Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has addressed the growing national controversy over trans-identifying athletes competing in women’s sports.
In a recent interview with NPR, Buttigieg acknowledged the issue’s complexity and stated there are “serious fairness issues” involved when trans-identifying athletes compete in female categories.
His remarks come amid ongoing legislative battles, federal policy debates and a clear divide in public opinion on the topic.
“Around sports, … I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports,” Buttigieg said during the interview.
He went on to say that parents who have voiced concern over their daughters being forced to compete against transgender athletes “have a case.”
Buttigieg also made it clear that he believes these decisions should not be made by politicians.
“And that’s why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians … in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn,” he stated.
He emphasized the importance of context, adding, “Chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball and middle school is different from the Olympics.”
“So, that’s exactly why I think that we shouldn’t be grandstanding on this as politicians. We should be empowering communities and organizations and schools to make the right decisions.”
His comments reflect growing concern even within Democratic circles over the issue of trans-identifying athletes competing against biological females in sports settings.
Buttigieg joins a number of high-profile Democrats and media personalities who have voiced unease, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and television host Bill Maher.
During his presidency, Joe Biden made policy moves that supported trans-identifying inclusion in school sports.
On his first day in office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order stating, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
Congressional Democrats also pushed for the Transgender Bill of Rights and the Equality Act, both of which would have permitted trans-identifying athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. However, neither measure passed, and opposition has continued to grow at the state level and among voters.
By contrast, President Donald Trump has been clear in his opposition.
On February 5, he signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
To date, 27 states have passed laws reinforcing that stance, aiming to restrict participation in female sports to biological females.
Public opinion data has repeatedly shown that a majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, are skeptical of allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s divisions.
A New York Times/Ipsos survey asked: “Thinking about transgender female athletes — meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female — do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports?”
Of the 2,128 respondents, 79 percent said they should not be allowed to participate.
Among the 1,025 respondents who identified as Democrats or leaned Democrat, 67 percent opposed allowing males who identify as female to compete in women’s sports.
The data indicates a bipartisan concern around competitive fairness in women’s athletics.
Internal disagreement on the issue was also reported within the Biden administration.
An April report from The New York Times revealed a split among Biden administration officials over whether Title IX protections should extend to athletic competition.
“According to a number of former Biden-administration officials, there remained a simmering debate inside the administration about whether those Title IX protections should extend to sports,” the report stated.
The article continued: “One side … maintained that there was no legal difference between letting trans students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity and letting trans student athletes play on sports teams that align with their gender identity.”
“However, Biden was on the other side … who believed that the competitive, zero-sum nature of sports made them different from bathrooms — that some transgender athletes would enjoy unfair physical advantages over women. Most important, one of the officials holding this view was Biden himself.”
Election data from 2024 also points to the political impact of the issue.
A national exit poll conducted by Concerned Women for America’s legislative action committee found that 70 percent of moderate voters considered Trump’s opposition to trans-identifying athletes in girls’ and women’s sports—and trans-identifying males using women’s bathrooms—as important to their vote.
Among those surveyed, 44 percent said the issue was “very important,” while 6 percent identified it as the most important issue overall.
The post Buttigieg Breaks Ranks, Says Parents ‘Have a Case’ on Trans-Identifying Athletes in Girls’ Sports Controversy appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Jordyn M.
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://resistthemainstream.org and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
