Athlete Cynthia Monteleone and her fellow athlete daughter, Reese, appeared on Friday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” where the two blasted the idea of including transgender women — or biologically born males — in women’s sports.
What are the details?
In fiery remarks, the Monteleones said that trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard — who will compete on New Zealand’s female lifting team in July’s Tokyo Games — should not be permitted to participate in the sport because of what they say are obvious advantages.
Hubbard, 43, is the very first transgender woman to qualify for the Olympics and will compete in the super heavyweight 87-kg category.
Cynthia, who formerly represented the United States at an international track and field competition in Spain, said that including Hubbard in the 2021 Olympics is just “another step in erasing women from competition,” The Post Millennial reported Friday night.
Her daughter, Reese — a high school sophomore track athlete in her own right — said that she “lost out to a biological male competing in women’s sports” during her own experience at a high school event.
“We’re here to speak up and to say it’s happening,” Cynthia said. “It happened to me, and it’s happening to my daughter. And this is a very dangerous issue. Not only can it be physically dangerous for girls in some sports, but it’s dangerous to the whole concept of women’s sports. Basically, this means the end of women’s sports if this keeps happening.”
Carlson interjected, “If not the end of women. I think we’re challenging the category itself. What is a woman? Well, it’s whatever you say it is, I guess.”
Cynthia, who is also a track coach, added that transgender women have distinctive advantages over biologically born females and insisted that fairness in women’s sports is invaluable.
“We know from science that even after — let me be clear — even after hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgery, male-bodied athletes will still have an advantage over female athletes,” Cynthia said. “Frankly, we don’t need science to tell us that — it’s common sense, and instinct.”
She added, “I feel badly for the girls I coach when they’re psychologically distraught having to line up against a biological male in their race. I have compassion for all athletes, including these females who are being displaced.”
What else?
Reese told the Fox News host that she’s received support for speaking out against the inclusion of transgender women in traditionally female sports.
“I’ve received mostly support from my fellow athletes and teammates, especially on my track team,” she said, “because girls like me have had to race against these athletes. Other mainstream media might try to shut us up or tell us not to share our message, but I believe that I’m standing up for what I believe in and I’m fighting for a fair playing field in women’s sports.”
You can watch the segment in the video below.
What else?
A spokesperson for Save Women’s Sport Australasia recently said that the International Olympic Committee should never have included Hubbard as a competitor in the forthcoming games.
“It is flawed policy from the IOC that has allowed the selection of a 43-year-old biological male who identifies as a woman to compete in the female category,” the group said in an early June statement.
The group wasn’t the only one to speak out against Hubbard’s inclusion.
In May, Belgium weightlifter Anna Vanbellinghen said that the decision to include Hubbard is “like a bad joke.”
“First off, I would like to stress that I fully support the transgender community, and that what I’m about to say doesn’t come from a place of rejection of this athlete’s identity,” she said at the time. She added that “anyone that has trained weightlifting at a high level knows this to be true in their bones: this particular situation is unfair to the sport and to the athletes.”
Earlier this week, NFL icon Brett Favre added that allowing Hubbard to compete on the women’s team was nothing short of unfair.
“It’s a man competing as a woman,” he insisted during a recent “Bolling with Favre” podcast. “That’s unfair! It’s not fair for a man, even if this person wants to be a woman or feels compelled — if you want to become the opposite sex, that’s fine. I got no problem with it. But you can’t compete against — males cannot compete against females.”
The Hall of Fame quarterback added, “If I was a true female — I can’t believe I’m saying that — and I was competing in weightlifting and lost to this person, I would be beside myself.”
*story by The Blaze
