'men shouldn't play in women's sports

 

Former Democrat Senator Jon Tester admits 'men shouldn't play in women's sports' after losing re-election

After being defeated in re-election in 2024, Former Montana Sen. Jon Tester has criticized trans athletes in women's sports.

In an appearance on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday, Tester stated that he concurred with California Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent assertions that permitting trans athletes in girls' and women's sports is "deeply unfair."

"In that statement, Gavin Newsom is 100% correct," Tester said. "We're talking about a very, very, very small amount of people who, by the way, men shouldn't be playing in women's sports. It's a bunch of crap." 

However, Tester also argued, like many other Democrats, that it is an overblown issue.

"The reality is is that it has been blown way out of proportion," Tester added. "We're debating about that and Congress is responding to that, rather than responding to the issues that affect Americans."

Tester cast doubt on a recent unfavorable poll of his Montana race. (Reuters)

A new New York Times/Ipsos poll discovered that the overwhelming majority of Americans, even a majority of Democrats, do not believe transgender athletes ought to be allowed to play in women's sports. Among the 2,128 individuals surveyed, 79% answered that biological men who claim to be women should not be permitted to compete in women's sports.

Among the 1,025 Democrats or leaning Democrat individuals, 67% stated that transgender athletes would not be permitted to compete against women.

At the same time, a national exit poll by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee identified that 70% of the moderate voters believed that the issue of "Donald Trump's opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women's sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women's bathrooms" mattered to them.

Moreover, 6% claimed it was the most critical of all, whereas 44% indicated that it was "very important."

Tester lost his seat to now-former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy back in November, after three terms in Montana – a state that has voted for the Republican presidential candidate for decades.

Even though numerous Democrat legislators and the majority of citizens have been outspoken against trans athletes in women's sports in the past few months, politicians such as Tester and Newsom have still found alternative reasons not to back GOP-sponsored bills to stop the practice.

While Tester indicated that the problem doesn't "affect Americans," Newsom countered that the legislation to solve the problem doesn't take into consideration that the transgender community is "vulnerable."

Social media users mocked Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., over the announcement of his new podcast

"So, easy to call out the unfairness of that," Newsom told his podcast this week after alleging that trans inclusion is unfair. "There's also a humility and a grace. these poor people are more likely to kill themselves, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people speak down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with too."

"So, both things that I can hold in my hand," the governor went on. "How do we solve this problem with the kind of decency that I believe, you know, is part of you, but not necessarily articulated on the issue?"

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to prohibit trans athletes in women's and girls' sports last February, but numerous states, including California, have not cooperated with it.

On Monday, Senate Democrats voted almost unanimously to filibuster the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

The law would have assisted in establishing a tighter precedent for keeping trans athletes out of sports for women and girls throughout the nation, given that most states have thus far declined to make Trump's executive order mandatory as a way to deal with the matter. None of the Democratic senators voted in favor of aiding the bill and filibustered it from the desk of Trump.