An increasingly large share of Americans believe that self-described transgender athletes should not be permitted to compete in sports leagues opposite to their actual sex, according to a recent survey from Gallup.
Some 69% of respondents to the poll said they think “transgender athletes” should “only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth gender,” marking a 7% increase since the question was asked two years ago. Roughly 26% said in the most recent iteration of the poll that the athletes “should be able to play on sports teams that match their current gender identity.”
Paula Scanlan, a former member of the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team and a former teammate of controversial self-identified transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, said in comments to The Sentinel that she was encouraged by the shift in public opinion in favor of female athletes.
“I think we are definitely moving in the right direction,” she remarked. “Based on personal interactions I have seen an increase in people that have traditionally voted Democrat starting to voice their disagreement with their party on this issue.”
A higher share of Democrats indeed expressed skepticism toward self-described transgender athletes competing on teams that do not match their true sex: 48% responded in the poll that they should only compete on teams that match their “birth gender,” also marking a 7% increase from two years ago. Some 93% of Republicans and 67% of independents concurred.
Thomas, a man who claims to be a woman, garnered nationwide controversy after he switched from participating in the University of Pennsylvania’s male swim team to instead compete against females. He provoked backlash for reportedly undressing in front of his female classmates in the locker room, as well as winning the 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA Division I national championship last year, defeating a number of elite female competitors.
“Left-wing media seems to be ignoring this issue and not presenting adequate arguments to their stance on why men should be allowed to enter women’s spaces,” Scanlan told The Sentinel. “The lack of proper arguments from traditional left-wing sources has left a lot of liberal voters with no counter-arguments, which has encouraged them to form their own opinions and see the damage men in women’s spaces can have.”
Some 55% of poll respondents concurred with the notion that the decision to “change one’s gender” should be considered “morally wrong,” an increase of 4% since the last survey. The controversy occurs, however, after public sentiment more broadly shifted in favor of homosexuality and transgenderism in recent decades.
Scanlan, who has been swimming competitively for most of her life, faced censorship from administrators and other students at her school and recently decided to break her silence on the matter. “I am hopeful that we will be able to turn people on both sides of the political spectrum, as defending women’s rights and women’s spaces should not be a political issue,” she added.
