New York college defies executive order on men in women's sports with male athlete on female rowing team

Ithaca College has a male athlete competing on its women's rowing team for the second straight year.

As reported by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, Ithaca College defied President Trump's executive order to keep men out of women's sports by allowing a sophomore male, Juniper (Tyler) Gattone, to compete in the women's Cayuga Duals over the past weekend.

Gattone was listed on the Ithaca women's rowing Instagram page in an image for the third varsity squad.

Gattone is also listed on Ithaca's official online roster for women's rowing, and at 5'10" he shares the honor of being the tallest athlete on the team. Under his biography, the rower is credited with helping the women's team "capture their sixth consecutive Liberty League women's rowing crown" and was named to the conference Women's Rowing Novice Crew of the Year.

The athlete is also referred to using "they" pronouns.

Ithaca featured Gattone in a recent TikTok video in which the rowing team participated in a social media trend where one person, facing away from a group, attempts to identify his friends by voice only after each person repeats the same phrase. The athlete who was doing the guessing was able to correctly identify Gattone's voice.

'Men are still competing in women's NCAA sports.'

ICONs also reported on Gattone's participation in women's athletics in 2024, when he was noted as the second male athlete to be competing in women's sports in the conference.

Ithaca College competes in the NCAA's Division III in the Liberty League conference, the same conference as Camden Schreiner (who goes by Sadie), a male athlete competing against women for the Rochester Institute of Technology. Schreiner set records in January by winning the women's 200-meter dash in 24.50 seconds and the women's 400-meter dash in 55.91 seconds. The times were also program records, according to RIT.

RIT later named Schreiner female athlete of the week but has since removed the page that showcased the honor.

Former NCAA athlete and women's sports activist Riley Gaines reacted to Gattone's inclusion in women's rowing by saying the NCAA "purposefully deceived the public" with its new policy.

"Wait a minute...I thought the NCAA had a new policy that was in full compliance with Trump's EO? Nope. Men are still competing in women's NCAA sports," Gaines wrote on X.

Gaines had previously complained that the NCAA's new policy had glaring loopholes, including that it allowed men to participate in women's practices and still be listed on their rosters.

Former gymnast and pro-women's sports entrepreneur Jennifer Sey claimed the NCAA's policy does not hold up.

"The NCAA’s new policy does nothing to protect women's sports," Sey wrote.

The Department of Education also recently declared that the NCAA must return and restore any women's records that had been taken by men to their rightful owners. At least one former athlete, a national hurdling champion, has demanded that the NCAA award her a first-place finish after being beaten by a man in 2019.

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