EXCLUSIVE: ‘Just because your team might do better doesn’t mean it’s right’: Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos slams Megan Rapinoe for saying she would ‘welcome’ a transgender player to a women’s soccer team
- “I don’t understand how an athlete can say it’s right and fair for a natural male to compete,” DeVos told
- She says female athletes shouldn’t have to worry about bumping into a man in their dressing room
Former Minister of Education. Betsy DeVos has denounced US soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s comments that natural men should be able to compete on the women’s national team.
After recently announcing her plans to retire, Rapinoe told Time Magazine this week that she would welcome transgender women to the national team.
“I see trans women as real women,” said the controversial soccer star ahead of the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“I don’t understand that at all. I don’t understand how an athlete can say that it’s right and fair for a natural male to compete,” DeVos said in an exclusive interview with .
She said she sees no reason to add a man to the women’s team.
“I see trans women as real women,” controversial soccer star Rapinoe said this week
“There’s a lot of advantages, physical advantages, that a man has.” And just because your team might do it better doesn’t mean it’s right,” DeVos continued.
“The logic here just doesn’t work in the long run.”
Rapinoe is an outspoken LBGTQ+ advocate who helped US players secure a new employment contract with the US Football Association, which pays female athletes virtually the same salary as their male counterparts.
But now, with 22 states banning transgender students from participating in sports that conform to their gender identity, Rapinoe has put her focus on that fight.
“It’s especially frustrating when women’s sport is being used as a weapon,” she continued. “Oh, now it’s about justice?” Now we care about women’s sport? This is absolute nonsense. And show me all the trans people who are shamefully taking advantage of being trans in sports. It just doesn’t happen.’
DeVos, who was a competitive swimmer herself, disagrees with the soccer star’s assessment, saying men’s and women’s sports should be separated because of fundamental biological differences.
She also addressed the increasing problem of biological men using women’s locker rooms.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” she told , saying that young female athletes already put a lot of time and energy into pursuing their passion and perfecting their sport.
And these hard-working female athletes shouldn’t have to worry about “running into a guy in their locker room” and then, on top of that, competing against him in the swim event or on the field, DeVos said.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” DeVos told during an exclusive interview
Lia Thomas (center) at the NCAA Championships
She acknowledged that it was a touchy subject, especially for people who actually have a problem with it.
“But I’m sure there are ways to ensure that.” [transgender athletes] also have the opportunity to have competition. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a women’s team.’
Last month, swimming star Kylee Alons said she was forced to change in a closet to avoid having to undress in front of natural male trans swimmer Lia Thomas.
Alons, a state champion swimmer, reportedly revealed the awkward ordeal at the 2022 NCAA championships during a meeting with Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla.
“Today I met Kylee, the most decorated swimmer in North Carolina state history,” Steube tweeted.
“She told me how at the NCAA Finals she changed in a closet instead of experiencing the sexual harassment that comes with undressing in front of Will ‘Lia’ Thomas — a physical male who insisted on being in the dressing room for to be women.”