Pete Buttigieg doubles-down on questioning fairness of trans athletes in women's sports

Prominent Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg addressed his recent comments about the fairness of letting biological males compete in women's and girls' sports. 

After Buttigieg said "there are serious fairness issues" on the topic of letting trans athletes compete with females, during an interview with NPR in July, the Democrat spoke about the subject again during a Substack Live interview with Aaron Parnas. The Democrat suggested that parents who oppose allow males to compete with girls must be heard. 

"I think in order to bring people together on this, we also have to take everyone seriously ,including parents who have questions," Buttigieg said. 

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"People who have questions or wonder what this means ... they're going to have questions about how to make sure that's fair, and we should take those questions seriously and face those together." 

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor also said he believes that the issue is "being used to hurt" people as a political topic, and he doubled-down on the stance that policies surrounding trans athletes in women's sports shouldn't be made by politicians. 

"I see this issue being used to divide. I see it being used to hurt people," he said. "It's especially hurtful for trans people and people with transgender members of their family who witness themselves or people they love being used as a political football."

Buttigieg's original quotes on NPR in July prompted questions and criticisms by some liberals and pro-trans activists, as the issue continues to divide the Democratic Party.

Buttigieg has joined several other prominent Democrats and media pundits who have spoken out against allowing males to compete with females, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; and HBO host Bill Maher. 

An April report by The New York Times claims that Biden did not agree with trans athletes participating in women's and girls' sports.

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"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 Times reported,. "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." 

A New York Times/Ipsos survey found that the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports.

"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?" the survey asked. 

Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. 

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. 

Other data suggests the issue affected the outcome of the 2024 election. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump's opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women's sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women's bathrooms" as important to them. 

And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important." 

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