Defense bill bans males from women's sports at military academies

U.S. Defense & Military Politics

Defense bill bans males from women's sports at military academies

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Jackson Thompson Fox News

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December 17, 2025 6:16pm EST

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The 2025 U.S. defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate on Wednesday and is headed to President Donald Trump's desk, includes provisions that ban biological males from women's sports at U.S. military academies.

"The NDAA also permanently prohibits men from playing on women’s sports teams at all military academies," reads a section of a Dec. 9 administrative statement addressing the bill from Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

Trans athletes have been prohibited from competing in NCAA sports dating back to February 6, when the NCAA updated its gender eligibility policy to comply with Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order.

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A federal appeals court has also recently allowed the Pentagon to temporarily enforce its ban on transgender military service members.

The latest bill is one of the last remaining items that congress will address in 2025.

Lawmakers banded together to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a roughly $901 billion package crammed to the brim with defense policy that unlocks funding for several of the Trump administration’s national defense priorities.

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The measure passed through the upper chamber on a 77-20 bipartisan vote. It’s a perennial legislative exercise lawmakers undertake, and one that normally comes and goes with little fuss, given that Congress typically bookends the year with it.

Other provisions, like a requirement for the Pentagon to release the unedited footage of boat strikes in the Caribbean in exchange for fully funding the Department of War’s travel fund, raised eyebrows but didn’t slow down the package’s success.

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That provision comes as lawmakers demand more transparency in the Trump administration’s strikes against alleged drug boats, and in particular, as they seek the release of the footage from a Sept. 2 double-strike on a vessel.

"This defense authorization act, although it doesn't have as much in there for defense as a lot of us would like, is a step in the right direction," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. "And I think the defense appropriations bill, which hopefully we'll vote on later this week, is another example of the investment that we need to be making, to ensure that in a dangerous world, we are prepared to defend America and American interests."

Fox News Digital's Alex Miller contributed to this report.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Defense bill bans males from women's sports at military academies