Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently chimed in on the debate over forcing female athletes to compete with biological males in sports.
During an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, host Steve Inskeep brought up comments made by former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during an interview with podcaster Megyn Kelly, who asked whether he believes men can become women. Emanuel answered, “no” and jokingly suggested that he’s now going to enter the witness protection program.
.@RahmEmanuel Splits with Dems: Says a Man Can't Become a Woman!
— WomenAreReal (@WomenAreReals) July 21, 2025
So simple. So true. Come on @TheDemocrats save yourselves and speak up for women.
PS @megynkelly advocating for incarcerated women. Terfs love to see it!💛🤍💜 pic.twitter.com/QNDLN7il54
“What's your approach to that, and how would you try to appeal to people who disagree with you about it?” he asked Buttigieg.
The former transportation secretary answered by saying “the approach starts with compassion — compasion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially youn gpeople who are going through this — and also empathy for people who are not sure what all of this means for them.”
Surprisingly, he also acknowledged how parents of daughters might feel about their child competing against boys. “Like, wondering, ‘wait a minute; I got a daughter in a sports league. Is she going to be competing with boys right now?”
Buttigieg continued, “And I think when you do that, that does call into question some of the past orthodoxies in my party, for example, around sports, where I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports.”
“Meaning the parent who's complained about this has a case, in your opinion?” Inskeep asked in response.
“Sure. And that's why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians, least of all politicians in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn,” Buttigieg continued.
The host asked about President Donald Trump’s commitment to preventing biological males from competing with girls. “It sounds like you’re not signing on to that,” Inskeep observed.
“I think that chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball, and, you know, middle school is different from the Olympics,” Buttigieg replied. “So that's exactly why I think that we shouldn't be grandstanding on this as politicians. We should be empowering communities and organizations and schools to make the right decisions.”
Pete Buttigieg chimes in on the transgender athlete issue, acknowledges that parents of daughters have valid concerns.
— Hotep Jeffiziah Charles🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) July 29, 2025
“Like, wondering, ‘wait a minute; I got a daughter in a sports league. Is she going to be competing with boys right now?” pic.twitter.com/K22TCA24xQ
Buttigieg’s current perspective is a significant departure from his previous statements on the issue. He previously supported trans-identified athletes competing in sporting events consistent with their chosen gender identity — especially if their hormone levels were equivalent to those in the gender category.
Like many of his fellow Democrats, Buttigieg appears to have finally realized that gender ideology is a losing issue — especially when it comes to sports. Progressives have failed to persuade the nation that it makes sense for female athletes to be forced to compete with men.