Defense bill bans males from women's sports at military academies

Former CIA Director Petraeus, who served for 37 years in the U.S. Army, spoke with Fox News Digital about top priorities that should be included in the National Defense Authorization Act.

The 2025 U.S. defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate on Wednesday and is headed to President Donald Trump's desk, includes provisions that ban biological males from women's sports at U.S. military academies. 

"The NDAA also permanently prohibits men from playing on women’s sports teams at all military academies," reads a section of a Dec. 9 administrative statement addressing the bill from Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala. 

Trans athletes have been prohibited from competing in NCAA sports dating back to February 6, when the NCAA updated its gender eligibility policy to comply with Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. 

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A federal appeals court has also recently allowed the Pentagon to temporarily enforce its ban on transgender military service members.

The latest bill is one of the last remaining items that congress will address in 2025. 

Lawmakers banded together to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a roughly $901 billion package crammed to the brim with defense policy that unlocks funding for several of the Trump administration’s national defense priorities.

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The measure passed through the upper chamber on a 77-20 bipartisan vote. It’s a perennial legislative exercise lawmakers undertake, and one that normally comes and goes with little fuss, given that Congress typically bookends the year with it.

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