The Trump administration has leaned heavily on Title IX in its effort to purge sports of transgender women and girls, but attorneys and experts on the 1972 civil rights law say its latest move will disproportionately affect girls who are not transgender.

The Department of Energy is preparing to roll back a portion of Title IX requiring that some sports be open to “the underrepresented sex,” a cornerstone of the federal law against sex discrimination in schools that President Trump’s administration has said conflicts with his executive order to restrict trans athletes’ participation.

The department plans to rescind a rule that has for decades allowed girls to try out for boys’ sports teams or vice versa when there is no equivalent team at their school, with some exceptions for contact sports. The move would only affect schools and education programs that receive funding from the Energy Department.

The department, which traditionally does not regulate or enforce Title IX, plans to rescind a rule that has for decades allowed girls to try out for boys’ sports teams or vice versa when there is no equivalent female team at their school, with some exceptions for contact sports.

The Women’s Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Billie Jean King, a foundational figure in women’s fight for parity in sports in the 1960s and 70s, said the Energy Department’s proposal threatens to unravel years of progress and limit athletic opportunities for girls.

“To uphold the spirit and promise of Title IX, we urge for it to be withdrawn,” the group said in an emailed statement to The Hill.

In justifying its proposal, announced last month, the Energy Department said athletics rules allowing girls to compete on boys’ teams “ignore differences between the sexes which are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” language from Trump’s day one executive order proclaiming the federal government........

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