President Trump has vowed that, if re-elected, he will prohibit transgender women from competing in sports. In a tweet posted on Wednesday morning, Trump said that the U.S. “must not allow” transgender women to play in women’s sports “because it is unfair to the majority of women.”
This isn’t the first time that Trump has spoken out against transgender athletes. In February of this year, he asserted on Twitter that allowing transgender individuals to compete in sports created an “unfair advantage.” The president added that he would direct the Department of Justice to investigate how such athletes are allowed to participate in competition.
In another instance at a rally in Texas, Trump promised to ban transgender women from participating in sports nationwide if he is re-elected president. “We will ban men from participating in women’s sports,” Trump said. “So ridiculous.”
He then went on to criticize Lia Thomas, the transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer who sparked international debate last month after she broke multiple records at a meet in Ohio. Trump misgendered Thomas, referring to her by the wrong pronouns, and then falsely stated that Thomas broke an 11-year-old swimming record by 38 seconds.
Opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports has been mounting in recent years. In March, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation, alleging that the organization had violated their rights by failing to protect them from “discrimination, harassment and retaliation” that they experienced as a result of their gender identity.
Many supporters of transgender athletes argue that individuals should be allowed to compete in accordance with their gender identity. Critics of this position say that allowing transgender women to compete against cisgender women is unfair because they have inherent physical advantages. They also argue that it’s not fair to keep biological women out of certain sports competitions just because they were born with a penis. “Transgender women have an unfair advantage over other women athletes,” said conservative commentator Tomi Lahren. “This isn’t about discrimination, it’s about preserving the sanctity of sports.”
However, critics denounced Trump’s latest promise as discriminatory and harmful to transgender athletes. “This is just another attack on trans people by a president who has shown time and again that he doesn’t care about us,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.
Trumps, stand comes as a direct response to the Equality Act, which is a proposed bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment, education, and other areas.
In a statement released by the Trump campaign, they said that the act “would erase the boundaries of single-sex bathrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities.” They also said that it would allow transgender women to compete in women’s sporting events, which would “result in an unfair competitive advantage.”
It remains to be seen how Trump’s latest pledge will play out, but it’s sure to ignite a heated debate in the coming months and years. In the meantime, transgender athletes will continue to compete in accordance with their gender identity, while the rest of us watch and wait to see what happens next.
