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Caitlyn Jenner, despite being the most high-profile transgender woman in history, has campaigned for decades to remove transgender athletes from women’s sports. The Olympic gold medalist, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, came out as transgender in 2015 and underwent gender reassignment surgery two years later. On Monday, Jenner stated that she supports a New York officer’s order banning female sports teams with transgender athletes from using county-owned facilities.
Jenner Voices Support To Ban Transgender Athletes at NY Facilities
The ban applies to over 100 athletic facilities, specifically in New York City’s Long Island suburbs. Jenner told Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at his office in Mineola that allowing transgender athletes to compete against other women will “ruin women’s sports” for years to come.
“Let’s stop it now while we can,” Jenner said.
The LGBT Network, a Long Island-based advocacy group, called Jenner’s comments a “baffling contradiction” to her own identity as a transgender woman that is “not only hypocritical but also harmful” to the LGBTQ community.
“It is disheartening to witness someone who has experienced the challenges of being marginalized actively contribute to the oppression of others within the same community,” David Kilmnick, the LGBT Network’s president, said in a statement. “Such actions only serve to amplify the voices of intolerance and detract from the collective efforts towards a more inclusive society.”
AP News states that Blakeman, a Republican who was elected in 2021, issued an executive order in February requiring any teams, leagues or organizations seeking a permit from the county’s parks and recreation department to “expressly designate” whether they are for male, female or coed athletes.
Any teams designated as “female” would be denied access to county-owned facilities if their team included transgender athletes.
Jenner and Her Trump Controversies
“All I’m trying to do is protect women,” Jenner said Monday.
Jenner, a long-time Republican and former supporter of Donald Trump, said on her reality show I Am Cait that she thinks Trump would be good for women’s issues; she then stated she would never support Hillary Clinton. In February 2017, President Trump rescinded federal requirements giving transgender students the right to choose the school restroom matching their gender identity.
In 2018, Jenner withdrew support for Donald Trump after acknowledging the harm that befell the LGBTQ community during his presidency. She said that “the trans community was relentlessly attacked by [Trump].” She made this decision after a Trump administration proposed restricting an individual’s identity to the gender assigned at birth.
