Former US President Donald Trump has vowed to ban transgender women from sports if he is re-elected in 2024.
On Saturday, January 29, at a rally held in Texas, the 75-year-old called the inclusion of transgender women in sport 'ridiculous'.
Trump went on to allude to 22-year-old athlete Lia Thomas, falsely claiming that the swimmer had broken a specific record. He also went on to use incorrect pronouns for the athlete, subsequently misgendering her.
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Pledging to 'ban men from participating in women's sports', Trump referred to Thomas as 'the man who was in a swimming team that [he] know[s] very well', despite how Thomas came out as a transgender woman in 2019, The Independent reports.
The former president then incorrectly claimed that Thomas broke a record 'by 38 seconds' that had been 'held for like 11 years'.
While she didn't set a new record in the race Trump referred to, Thomas did set records at school and in the Ivy League in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, and went on to break three records on December 3 when she competed in Ohio's 2021 Zippy Invitational for the University of Pennsylvania, as per NBC.
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Despite her success, Thomas has been the subject of intense criticism online as many have expressed their opposition against transgender women competing in women's sports.
On Monday, October 25, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new bill that bans transgender schoolgirls from taking part in women's sports, citing the belief that transgender athletes playing on girls' teams have a physical competitive advantage.
Laurel Hubbard, the first transgender woman weightlifter, also faced backlash in response to her Olympic debut.
When asked how she deals with such criticism, the athlete responded, 'That’s a good question. I’m not sure it’s possible for any person to really block out everything that is happening in the world but you do what you can and get on with it.'
This is not the first time that Trump has expressed his opposing views towards transgender athletes.
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In February 2021 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the former president branded transgender woman athletes 'biological males' and accused transgender competitors of having 'smashed' women's sports records.
'A lot of new records are being broken in women’s sports, I hate to say that ladies, but you have got a lot of new records that are being shattered,' he said.
Trump concluded, 'Young girls and women are incensed that they are now being forced to compete against those who are biological males. That is not good for women.'
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence contact Mindline Trans+ on 0300 330 5468. The line is open 8pm–midnight Mondays and Fridays and is run by trans volunteers
Topics: Donald Trump, Sport, no-article-matching, LGBTQ
Poppy Bilderbeck