Sen. Ted Cruz gets good ratings on his podcast when he talks about trans issues and naturally he keeps talking about the subject. There are two main hot-button issues that dominate the national dialogue when it comes to gender identity.
The first is about youth access to gender-affirming care, a complex challenge where how best to take care of minors is at issue. Laws to stop minors from receiving this care are on the rise — Cruz supports them — while the medical community, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have come out against such legislation.
On this issue, Cruz shares posts like this:
chilling https://t.co/uaWLqtRvIo
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 23, 2023
But the second hot-button issue is that of trans athletes participating in competitive sports. Politically, Cruz senses that Democrats are even more vulnerable in this area, since the American ideal is “fairness” and the visceral reaction of men — or those born genetically men — competing against women is that it seems unfair.
Cruz used his Twitter platform to drag tennis superstar Serena Williams into the argument, posting an old clip of a Williams appearance on David Letterman‘s show, in which she articulated just how different men’s tennis is from women’s tennis — and admitting she’d lose 6-0, 6-0 to the top men’s players, and lose fast.
Williams wouldn’t, she said, want to compete against the men, making the axiomatic argument for Cruz that it wouldn’t be fair for men to compete against the women.
The implication is clear: Serena Williams is the GOAT of women’s tennis, and if the all-time greatest can’t take a game off Andy Murray, what chance does any other woman have?
It wasn’t that long ago, that EVERYBODY understood that men & women are different.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 23, 2023
WATCH this. 👇
Compare it to today’s Dems who see ZERO problem with men playing in women’s sports. https://t.co/Thx0kOHyot
Swimmer Riley Gaines has become the de facto spokesperson against transgender athlete participation — and something of a lonely voice among famous athletes.
Gaines has been using her social media platform to pressure other accomplished female athletes to speak out on the issue. Gaines has targeted Williams, as well as Ronda Rousey, Angel Reese and track superstar Allyson Felix.
“I’m going to call on well-known female athletes to take a stance on this issue because silence is complicity,” Gaines wrote. “How do you feel about males competing against women?”
Proposed changes to Title IX regulations include: “One-size-fits-all policies that categorically ban transgender students from participating in athletics consistent with their gender identity across all sports, age groups, and levels of competition would not satisfy the proposed regulation.”
