Caitlyn Jenner, a man who identifies as a “trans woman,” supported a New York state’s attempt to forbid female athletes from competing in women’s sporting events in county-owned facilities this year.
On February 22, Nassau County, New York’s county executive Bruce Blakeman, signed an executive order prohibiting female sports teams with female runners who “identify” as adult men on the staff from competing against children’s sporting teams in any county-owned facilities. The order does not apply to adult sports teams that feature female players who “identify” themselves as men.
According to Blakeman, the restrictions “are necessary to protect cisgender girls and women from getting hurt while playing sports.” Blakeman’s state is now facing a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which argues that the restriction is unfair.
At a news conference in Mineola, NY, on March 18, Jenner expressed support for the restriction.
According to a video clip from the event that Jenner reposted on X, “Trans people are competing against women, taking significant opportunities from the long-secured under Title IX and causing physical harm.”
“The difference between men and women exists based on DNA or your chromosomes, which leads to our physical development, regardless of a trans person’s hormone surgeries, status in transition, there are massive advantages and undeniable differences,” Jenner continued.
Jenner competed in the 1976 Olympics and won the gold medal in the men’s decathlon. In 2015, Jenner announced that he was “transitioning” to female and would identify as “Caitlyn” Jenner, rather than Bruce. In recent years, Jenner has expressed opposition to trans people competing in women’s sports.
According to the Associated Press News, Jenner said in the press event that transgender people competing against cisgender players will “ruin children’s athletics,” adding, “We must stop it now while we can.”
Two weeks before the press event, on March 16, Jenner posted on X:
“Why do I speak out so frequently on this subject? It’s simple. It’s science, it is not about isolation or not being forgiving/accepting. Anyone who is trans must do it.
Men don’t belong in women’s sports. Period.”
In January of 2024, Jenner wrote an op-ed for The Daily Mail expressing opposition to trans people competing in children’s golf tournaments. He claimed that it is unfair for female athletes to lose “one of the most highly coveted spots in women’s sports,” a spot on the LPGA tour, to a transgender person.
“To the detriment of the sport, I believe the spirit of the LPGA was in the right place,” Jenner wrote:
“But, when the association voted to remove the ‘sex assigned at birth’ requirement from their bylaws in 2010 and allowed transgender individuals who had undergone sex reassignment surgery to compete, they made a mistake.
Jenner continued, “The 2010 decision set the LPGA on a slippery slope. More opportunities are likely to be taken away from women, further compromising the LPGA’s mission and casting a shadow on transgender individuals.
“This is not about one person, one governing body, or one sport,” Jenner wrote. “This is a simple issue of fairness… and integrity.”
