The GOP is staking their electoral future on a sports bet. Or, to put a finer point on it, Republicans believe banning transgender athletes from men’s competition is a winning issue in the culture wars.
An article in Politico notes that several GOP leaders – including 2024 hopefuls Donald Trump and Nikki Haley – have expressed disdain for trans-inclusive policies.
In a recent keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the former president said it was “so important” to “protect women’s sports.”
Stephen Miller, the Trump aide who helped craft Trump’s CPAC speech, told Politico, “This issue will help [the] GOP win midterms.“
And Penny Nance, president of the socially conservative Concerned Women for America, added:
“This is the wedge issue that will bring suburban women back to the polls and increase their support for Republicans, and Republicans would be foolish not to lean into it.”
Trump and his allies have been particularly critical of an executive order signed by President Biden, which seeks to “prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Hailey, writing in The National Review, attacked the new policy, arguing that Biden is “paving the way for a federal mandate that all schools receiving federal funding let biological men play on women’s sports teams. The order was framed as a matter of transgender rights. But really, it was an attack on women’s rights.”
But the Biden administration told USA Today, “The executive order does not tie an education institution’s federal funding to allowing biological male athletes access to women’s sports teams and scholarships.”
Last week, the House passed the Equality Act, which seeks to expand anti-discrimination protections for LGBT Americans.
Anti-trans legislation has been a mainstay in GOP controlled State Houses for years. Politico notes:
“The issue has been percolating at the state level since early 2020, when several Republican-led states began pushing for bills to limit or ban the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports. But the recent attention is part of a sharper focus on cultural issues that conservatives believe could resonate with the swing-state suburbanites whose support the GOP hemorrhaged last fall.“
Kate Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, told Politico that adopting anti-trans policies will only hurt the GOP.
“If Republicans want to earn the votes of suburban women, the issue that’s going to do it for them is being effective on issues that folks are having to confront at the dinner table. This is not that issue.”