Former first lady Melania Trump has been an advocate for the LGBT community, but where she draws the line is biological men competing in women’s sports.
The 54-year-old model and mother spoke out against transgender inclusion in women’s sports in an excerpt of her new memoir “Melania,” which released on Tuesday. She called the premise of biological men competing in women’s sports “unfair,” due to natural physical advantages that males hold over females in terms of strength and speed.
“Male bodies generally have physical advantages – muscle strength, height, bone density, and lung capacity – that can affect fairness in competition, even at the high school level,” she wrote. High school athletes often dedicate years to training with the hope of being recruited by universities. Seeing that dream collapse is an unnecessary and avoidable consequence.”
The former first lady also spoke out against groups that are advocating for transgender inclusion in women’s sports, and condemned their ideologies.
“Today, some groups attempt to impose their ideologies on everyone, deepening the divisions in our society. One example is the ongoing debate over trans inclusion in sports, specifically when male-born athletes who identify as female compete against women,” she wrote. “Some argue that the number of trans-athletes is low, but even one can upset the balance in a female league or tournament due to these physical advantages.”
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Former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump at their Mar-a-Lago home on Nov. 15, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
More than anything, Trump wants what is best for women’s athletes. This includes their protection and privacy from men in locker rooms, as well as their financial well-being as their earnings could be impacted by competing against biological males.
“I fully support the LGBTQIA+ community. But we must also ensure that our female athletes are protected and respected,” she wrote. “This issue also has broader implications, including the loss of future earning potential as professional athletes and a potential setback for equal pay in sports.”
Her husband, former President Trump, has been a vocal opponent of transgender inclusion in women’s sports for years, and has even made it a part of his policy agenda in the upcoming election.
Trump re-affirmed his stance in late August at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty – a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to keep LGBT identity and critical race theory out of classrooms. The former president preached at the event that transgender women should not be allowed to play in women’s sports and said access to gender-affirming health care should be restricted.
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Former President Trump speaks at a town hall event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
The Trump campaign launched a series of ads attacking Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during NFL football this past Sunday, focused on her stance on transgender inclusion. The ads all contained the slogan “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
In April, the Biden administration issued a sweeping rule that said Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions.”
The rule took effect Aug. 1, and, for the first time, the law stated that discrimination based on sex includes conduct related to a person’s gender identity. The Biden administration insisted that the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that Biden’s claims that it would not result in biological men participating in women’s sports weren’t true and that the proposal would ultimately put more biological men in women’s sports.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to reject a Biden emergency request to enforce portions of that new rule that includes protection from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX, after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general sued to block the Title IX changes in their own states.
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University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after tying for 5th in the 200 freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022, in Atlanta. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Trump invited former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines to his rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 23. Gaines has testified in Georgia about her experience competing against and sharing a locker room with a biological male, Lia Thomas, alongside four other NCAA All-American women athletes in the 2022 NCAA championships. The women filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in March alleging the association knowingly violated Title IX in allowing Thomas to compete.
Gaines lambasted Democrats for their positions on multiple gender identity issues at the event, including transgender inclusion in women’s sports.
“They don’t believe in school choice; they don’t believe in parental rights or the safeguarding of children; they don’t believe in freedom unless it’s the freedom to have an abortion or chemically and surgically castrate children,” she said. You have one ticket that knows what a woman is and has vowed to take decisive action at protecting our sex-based rights, compared to the other ticket that thinks men can become pregnant and that tampons belong in boys’ bathrooms.
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