President Donald Trump has strongly reiterated his stance on transgender athletes – and he sent University of Alabama graduates wild on Friday as he spoke at their commencement.
Trump signed an executive order in February banning trans women from competing in women’s sports, and has threatened to strip federal funding from schools who do not oblige.
Speaking at a commencement event for Alabama students on Friday, Trump vowed to ‘always protect women’s sports’ as the crowd in Tuscaloosa loudly applauded.
‘They say it’s an 80-20 issue. No, it’s a 97-3 issue, I think,’ Trump said.
‘No, men will not be playing in women’s sports. I said that, and I classified it with a very powerful executive order, as you know. It’s done.’
At one point, Trump appeared to mimic a woman trying to compete against a transgender athlete in weightlifting, as he dramatically re-enacted someone struggling to lift a weight.
He went on to rail against several controversies in women’s sports, as he appeared to reference former college swimmer Lia Thomas and spoke about a swimmer with ‘the wingspan of Wilt ‘the Stilt Chamberlain.’
President Donald Trump appeared to mimic a woman competing against a trans opponent in weightlifting
Alabama students smile as Trump speaks at their commencement on Friday night
Thomas, who competed at the University of Pennsylvania, set several women’s records after transitioning to be a women and competing for UPenn’s women’s team.
‘One young lady, she was going to set the record, she fought all her life to set the record,’ Trump said. ‘Then she looks to the right, and she sees the same thing, but there’s a person next to her who’s a giant … that was a person that transitioned, and he had the wingspan of Wilt ‘the Stilt’ Chamberlain.’
One swimmer who competed against Thomas in the college ranks was Riley Gaines, who has become a vocal advocate against trans women in women’s sports, and was at the White House when Trump inked his executive order in February.
In March, Trump halted $175 million in federal funding to Penn for allowing Thomas to compete against biological women.
His administration has now given the school an ultimatum to wipe trans Thomas from its women’s record book and apologize.
The White House has accused Penn of violating sex discriminations law Title IX by ‘denying women equal opportunities by permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.’
Trump also referenced the boxing controversy at the Paris Olympics, when Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan ‘s Lin Yu-ting – who both failed gender eligibility tests in previous international competitions – were allowed to compete and won gold in their respective women’s weight classes.
In one fight, Italy’s Angela Carini quit against Khelif 46 seconds in to ‘save my life.’
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the 2022 NCAA championships
Trump’s administration halted $175million to UPenn for letting Thomas compete against biological woman
‘They had a great champion, a female boxer, and after one punch she walked back to the corner and said, ‘I can’t get hit like that, I’ve never been hit like that before,’ Trump said on Friday.
Trump also spoke about volleyball players that had been ‘hurt so badly’ playing against trans athletes.
This winter, San Jose State’s women’s volleyball team has had multiple games in the Division-1 Mountain West Conference forfeited by other schools due to safety concerns over playing against Blaire Fleming, who is biologically male.
Amid the controversy, which sparked national debate, some of SJSU’s own players turned on the school and filed a lawsuit against their head coach, the college and the Mountain West Conference.
