Former college swimmer stunned by Karine Jean-Pierre, Dems' 'ridiculous' stance on trans athletes
As the fight continues to protect fairness in girls' sports, the White House has refused to answer whether females should have to compete against transgender athletes.
Former collegiate swimmer Paula Scanlan said on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday that it's "ridiculous" that the Democratic Party will not bend on the issue.
The comments came after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by FOX Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn last week whether President Biden believes that biological boys participating in female sports is the "women's issue of our time" and whether he believes the matter is a "women's rights issue."
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Lia Thomas' former teammate alleges the University of Pennsylvania tried to silence dissenting voices from the female team about trans inclusion. (Screenshot/Twitter)
"So, we've talked about this many times. This is the Title [IX], specifically. Look, and again, we've talked about this multiple times. It's a complicated issue, and there are a wide range of views on this. The Department of Education proposed a rule, as you know, that gives schools the flexibility to establish their own athletics policies, and so while establishing guardrails, right, to prevent discrimination against transgender kids," Jean-Pierre said.
"That is something that is incredibly important, that the president wants to make sure that we also do that as well. So, I'm just not going to get ahead of that."
Scanlan said that even many Democrats find the White House's position to be ridiculous.
"This is a losing issue," said Scanlan, spokeswoman for the Independent Women's Forum's Stand with Women organization and a former University of Pennsylvania teammate of Lia Thomas.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Scanlan said she'd like to "move on" from talking about the issue, but doesn't understand why the left will not compromise.
"Nobody in America that has common sense believes that men can magically become women on sports teams, whether it be in a sorority, or in the bathrooms," she added.
"It is scary to think that we have to fight this issue that has never been an issue," said Patsy Levang, a member of the Independent Women's Network.
"I'm angry because I have to continue wasting my time saying men are not women and that the fact that they are taking this and running with it the way they are is nonsense."
"They can go right down to the biological cell and each woman's cell has X chromosomes in it and a man cell has a Y chromosome in it. They can go right to the cell and it'll tell them."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 5, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
At the recent press briefing, Vaughn asked whether President Biden cares whether "girls are allowed to compete in sports without fear of injury" or whether he believes it's "fair for girls to have to compete against biological males."
Refusing to comment on whether Biden believes the issue is about fairness for biological females, Jean-Pierre put emphasis on the fact that the administration aims to "prevent discrimination" against transgender kids.
"I just answered the question. It is a complicated issue. It is truly a complicated issue with a wide range of views, a wide range of views. There is no yes or no answer to this. It is complicated. There's a rule that the Department of Education has put forward, and we're going to let that process move forward," Jean-Pierre said. "Again, we want to make sure that while we establish guardrails with this rule that we also prevent discrimination as well against transgender kids. But again, a complicated issue with a wide range of views, and we respect that."
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Fox News' Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
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