Supporters of laws banning biological boys from competing in girls’ sports now have an unlikely ally: transgender activist and California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner.
Jenner, who was born male but began identifying as female in 2015, was asked by TMZ about proposals and laws in multiple states that ban biological boys who identify as transgender from competing alongside girls.
Jenner endorsed the bans.
“This is a question of fairness, and that’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair,” Jenner told TMZ. “And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”
Jenner, in a Sunday tweet, didn’t back down.
“I didn’t expect to get asked this on my Saturday morning coffee run, but I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools,” Jenner tweeted.
I didn’t expect to get asked this on my Saturday morning coffee run, but I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools.https://t.co/YODLDQ3csP
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) May 1, 2021
Jenner, competing as Bruce Jenner, won the decathlon gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
It’s not the first time someone who typically has been an ally of the LGBT community has endorsed the bans. Martina Navratilova, a professional tennis player who came out as a lesbian in 1981, wrote in a 2019 article for The Sunday Times that it’s not fair to allow biological males to compete alongside females. A man, she wrote, “builds up muscle and bone density, as well as a greater number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, from childhood” that women don’t have.
This year, Navratilova and a coalition of women’s sports activists said they support most of the Biden administration’s plans for the LGBT community but believe that allowing transgender girls and women who “have experienced all or part of male puberty” gives them an unfair advantage.
In Connecticut, two biological boys who identify as transgender won a total of 15 girls’ track state titles.
Related:
Martina Navratilova: It’s ‘Cheating’ to Allow Trans Athletes in Women’s Sports
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Joe Scarnici/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
