Megyn Kelly has taken yet another strong stance against transgender athletes participating in women’s sports. The conservative TV personality said that ESPN has failed to provide a platform for conservative perspectives on this issue.
A Progressive Network
Kelly began by characterizing ESPN as one of the most outspoken news organizations when it comes to political viewpoints. She argued that the network is open to discussing various political and cultural topics, except when it comes to conservative stances. Kelly went on to claim that conservative voices are stifled within ESPN.
Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports
Kelly discussed her daughter and talked about how she’d feel if she had to play sports with a trans girl. “My daughter is 12. If she shows up at a soccer game and there is a [trans girl] on the other team, we’re out of there. There’s zero chance I will let her play. I don’t care who I offend. There’s no way,” she asserted.
A Transphobic Tirade
The TV personality went on to urge other parents to stop their daughters competing with trans girls. “I recommend other parents do the same thing because your kid actually could get hurt,” she said. It’s worth noting that there is no evidence supporting the notion that young athletes are at greater risk of injury when competing against transgender peers.
Trans Women in Tennis
Kelly went on to suggest that a trans woman should enter women’s professional tennis. She said: “We need a [trans woman] to go into women’s professional tennis – that’s where the women become superstars and millionaires and where we celebrate the ladies. Let’s let those ladies who are like the crème de la crème in the tennis world start losing to [trans women] and then let’s force the wokesters [to choose a side].”
Kelly Continued Her Rant
Kelly continued: “That’s where the rubber hits the road. Let’s see who they choose. Is it gonna be the women who have their own space or is it gonna be the [trans women] who you’ve been propping up because they call themselves women even though they’re not?”
Sage Steele’s Perspective
Sage Steele, a conservative sports journalist, supports Kelly’s opinion regarding transgender athletes. Steele criticized her former ESPN colleagues for their silence on the issue and alleged that some privately oppose transgender athletes participating in women’s sports but fear retaliation from the network if they express their views publicly.
Questioning the Network’s Consistency
Steele questioned the inconsistency in the network’s approach and highlighted anchor Malika Andrews’ response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade while seemingly ignoring the concerns raised about transgender athletes. She argued that the network should give equal attention to both issues.
Sports, Identity, and Fairness
Kelly and Steele’s criticism should be taken with a grain of salt. While their perspectives reflect a broader discussion within society about the balance between inclusion and maintaining a level playing field for all athletes, research suggests that transgender women lose their advantage over cisgender women after two years on hormones.
The Internet Responded
News of Kelly’s words was shared across social media and people flocked to comment sections to voice their views. “Megyn doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Her opinions about trans people are rooted in feelings, not facts, not evidence, and not science. ESPN doesn’t wanna promote opinions like that and that’s fine,” one person said.
Media Should Be Balanced
Others felt differently. “Good on Megyn for calling this out. Balanced discussion is absolutely essential on all media outlets,” one individual wrote. “All media outlets? What about Fox News then? Should that be balanced too?” another hit back.
Advantages Are Natural
Some people talked about how small physical advantages are entirely natural, even among cisgender people. One person said: “Transphobes always ignore that the top winners in sports literally have a genetic advantage over their competitors. Michael Phelps is a literal freak of nature who is built to swim. The average cis man and trans man are closer to each other than any of them will ever be to Michael Phelps.”
Sports Are Never Fair
A fair few commenters shared the opinion of the aforementioned individual. “For starters, sports aren’t supposed to be fair. Lebron James wouldn’t be Lebron James if he was 5′ 0″ and him being his size is unfair to all of the 5-foot-tall guys,” one person echoed.
Sexism and Transphobia
Others pointed out sexism in transphobic arguments. “Anyone else find the argument sexist when transphobes say that ‘some mediocre man athlete can transition just to beat all the women’ when that isn’t remotely true? Like, that argument invalidates all women athletes by implying that any man is innately better than them at a sport, regardless of any other environmental or even genetic factors.”
The Extent of Transphobia
Some people discussed the extent of transphobia in sports. One person said: “[There were a] couple of instances out there where trans men got forced to compete alongside cis women for the exact same reasons. Every time, they would perform to the same degree as cis men. And then, every single time, transphobes mistook the trans man for a trans woman and acted like it was proof that trans women don’t belong in women’s sports when it was their own transphobia that caused the situation.”
Gendered Sports Are Outdated
One commenter said gendered sports as a whole are outdated and need to go. They wrote: “I find it antiquated that we have gendered sports at all. Like, baseball, basketball, and soccer seem like they’re focused on the types of athleticism where male and female differences are very minute. Hell, Babe Ruth got struck out by a woman.”
Power and Ego
The commenter continued: “But it’s not about fairness. It’s the same justification that kept Black people in their own leagues – men are afraid of losing to someone that they have convinced themselves they are superior to. It’s all power and ego. The fact that some women have internalized this idea that they are so much weaker innately, and even STEM to some degree, makes me sad.”
An Alternative Perspective
One person offered an alternative perspective. They wrote: “I mean, really it makes sense to have people play by weight and height. Why is it fair that a cis 5’ 11” woman weighing 70 kg goes up against a 50 kg 5’ 2” woman in a race? My point is that the argument around trans people is inherently transphobic as if the issue was height and weight then this argument would extend to cis women over the average height and weight. I am underlining a flaw in the argument, not agreeing that we shouldn’t allow tall people to compete against smaller framed people.”
A Case-by-Case Issue
One trans woman said things should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. She wrote: “I have been on HRT for 14 months and will never play golf in the female division. I don’t think it would be fair that I still hit the ball the same as I did before HRT. Having said that, my running [and] cycling times have leveled off into the female ranges so likely a fair competition. I think it’s still a case by case [and] sport by sport issue.”
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