Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, sparked fierce debate within the LGBTQ community after saying he would oppose transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports “if it endangers safety or fairness.”
“Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sept. 9. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes, I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”
The remarks immediately divided prominent transgender commentators and advocates.
“Eyes on the ball: winning in Texas is going to require taking positions that don’t sound great in Seattle,” transgender journalist Ari Drennen wrote on X. “A Democratic Senator from Texas is one more vote for Democrats to stop anti-trans bills from even coming up for a vote.”
Responding to an X user who noted that Talarico did not misgender transgender athletes as “boys” and that his use of “if” left him room to oppose a federal ban, Drennen wrote, “This is definitely more respectful than the approach we saw last cycle of democrats being like ‘I don’t support men in women’s sports.'”
But other advocates were aghast at Talarico’s comments, accusing him of conceding to Republican framing that uses anti-trans animus to justify sports bans and attack Democrats who oppose them.
“Here we go… Talarico says ‘I oppose trans athletes playing in girls sports if it endangers safety or fairness.’ It doesn’t, but Talarico is begging the question: does he believe in trans sports bans?” transgender journalist Erin Reed wrote on Bluesky.
“They’re not going to drop this line of attack just because Talarico uses weasel words. It’s only going to increase with Musk’s ad spend,” Reed added, referring to Elon Musk, the owner of X, whose America PAC reportedly plans to spend $100 million to help Republicans retain control of the U.S. Senate.
Reed also argued that conceding on transgender participation in sports inevitably leads candidates to make further concessions that harm transgender people in an effort to win Republican votes.
“As someone who has been covering transgender rights for years, let me be clear about something: When you see capitulation over sports, know that it NEVER stops at sports. And in fact, [Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Josh] Turek illustrated this just yesterday when he embraced a federal ban on funding for all trans care,” Reed wrote.
“So yes, I’m harsh on Dems that throw sports under the bus and call trans girls ‘boys,'” she continued. “I know where this leads. And in fact, the attack ads over trans issues have only ramped up after these candidates have floundered.”
Transgender journalist Parker Molloy noted on Bluesky that Talarico voted against the transgender athlete ban Texas enacted in 2021. He had supported unsuccessful amendments that would have allowed local communities to determine whether transgender athletes could compete on particular teams.
“[It’s] literally an issue that is affecting ZERO kids right now (except for any trans kids who want to play sports). But [Talarico] STILL ends up feeding into this BS,” Molloy wrote.
But transgender podcaster and software engineer Brianna Wu defended Talarico on X.
“It doesn’t help trans people if Democrats lose elections,” Wu wrote. “Trans athletes barely exist. This is not the natural domain of the boys that spend their childhood desperately wanting to be girls. This is not the hill to die on.”
Critics countered that accepting Republican framing could alienate pro-transgender voters, depress Democratic turnout, and cost Talarico the election. Some pointed to the 2024 losses of Democratic Senate candidates Sherrod Brown and Colin Allred, both of whom tried to distance themselves from transgender athletes.
“This type of shit WILL cost him the election,” X user AlekseiTheBun wrote. “Not because I think Texas moderates are secretly pro-trans. But because he actually needs to turn out Democrats to win, and he’s going to depress Dem turnout with this.”
Transgender civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo echoed Reed’s warning after Republican Senate nominee and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Talarico of wanting to transition other people’s children during a speech at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas. The video circulated in response to another portion of Talarico’s Fox News interview, in which he supported a national ban on gender-affirming surgeries for minors.
“No matter how much you throw trans people under the bus, you are still going to get attacked,” Caraballo wrote on Bluesky, pointing to Paxton’s distortion of Talarico’s position. “All you’ve done is betray a vulnerable minority, anger your base, and made the issue front and center.”
In a separate post, Caraballo argued that the debate ignores the history of transgender participation in sports.
“The thing liberals fundamentally don’t understand is that trans people are losing rights they already had,” she wrote. “We’re not asking for more, we’re asking not to lose what we already had for decades. Most sports leagues and the Olympics had inclusion criteria for decades without issue.”
Elsewhere in the Fox News interview, Talarico walked back a past assertion that there are “six genders,” saying he had been referring to people who are intersex or have disorders of sex development. He asserted that there are only two sexes.
Talarico also distanced himself from a previous statement that God is nonbinary. “I was being provocative with that statement. I get that. What I was trying to say is that you can’t use human categories to define God, and that’s not controversial theologically.”
Talarico criticized Republicans for focusing on those remarks rather than affordability and rising fuel prices. “I think the reason that politicians in that convention center across the street want to talk about ‘six sexes’ is because they don’t want to talk about $6 diesel.”
Brad Pritchett, CEO of the statewide LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, criticized the interview, saying the organization “expect[s] better” from Talarico and his campaign.
“When did people of moral standing decide to use Texas children as a political football?” Pritchett said in a statement to the Texas Tribune. “Fairness in school sports must include trans kids. Trans kids deserve the opportunity to play sports as much as their peers.”
Equality Texas also acknowledged Talarico’s generally supportive record on LGBTQ rights, contrasting it with Paxton’s record, which the organization said has “gutted protections for LGBTQIA+ kids.”
A federal appeals court upheld a Florida law restricting venues and performers from hosting drag shows attended by minors, overturning a lower court order that had blocked its enforcement.
In an 8-5 ruling, the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a preliminary injunction blocking state authorities from enforcing the law, finding that Florida is likely to succeed in defending its constitutionality, reports The Hill.
The Protection of Children Act, signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023, imposes fines and criminal penalties on any venues that admit children to drag shows or other "adult live performances," even with the parent or guardian's express permission.
A new study has found that companies that retained their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies or rejected anti-DEI shareholder resolutions performed just as well financially as those that rolled back their policies.
After taking office last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the federal government and among federal contractors. The order also encouraged -- but did not require -- private-sector businesses to abandon DEI policies governing hiring, management, contracting, and suppliers.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), an out lesbian who entered Congress after flipping a Republican-held district in 2018, has lost her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Craig, 54, was widely considered the more moderate candidate in the race against Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, 46.
Flanagan, who won the primary by nearly 20 points, positioned herself as the progressive candidate at a time when much of the Democratic Party's energy and enthusiasm is coming from its left wing. She earned endorsements from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith -- who is retiring from the seat -- as well as Minneapolis-area Rep. Ilhan Omar.
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