysis.”

In the meantime, the office recommends WIAA, college-level sports, and other state-level athletic bodies seek advice from their legal counsel.

“We are repulsed by the president’s dehumanization of the trans community,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “This and other orders are clearly part of the administration’s larger plan to strip away civil rights across society.”

Trump signed the order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” on Wednesday. It directs the federal government to withhold funding from educational institutions that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities” by allowing transgender girls and women to participate in women’s sports.

RELATED: Trump's anti-trans effort is an agenda cornerstone with echoes in history

The order also calls on the U.S. Department of Education to “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions” against education programs, including athletic associations, that refuse to comply.

“From now on, women’s sports will only be for women,” Trump said before he signed the order Wednesday.

The move makes good on Trump’s campaign promises to revise Title IX regulations.

The original 1972 sex discrimination law originally protected only women’s rights. President Joe Biden beefed up the regulations to include protections for LGBTQ+ students during his administration.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to restore the Title IX regulations he enacted during his first term, which gave students accused of sexual misconduct extra protections. The Department of Education announced that shift last week.

While campaigning, Trump also said he planned to ask Congress to pass a bill that establishes “the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth” and clarifies that “Title IX prohibits men from participating in women’s sports.”

RELATED: What Trump's second term could mean for education in Washington state

Trump’s order comes as a growing number of states enact their own limitations on how transgender youth can participate in sports.

As of Thursday, more than half of states have laws or agency regulations that restrict trans students' participation in sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights.

WIAA is currently considering two proposed rule amendments related to transgender athletics: One would prohibit trans girls from participating in girls’ sports, and the other would create a separate co-ed division for trans students to compete in instead.

The WIAA assembly will vote on those proposals in April.

Current WIAA policy allows trans students to participate in sports programs consistent with their gender identity. The policy was the first of its kind in the nation when it was established in 2007.

RELATED: Trans students could be banned from competing in girls’ sports in Washington state

In a statement Thursday, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal called the order discriminatory and “another attempt to override the authority of states and local school districts.”

Reykdal said his office is “working closely” with the Attorney General’s office to “understand the next steps for our state and for our school districts in response to this unlawful order.”

“One thing is clear: The 47th President of the United States is disregarding the rule of law by attempting to unilaterally impose an attack on the specific student groups that anti-discrimination laws aim to protect,” Reykdal wrote.

Reykdal said the order “directly contradicts” state laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

OSPI’s existing guidance says schools are “required to allow all students, including transgender and nonbinary students, the opportunity to participate on the interscholastic sports team that most closely aligns with their gender identity.”

“We will not back down from that,” Reykdal wrote. “Washington state will do everything in our power to defend the rule of law, states’ rights to establish education policy, and to protect the beautiful diversity of our 1.1 million students and educators.”

He added: “We believe in inclusion over discrimination, and love over hate."