Florida AG demands U.S. Masters Swimming rescind policy allowing biological males to compete against women, threatens legal action

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has a clear message to U.S. Masters Swimming: keep men out of female competitions and locker rooms, or face a lawsuit.

“Today, we called on U.S. Masters Swimming, a Florida-based nonprofit, to immediately cease allowing any men to compete against women,” Uthmeier told The Lion just ahead of a Tuesday morning press conference on the subject. “We will always fight to protect women and girls from being subjected to men trying to compete in female sports – it’s our moral obligation to do so.”

Headquartered in Florida, U.S. Masters Swimming is a national nonprofit offering events, swim clubs, and competitions to its more than 60,000 adult members. Until recently, the group allowed “transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify.”

The group recently changed its policy to allow members to register for “the competition category that aligns with their gender identity and/or expression and to participate in sanctioned events in that category,” but prevents them from being included in “Recognition Programs” unless they are competing within their biological sex. 

U.S. Masters Swimming has multiple events scheduled in Florida in the coming months, under its current transgender policy, which does not clearly prohibit biological men from competing against women or from using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. 

At an Orlando press conference Tuesday, Uthmeier called on U.S. Masters Swimming to “unequivocally certify that they will not allow any men to compete in any women’s sports.” He was joined at the event by the co-founder of Independent Council on Women’s Sports Kim Jones, Florida’s education commisioner, and female athletes. Uthmeier said if the swimming nonprofit does not certify in writing that men cannot compete against women, he will pursue legal action.

“This is not right, it still seems insane to me that we’re having this conversation in this country, but we will always fight for what’s right in Florida. We’re the state where woke goes to die,” he said. “I believe this is a moral cause, and more importantly, what’s happening is unlawful under state law.”

U.S. Masters Swimming told The Lion that it is ” aware of the public comments made by the Florida Attorney General today” and “will respond to any direct inquiry in good faith and in accordance with applicable law.” Under the group’s interim policy, it noted, “trans women are not eligible for records, Top 10 times, and awards in the women’s category in all USMS-sanctioned events. However, it does allow adults to participate in the category that aligns with their gender identity.”

The effort by Florida’s attorney general is the latest in a larger crackdown – both within the state and nationally – to protect female spaces and sports from biological men. President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year to “keep men out of women’s sports.” Trump noted that athletic associations allowing men to compete in women’s sports has been “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

In the order, Trump also tasked the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy with convening state attorneys general with identifying the “best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports.”

Among the public, there appears to be wide support for keeping sports open to athletes based on their biological sex rather than their gender identity.

“Roughly two-thirds of Americans support two separate policies prioritizing the birth sex of transgender people over their current gender identity,” according to Gallup Polling. “Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults continue to believe that transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth sex, and 66% of Americans say a person’s birth sex rather than gender identity should be listed on government documents such as passports or driver’s licenses.”