President Donald Trump used his speech at the University of Alabama’s main commencement ceremony Thursday to lean into his anti-trans agenda, including his promise to “always protect women’s sports” from transgender athletes.
He started off his speech praising the school’s “winning” culture in sports, acknowledging that the school has successful basketball and football programs, and using it as a way into talking about trans athletes.
“As long as I’m president, we will always protect women’s sports,” Trump said. “Men will not be playing in women’s sports. No way. They say that’s an 80-20 issue. No, it’s a 97-3 issue I think. No, men will not be playing in women’s sports, no way. I said that, and I classified it with a very powerful executive order.”
He was referring to the executive order he signed soon after taking office, called the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. It has gotten pushback from LGBTQ+ advocates, such as those in New Jersey.
Trending
But Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric goes back much further and was featured heavily in his presidential campaign, like a 2024 ad with the tagline: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
On Thursday, he congratulated the school’s women’s track and field team for winning two Southeastern Conference titles before talking about the importance of protecting women’s sports.
Trump made the case to the audience that his administration was working to end “transgender for everybody.”
“This is not going to work, as I said before. [It’s] so simple, men playing in women’s sports. Have you ever seen some of the records? Have you ever seen some of these boxing matches? These women are great athletes, but we have to protect,” Trump said.
He later mocked and impersonated transgender athletes during his speech.
“My wife gets very upset when I do this,” Trump said. “She said, ‘But darling, it’s not presidential.’ Yeah, but people like it.”
The close ties Trump has had with the university were evident throughout the graduation event. Trump was introduced by former University of Alabama football head coach Nick Saban, who reminisced about the time he took his championship team to the Trump White House.
From the stage, Trump thanked several Alabama officials. Among those was Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who was booed earlier in the evening when Trump mentioned his name. (Tuberville was a rival football coach at Auburn University.)
It was not Trump’s only visit to the school in recent months. When he attended the Georgia-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa in October, he made less of a splash — several attendees told NOTUS that they didn’t care that he was there.
This time, several groups in the state expressed their disapproval of the school’s decision to have him speak. The Alabama NAACP put out a statement condemning the decision to have him give the address.
The University of Alabama’s College Democrats held a “Tide Against Trump” rally protest at a local park with former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke as a speaker.
—
Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
Author
