Sen. Rand Paul blasted President Biden’s education secretary nominee Miguel Cardona in a heated exchange over transgender sporting events.
The Kentucky Republican pressed Cardona, who has served as Connecticut’s education commissioner since 2019, multiple times on whether or not he believes biological males should be permitted to compete against females.
“What do you think in general of boys running in girls’ track meets like they’ve been doing in Connecticut?” Paul asked. “Do you worry about having boys run in girls’ track meets?”
“I think it’s appropriate — I think it’s the legal responsibility for schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities, and this includes students who are transgender,” Cardona replied.
Paul then posited the question again, asking, “So, you don’t have a problem then, of boys running in the girls’ track meets, swimming meets, you name it, you’re OK then with boys competing with girls?”
“Respectfully, senator, I believe I answered the question,” Cardona said.
Paul shot back, arguing that Cardona was “afraid” to directly acknowledge that he is not bothered by males playing sports against females and perhaps taking scholarships from them. In Paul’s opinion, that fear of answering the question “really is a statement to a real problem we have and a disconnect between middle America and what most Americans actually believe.”
“Who are these people that think it’s OK? From what planet are you from?” Paul added.
“Does it bother you that the top 20% of boys running in track meets beat all of the girls in the state and that it would, you know, completely destroy girls’ athletics?” Paul asked at one point. “That girls are being pushed out? [If] they don’t make the finals in the state meet, they don’t get college scholarships? That’s it’s really detrimental to girls’ sports? Do you worry about having boys running girls’ track meets?”
While Cardona acknowledged that he “appreciates the concerns” that many parents have about transgender athletes, he insisted that “it’s critically important to education systems and educators respect the rights of all students, including students who are transgender, and that they are afforded the opportunities that every other student has to participate in extracurricular activities.”
Paul stated during the exchange that it was “bizarre and unfair” to allow biological males to compete against females and wondered aloud why his position isn’t supported by more self-described feminists.
“I wonder where feminists are on this?” Paul asked. “I wonder where the people who supported women’s sports are on this.”
Biological males competing in women’s sports has become a hot button issue across the country, especially in Cardona’s Connecticut, where female high school students sued the state last year in objection to the state allowing males to compete against them.
Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, two transgender athletes in Connecticut, began competing against biological females during the 2017 track season and won a combined 15 championships between them.
Last week, in one of his first moves after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order requiring any school that receives federal funding to allow biological males who identify as female to be allowed to participate in girls’ sporting events, which some have referred to as the “end of girls sports.”
