The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which defines sex as a person’s biological sex at birth

“A girls’ high school basketball team in Massachusetts forfeited a game after a male playing for the opposing female team reportedly injured three female players,” the DOE said. “The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s handbook states that a ‘student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.‘”

The MIAA could not immediately be reached for comment.

On Feb. 8, 2024, the coach of Collegiate Charter School of Lowell, Kevin Ortins, decided to end an away game at KIPP Academy Lynn at halftime after hearing from the school’s players that they “feared getting injured and not being able to compete in the playoffs,” according to a school spokesperson, Casey Crane.

Three players were hurt during the game, two of whom were “injured in association with that player,” Crane said. Collegiate’s 12-player team was already down four players when the game began, leaving only five players uninjured by halftime.

Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer who has long opposed transgender participation in women’s sports, posted a video of the third injury to X, formerly known as Twitter. In the clip, a KIPP player can be seen fighting for the ball with a member of the opposing team, who appears to be much shorter. The KIPP player appears to drag the Collegiate player for a moment before she loses her grip on the ball and falls.

As the video circulated online, some commenters said it proved transgender girls and young women should not be allowed to play high school sports.

Trump’s executive order “is a promise to women and girls: this administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes,” Craig Trainor, the DOE’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in Thursday’s statement. “The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls — and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms — to promote a radical transgender ideology. That regime ended on January 20, 2025.”

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, defended transgender athletes when the controversy over the Lowell game arose last year.

Rose said there are “hundreds, if not thousands” of transgender students playing high school sports without issue across the nation, and cautioned against conflating allegations of aggressive conduct by one player with broader issues of inclusion.

Material from the Associated Press and from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This breaking news story will be updated.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.