“Title IX says you can’t discriminate on the basis of sex. The question was whether or not that includes gender identity,” Aronson said. “We’ve gone through various phases of ‘Yes it does. No it doesn’t. Yes it does.’ Right now, we’re in a ‘no it doesn’t’ phase.”

Religious-affiliated private schools are exempt from complying with MSHSL’s bylaw. In Minnesota, the process for establishing a transgender student-athlete’s eligibility includes written statements from a student’s parents or guardians and health care professionals regarding the student’s “consistent or sincerely held gender-related identity.”

Bruce Howard, director of publications and communications for the National Federation of High School Associations, which writes the rules of competitions for high school sports in the U.S., said the association has “no changes planned at this time relating to yesterday’s executive order.”

In a statement, the NFHS said the governance of transgender students’ participation in high school athletics is handled on a state-by-state basis. “As a result, the NFHS takes no official position on specific transgender rulings. The NFHS does, however, support attempts by member state associations to establish policies that seek to offer competition for all students who wish to be involved in high school sports,” the statement read.