Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Voices Opposition to Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attends Keep it Clean to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 1, 2018. (John Sciulli/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance)

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that he opposed transgender athletes competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

During an interview with CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday, Kennedy was asked about males competing against females in women’s sports. The 69-year-old son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy announced his presidential candidacy earlier in April.

“I would, I think that I am against people participating in women’s sports who are biologically male,” Kennedy said. “I think women have worked too hard to develop … women’s sports over the past 30 years. I watched it happen. And I don’t think that’s fair.”

With his comments, Kennedy is one of only a few Democratic officials or candidates who have publicly signaled opposition to transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

It comes as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act several days ago, effectively barring educational institutions that receive federal funding from allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports. No Democrats backed the bill, but 10 refused to cast a vote.

But President Joe Biden said that he would veto the bill if it reaches his desk, and it’s unlikely the Democrat-controlled Senate would pass the measure.

A Biden administration proposal that was unveiled earlier this month would disallow colleges and schools from placing outright bans on transgender athletes. A number of state legislatures across the United States have passed such bans in recent months.

“The criteria also would have to minimize harm to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied,” the Department of Education said in its proposal this month.

The topic became of national interest after Lia Thomas, born a male, became the NCAA Division I swimming champion. The issue was again thrust into the spotlight following the recent attack targeting Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky collegiate swimmer who had competed against Thomas.

Censored Interview?

Kennedy’s Democratic 2024 opponents include Biden, who announced his own presidential bid last week, and author Marianne Williamson. Both are considered long-shot candidates against Biden, although a recent poll showed that Kennedy has about 19 percent support and Williamson has about 9 percent support, respectively, against the president.

“I think our country’s heading in a bad direction, and that’s why I’m running,” Kennedy told CNN Saturday on why he’s challenging Biden, an incumbent president.

Days before, Kennedy accused ABC News of censoring his comments about vaccines during an interview that aired last week. ABC News journalist Linsey Davis stated before their interview that “RFK Jr. is one of the biggest voices pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric, regularly distributing misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, which scientific and medical experts overwhelmingly say are safe and effective based on rigorous scientific studies.”

After it concluded, Davis said that the network refused to air certain portions of his comments during the interview. “We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines. We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview,” she said.

Kennedy said the move was tantamount to censorship and likely a violation of federal law.

The law in question “makes it illegal for TV networks to censor Presidential candidates but Thursday, ABC showed its contempt for the law, democracy, and its audience by cutting most of the content of my interview with host Linsey Davis leaving only cherry-picked snippets and a defamatory disclaimer,” he said. “Offering no evidence, ABC justified this act of censorship by falsely asserting that I made ‘false claims.’ In truth, Davis engaged me in a lively, informative, and mutually respectful debate on the government’s COVID countermeasures.”

Kennedy added that he would “supply citations to support every statement I made during that exchange ... I’m certain that ABC’s decision to censor came as a shock to Linsey as well. Instead of journalism, the public saw a hatchet job. Instead of information, they got defamation and unsheathed pharma propaganda.”

“As President, I will free FCC from its corporate captors and force the agency to follow the law by revoking the licenses of networks that put the mercantile ambitions of advertisers ahead of the public interest,” he concluded.