Senate Democrats are suddenly keen to leave the issue of biological men playing women’s sports to the states and American parents, according to Axios.
Behind closed doors, many Democrats know that they need to come up with a stronger message and strategy to counter Republicans who are attacking them over their support for allowing men to play in women’s sports and transgenderism more broadly, Axios reported. After every present Senate Democrat voted to block a GOP bill that would have kept men out of women’s sports, Democrats are now embracing an emerging messaging strategy: allow states to determine suitable policy for themselves and empower parents to play a major role in those decisions.
Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin is taking the lead on the new messaging, unnamed sources told Axios.
Daily Caller News Foundation Reporter @MegEBrock on Democrats Continuing to Protect Trans Athletes
“You gotta wonder if the Democrats just like losing…. America has rejected transgender ideology–we understand that women are women and men are men….” pic.twitter.com/VYBLJgMldb
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 26, 2025
“Republicans in Washington are saying they know better than parents and local school districts,” Baldwin told Axios. “They are wrong. I trust parents, schools and local sports leagues to make these decisions for their children.”
Democrats’ deference to subnational governments on the issue of transgender athletes is a notable departure from their positions on a host of issues — ranging from COVID-19 vaccine mandates to abortion access — where the party advocates for the federal government to determine and impose policies on all 50 states.
A February poll from Gallup found that 66% of American adults believe that transgender athletes should “compete on teams that match their sex assigned at birth,” and that 56% of American adults support bans on so-called “gender-affirming care” — a euphemism for cross-sex hormones and sex change procedures — for minors.
The issue of transgender athletes has been in the national focus this week after President Donald Trump repeatedly highlighted it in his Tuesday speech to congress and after Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom conceded that “it’s deeply unfair” for women to have to compete against biological men on his newly-launched podcast.
“Every state and every community is going to come to their own decision on it,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told Axios. Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters told the outlet that “we let local schools make those kinds of decisions” given that “there’s no one set of facts.”
“There are basic issues of fairness here,” Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told Axios. “There are really important issues that we should be discussing on the local level, within sports leagues and within conferences.”
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