Also signs order taking aim at ‘gender ideology’ and terms like ‘chest feeding’
Female athletes in Indiana should be protected from male competitors, according to a new executive order signed by Governor Mike Braun.
The Republican governor issued an executive order on Tuesday to ensure “compliance with common-sense protections for women and girls in education and sports.”
The directive tasks the state with following President Donald Trump’s regulations surrounding Title IX and gender ideology.
The Indiana Higher Education Commission, which oversees universities in the state, is asked to ensure schools are following the president’s order on male athletes competing in girls’ sports at the collegiate level.
Indiana law already protects girls in K-12 from male athletes.
Elle Patterson joined Braun at the signing. She is a former teammate of male San Jose State University volleyball player Brayden “Blaire” Fleming. Patterson, an Indiana native, has since transferred to play volleyball for Indiana University Indianapolis. She is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference, claiming she lost a lawsuit to Fleming.
Today I signed executive orders to protect women and girls in sports and to make it clear that Indiana will not go along with the gender ideology that created this problem in the first place. I was joined by Elle Patterson, a former NCAA Division I women’s volleyball player who… pic.twitter.com/JOROJS9mms
— Governor Mike Braun (@GovBraun) March 4, 2025
Braun also barred state entities from promoting “gender ideology” and specifically said executive branch agencies should use biologically correct terms.
His other order signed on Tuesday ordered an end to agencies giving money to entities that promote gender ideology.
“Modern gender ideology falsely asserts there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex,” the governor stated. “Modern gender ideology is internally inconsistent, diminishes sex and gender as identifiable categories, yet nevertheless maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the wrong sexed body.”
He also said agencies should “avoid using terms that obfuscate the fundamental, deeply rooted legal distinction between men and women, such as ‘chest feeding,’ ‘birthing persons,’ ‘men with periods,’ or ‘people who menstruate.’”
“These obfuscations—and others like them—are inconsistent with the fundamental distinction between men and women and serve to undermine or erase the unique experience and contributions that men and women bring to our society,” Braun wrote.
The executive order stands in contrast to Braun’s fellow governor in Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers.
Evers received backlash for his proposed budget that included terms like “person who is inseminated” and “inseminated person” instead of “mother,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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IMAGE: Governor Mike Braun/X
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