Two House Democrats speak out against transgender athletes in women's sports

Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi and Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton criticized the Democratic Party for pandering too far to the left in its debate over transgender athletes in female sports.

By Misty Severi

Published: November 7, 2024 5:42pm

Two House Democrats criticized their party this week about transgender athletes playing in women's sports, and blamed the party's far-left pandering as the reason for Democratic failures on Tuesday.

Republicans scored big on election night, by winning back the White House, flipping control of the Senate, and leading in the House. Control of the House has not been called so far, but Republicans are leading Democrats 210-198 at the time of publishing.

Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi, who supported legislation that strengthened transgender rights during his first House term in 2017, admitted that he does not think athletes who are born male should play with athletes who are born female.

“The Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left,” Suozzi told The New York Times on Wednesday. “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports. Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be."

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton on Thursday agreed that his party was too worried about offending people that they were not being honest.

“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton told the outlet Thursday. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Moulton has joined his fellow House Democrats in supporting transgender rights since 2015, and voted against Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube's "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" last spring, per The Hill.

The Massachusetts Democrat also cosponsored the House Democrats’ Transgender Bill of Rights, which included protections for transgender athletes who wanted to play on sports teams that matched their gender identity rather than birth sex.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.