Psaki claims concerns about males in girls' sports not 'worthy of debate': 'Right-wing propaganda'
A longtime Democratic political insider turned cable news host is dismissing concerns about the participation of trans-identified males in women's sports as "right-wing propaganda" that is not "worthy of a debate."
On her MSNBC show on Sunday, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki brought up the "soul-searching" going on in the Democratic Party after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to President-elect Donald Trump.
"What I worry about is that in the course of all that soul-searching, some Democrats might reach the wrong sweeping conclusions," Psaki said.
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She expressed concern with the conclusion reached by Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., that the Democrats' position in support of allowing trans-identified male athletes to compete in women's sports might have cost them support among voters.
Moulton told The New York Times, "Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face." For example, Moulton said he has two daughters and doesn't want them "getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete." He lamented that, "as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that."
Psaki claimed that concerns about trans-identified male athletes competing in women's sports are a "manufactured panic" and an example of "right-wing propaganda." She characterized complaints that there is a "crisis of boys playing in girls' sports" as "lies."
"There are just incredibly few examples of transgender girls playing in youth sports," Psaki claimed. "When we see those examples, there isn't evidence that these kids are a threat to safety or fairness."
Amid protests and calls for his resignation, Moulton elaborated on his views in an appearance on MSNBC last week.
"I was just speaking authentically as a dad about one of many issues where I think we're just out of touch with a majority of voters," he said.
Reacting to the video clip, Psaki insisted, "If that were actually an issue in thousands of schools across the country, it would be worthy of a debate."
Research conducted by the public opinion research firm Blueprint found that 78% of swing voters who chose Trump over Harris believed that the fact that the Democratic nominee was "focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class" was a reason not to vote for her in the 2024 election.
In closed-door meetings last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Democratic candidates blamed the party's losses, in part, on GOP ad campaigns in battleground states that focused on trans issues. Republicans spent at least $77 million on ads in 10 states centered on trans issues, according to Axios.
Moulton is not the only progressive whose post-election analysis on the issue has drawn the ire of other Democrats. About three days after the election, one CNN panelist accused another of transphobia after he stated that many families and voters "don't believe boys should play girls' sports."
More than half of U.S. states have passed laws or enacted regulations prohibiting trans-identified male athletes from competing in women's sports based on concerns about threats posed to safety and fairness of female athletes: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
In 2022, a male swimmer who identifies by the name Lia (Will) Thomas broke records and won an NCAA women's swimming championship after competing for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men's swimming team.
In 2023, high school volleyball player Payton McNabb testified before the North Carolina Legislature about how she was "severely injured in a high school volleyball game by a transgender athlete on the opposing team."
"I suffered from a concussion and neck injury that, to this day, I am still recovering from," she explained.
"Other injuries I still suffer from today include impaired vision, partial paralysis on my right side, constant headaches as well as anxiety and depression," she added. "I was unable to play the rest of my last volleyball season, and although I am currently playing softball, I am not able to perform as well as I know I have in the past because of the injury. My ability to learn, retain, comprehend has also been impaired and I require accommodations at school for testing because of this."
Video footage of the incident shows the trans-identified male athlete hitting the volleyball forcefully before it landed on McNabb's face.
The biological differences between males and females, identified by USA Powerlifting as including "increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue," are cited as reasons why trans-identified male athletes, on average, have an inherent advantage over their female counterparts and thus should be banned from playing women's sports.
Multiple examples of trans-identified male athletes dominating women's sports have raised questions about the fairness of policies allowing athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their self-declared gender identity instead of their actual sex.
Selina Soule, a track athlete from Connecticut, was excluded from a regional track meet attended by college scouts because two trans-identified male athletes took the top two spots.
Taylor Silverman, who competes in women's skateboarding, has been "bumped from first to second on multiple occasions" when having to compete against trans-identified male athletes.
According to data compiled by the advocacy group She Won, which opposes policies allowing trans-identified male athletes to compete in women's sports, 717 female athletes worldwide have been deprived of a combined 1,055 wins, medals, scholarships and other records across 518 competitions in 35 sports because trans-identified males were allowed to compete in women's sports.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
