Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson broke down why they believe transgender athletes should not be able to compete in women’s sports in a video that will be released Wednesday.
The video of Tuberville and Carson, first obtained by the Daily Caller, is a part of the American Cornerstone Institute’s Cornerstone Conversation series, which entails 30-40-minute deep-dive conversations with influential thought leaders about different policy issues. Carson wanted to talk about Tuberville’s work regarding Title IX, and he called Tuberville a “real champion when it comes to protecting Title IX.”
President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order to interpret Title IX as requiring schools to allow access to sex-segregated spaces and activities based on gender identity on his first day in office.
Biden’s executive order specifically mentions restrooms, locker rooms and sports in schools would be included. Biological girls would no longer have exclusive spaces to change their clothes or go to the bathroom, as biological males would also have access to those spaces if they identify as female. Both Tuberville and Carson also focused on women’s sports and how it is unfair for a biological male to compete against a biological female.
“I have no problem with transgender people. You know, they’re people like everybody. God commands us to, to love everyone. But that doesn’t mean that we trample on everybody else’s rights and everybody else’s feelings,” Carson said in the conversation with Tuberville.
Tuberville mentioned his experience as a coach as one of the reasons he is so passionate about Title IX, saying it might have been one of the best things the federal government has done for women.
“I coached for 40 years, and one of the biggest, I would say, improvements that we made in academics and athletics; while I was coaching at a very young age, in the mid-70s, I coached girls basketball, in 1976 at a high school, along with football, and Title Nine had just started. And when Title Nine started Dr. Carson, there was single digits, percentages of girls in high school playing sports. I’m talking about single digits,” Tuberville said.
“When Title IX started, it opened up facilities, funding, athletic scholarships and almost immediately you saw the rise and dedication of women’s sports across our country. Maybe one of the best things that the federal government has done especially for women, and it’s grown and grown over the years. Now we send women athletes all over the world. They are the best, some of the best athletes in the world,” he added.
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Tuberville then argued that it is not fair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Kristi Noem To Sign Bill Barring Trans Athletes From Competing In Women’s Sports)
“Now we’re going to allow young boys that are 40 to 50% stronger upper body, 30 to 40%, stronger in lower body, have 12 to 15 pounds more body muscle, their skeleton muscles are bigger, their hearts are bigger, their lungs are bigger, and we’re going to allow them to participate against girls?” Tuberville said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about fairness. And there’s no nothing fair about this, Dr. Carson, you know that. And so I would just love to get this put behind us. And if they want to play transgender sports or something like that, as you said, we’re all for everybody. But when it comes to fair, we can’t allow this to happen,” Tuberville added. (RELATED: Ilhan Omar Urges Keith Ellison To Investigate USA Powerlifting For Barring Biological Males From Women’s Events)
The Alabama senator also said transgender people can play against each other in sports, to which Carson agreed. “That would be a good solution, just have a transgender league.”
“You look at the way that women are built versus the way men are built, you look at their pelvis structures, you know, the women’s pelvic structures are meant to give birth. Men don’t have to do that. So they have a much more streamlined and effective and efficient system there for running. And, you know, that would translate to swimming as well,” Carson said.
Tuberville joined Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee in introducing the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act. He also mentioned that he introduced an amendment on the Senate floor that would have banned educational institutions from receiving funding if biological males are allowed to compete in women’s sports.
“The bill ensures Title IX provisions treat gender, and they’re recognized from birth, that your gender at birth, then you can’t change that gender to participate in Title IX sports. Sen. Mike Lee and I introduced this and, you know, I had an amendment on the floor when I first got here, and we talked about it, and we had it voted on, on the floor in a voterama and I got one vote from the Democrat side — Joe Manchin,” Tuberville said.
Carson also asked Tuberville if he believes the NCAA “will ever come around on this transgender issue?”
“I’ve talked to them all my life, being a coach, and a coach’s perspective. I’ve been on rules committees and, and dealt with the NCAA, and they have a hard job. They govern all sports. Olympic sports, team sports, and they have a hard job to make sure everything’s fair and equal. But sometimes when you’re in a leadership role, you have to make tough decisions. And it seems like when the decisions are tough to make, they kick the can down the road, just like they did on this transgender issue,” Tuberville responded.
“They just kicked it down the road and said every sport is gonna handle it the way they want. They need to handle it. They’ll make their own decisions. We’re gonna stay out of it. Basically, what they’re saying is we don’t want the lawsuits. And so now it’s going to each individual sport and usually these individual sports, they go by the Olympic Committee rules and regulations, and they’re all for transgender athletes,” he addded.