There is controversy on ESPN after host Sam Ponder backed up Riley Gaines claims of an unfair playing field for women in sports when they must compete with transgender athletes.
The New York Post notes that Gaines was attacked by protestors on the San Francisco State University campus when she attempted to give a speech about women in sports.
ESPN host Samantha Ponder, 37, supported Gaines and her opposition to a bill presented by the Biden Administration earlier this month. The proposal would disallow blanket bans against transgender athletes from participating in womens sports. This would be an update to the famous Title IX laws that already exist to try to keep competition fair and equal between men and women.
Under the guise of competitive fairness? asked Gaines in a tweet linking to a video in which former Penn swimmer Lia Thomas praised the proposal from the Biden Administration as a good start. However, Thomas pushed that the bill should go further and include athletes from Kindergarten to eighth grade who apply for high school and college-level sports.
Are you really trying to say you would have won a national title against the men? Gaines continued before writing: Does it not break your heart to see women lose out on these opportunities? The Biden Admins proposed bill denies science, truth, and common sense.
Ponder is the co-host of Sunday NFL Countdown, the football pregame show on ESPN. She quotes tweeted Gaines and said:
This would take away so many opportunities for biological women and girls in sports, and It is a shame that we need to fight for the integrity of Title IX in 2023 and the reason it was needed in the first place. #savewomensports.
Lia Thomas competed in swimming at Penn University for three years as a male before transitioning to female and setting several records in womens swimming.
Gaines swam against Thomas in the national championship last year and became outspoken after the NCAA decided to give a trophy to Thomas but not her after the two tied for fifth place in the 200-meter race.
The Department of Education shared a fact sheet about the proposed legislation at the time. That fact sheet read, "under the proposed regulation, schools would not be permitted to adopt or apply a one-size-fits-all policy that categorically bans transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity.
However, the fact sheet also noted that could be times when biological males could be prohibited from competing against biological females.
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