Donald Trump vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports” during a crude, transphobic rant at a campaign rally in Alaska on Saturday night.
“It is actually demeaning to women, and it should not be allowed,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump criticised former University of Pennsylvania athlete Lia Thomas without naming her, claiming a “person with a man’s body” had unfairly won a women’s swimming competition.
In March, Ms Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win first place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) first division swimming championship.
Her victory sparked a backlash against transgender athletes, and in June the world swimming’s governing body effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events.
Dozens of US states have introduced or are considering legislation to ban transgender student-athletes from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Mr Trump repeatedly misgendered Ms Thomas during the speech, which drew laughter from the crowd.
we've reached the crude transphobia part of Trump's rally speech in Anchorage, Alaska pic.twitter.com/rqfUw8DTcj — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 10, 2022
He also went on an extended rant about a transgender weightlifter who he claimed had broken records in a women’s competition. It’s unclear who he was referring to.
The former president has told variations of both stories at previous campaign rallies.
Mr Trump attended the rally in Anchorage to support candidates Kelly Tshibaka and Sarah Palin in their upcoming midterm races, while attacking incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski, who voted to impeach him.
Edward_Fingerhands on July 10th, 2022 at 21:00 UTC »
A transgender man in Ohio was recently forced to use the women's bathroom. Upon entering the women's room, a group of men assumed he was actually a transgender woman trying to use the women's room and beat the shit out of him. The police then showed up and arrested him. There was no way for him to win this scenario, he did the thing that conservatives say they want (using the bathroom associated with the gender on your birth certificate) and he was beaten and arrested regardless. So it's clear it's not about the bathrooms, it never was. They simply do not want these people to exist.
https://www.fox19.com/2022/07/08/transgender-butler-county-man-says-group-beat-him-up-using-wrong-restroom/
CaptainShrubbery on July 10th, 2022 at 20:34 UTC »
Trump really is a Fox News President.
He does an amazing job at tapping what his voters are mad about right now while having no knowledge about it at all.
I promise he never spoke of this crap before and it wasn't high on his list.
mynamesyow19 on July 10th, 2022 at 19:50 UTC »
Trump staying up near Russia just in case the DOJ start getting serious