Polls Show Majority of Americans Support Ban on Trans Athletes in Female Sports
TerryJ/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

Support for banning biological males from competing against biological females in women’s athletics remains high, even according to a new poll by Politico — a generally left-leaning publication — proving once again that Democrat politicians pushing “trans rights” care more about an agenda than the will of the American people.

“Former President Donald Trump railed against transgender athletes in female sports in his CPAC speech a few weeks ago. Other prominent voices on the right have joined in, calling it an example of political correctness having a real-world impact. Our latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows broad support for the GOP position, extending across gender, age and, to a lesser degree, party,” Politico reported on Wednesday. “Overall, 53% of registered voters support banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, versus a third who oppose such a ban.”

The poll was conducted between March 6 and March 8 among a survey of 1,990 registered voters who were asked more than 60 questions, including this one: “As you may know, Mississippi is moving towards banning transgender athletes from participating on women’s sports teams at the state’s high schools and universities. Based on what you know, do you support or oppose banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams?”

Politico reported the following numbers from its poll:

— Men: 59% support a ban, 29% oppose
— Women: 46% support a ban, 34% oppose
— Republicans: 74% support a ban, 15% oppose
— Dems: 40% support a ban, 42% oppose
— Independents: 49% support a ban, 33% oppose
— Gen Z: 43% support a ban, 44% oppose
— Millennials: 56% support a ban, 28% oppose
— Baby boomers: 50% support a ban, 32% oppose

This is not the first left-leaning poll to show opposition to male athletes in female sports. Last week, a Harvard/Harris poll showed 55 percent of respondents disapproved of President Biden’s executive order to allow “transgender” athletes to participate in sports that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex, with 45 percent in approval.

Results from the more neutral Rasmussen Reports survey revealed earlier this month found even larger margins, with 54 percent opposing male participation in female sports and 32 percent supporting it.

Critics opposed to male athletes in female sports note the insurmountable advantages biological male athletes possess over females, including higher muscle and bone density, larger bone structure, stronger connective tissue, and, of course, testosterone, even at reduced levels.

Yet politicians, and Democrats in particular, continue to be on the wrong side of the issue. PJ Media reports that every single Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as three Republicans, voted in favor of the Equality Act, which would “enforce the increasingly stifling transgender orthodoxy,” including requiring schools and sports leagues to allow biologically male athletes in female sports. That bill currently awaits a vote in the Senate, where it is unlikely to garner the necessary support to overcome a filibuster.

This week, a group of women from all across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for the non-partisan “Women Picket-DC” event to protest Biden’s executive order and Congress’ support for the Equality Act, according to the Christian Post.

Charlie Rae of Raleigh, North Carolina, the writing lead for the Women Picket-DC rally, said turning gender identity into a human-rights cause actually hurts human rights.

“It changes our already existing structures of human rights,” Rae said. “And I think that a lot of people mean really well, and they want to protect people and implement human rights. That’s why we’re here too. But gender identity as a concept — transgenderism, the medicalization, the altering of our social policies and institutions — it doesn’t protect people.”

Rae emphasized the protest was nonpartisan because the motivation is rooted in “basic common sense, and that doesn’t have a political party — to know that women are female.”

Suzanne Vierling, a psychologist from Southern California who spoke at the event, said the transgender orthodoxy is harmful to women and particularly black women.

“Yesterday’s slave woman who endured gynecological medical experiments is today’s girl-child being butchered in a booming gender-transitioning sector. Ovaries removed, pushing her into menopause and osteoporosis, uncharted territory, and parents’ rights and authority decimated,” Vierling added.

Radical feminist attorney Kara Dansky also spoke at the event, asserting Biden’s actions were “erasing women and girls as a protected category under federal administrative law.”

Fortunately, states are pushing back against the Left’s agenda. Just this week, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem vowed to sign legislation that will ban biological males from competing in female sports. The bill states “a team or sport designated as being female is available only to participants who are female, based on their biological sex.” Publicly sponsored athletic teams must be specified as male, female, or coeducational, Christian Post reports.

“In South Dakota, we’re celebrating #InternationalWomensDay by defending women’s sports!” Noem tweeted. “I’m excited to sign this bill very soon.”

And, as referenced in Politico’s poll question, Mississippi lawmakers approved similar legislation last week, with Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves vowing to sign the bill to make it law.

In a series of tweets, Reeves took the opportunity to criticize Biden’s actions “to force young girls” like his own three daughters “to compete with biological males for access to athletics.”

“It is bad policy and it is wrong for America.… And my heart breaks for the young women across America who will lose in this radical social experiment,” he tweeted.

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill earlier this month that also bans transgender athletes from female sports.

“This bill requires, for the purposes of participation in a middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event, that a student’s gender be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate,” a summary of the bill explains.

“If a birth certificate does not appear to be the student’s original birth certificate or does not indicate the student’s sex at birth, the student must provide other evidence to indicate the student’s sex.”

Idado led the fight last year by becoming the first state to enact a law that bars transgender athletes from competing in female sports, though a federal court ruling has temporarily stopped its implementation.