Sen. Ruben Gallego Opposes Trans Athletes in Girls’ Sports
The Arizona Democrat says some transgender youth “should not be playing” in girls’ sports and suggests they instead pursue “other activities.”
U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is the latest high-profile Democrat to come out in opposition to transgender athletes competing on female-designated sports teams.
In an interview with the right-wing news outlet The Dispatch, Gallego echoed President Donald Trump and a host of Republican lawmakers who have been vocal in their opposition to transgender participation in female-designated sports.
“As a parent of a daughter, I think it’s legitimate that parents are worried about the safety of their daughters, and I think it’s legitimate for us to be worried also about fair competition,” he said.
“There are some sports that some of these trans children should not be playing,” Gallego added, although he noted that “local institutions” like school boards or athletic associations should be tasked with determining where and at which ages “there should be a separation” based on biology.
Still, Gallego said that the message to transgender children barred from competing on teams matching their gender identity should be one of compassion.
“‘Hey, listen, we love you,'” Gallego said, giving an example of how he would address a transgender youth.”‘We want you to be part of our community, but this is just the one place you can’t play, and let’s find other activities for you to be involved [in].”
Gallego’s comments were made for an article examining the prospect of the Arizona senator pursuing a presidential bid in 2028, and the way that he has sought to cast himself as more of a pragmatic, moderate voice within the Democratic Party, in comparison with the reputation he cultivated in the House of Representatives as a liberal firebrand.
Gallego’s comment make him the sixth prominent Democrat to cave to public opinion on the issue of transgender participation in sports.
According to a February poll from Pew Research Center, most Americans favor requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their assigned sex at birth.
Other Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Tom Suozzi (N.Y.), Seth Moulton (Mass.), and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have expressed concerns over transgender inclusion in female-designated sports, with Newsom calling it “deeply unfair” to cisgender female athletes.
Two other Democrats, Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonazlez, voted with Republicans in favor of a bill to impose an across-the-board ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports earlier this year.
Gallego also appeared to cede some ground on LGBTQ rights, telling The Dispatch that he would have to “go back and look at” the language in the Equality Act to ensure passage of the sweeping nondiscrimination bill would not ban sex-segregation in educational institutions and athletic activities.
The bill, which would amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, is opposed by conservatives who believe that its broad language will lead to the eradication of single-sex spaces and teams — despite the fact that the bill does not explicitly address Title IX or sports participation.
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