Butch Ware – the running mate of long-controversial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein – has been caught making comments against trans inclusion in sports.
“I don’t think that biological males should play in female sports. I think it gives an unfair competitive advantage,” Ware states in a short clip from an interview posted to X. The original interview source is unknown.
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Green Party VP Butch Ware:
— Olayemi Olurin (@msolurin) November 1, 2024
“I don’t think that biological males should play in female sports” pic.twitter.com/3X0gJvLh2x
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In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Ware claimed his words had been taken out of context and were “misrepresented through selective editing,” yet at the same time he appeared to affirm their accuracy.
“In context, I was engaging in what I thought was a discussion of nuanced policy on Olympic inclusion based on information shared by the IOC, not making a statement against trans inclusion.”
He blamed “unethical people [who] are paid good money to twist the words and sully the name of good people,” along with “the fear and desperation of democrats to drive a wedge into the Green Party base.”
He called himself a lifelong advocate for LGBTQ+ people and apologized to anyone his out-of-context words offended.
But then it got confusing.
“I do not – in point of fact oppose inclusion of trans people in sports – the question I thought I was responding to was about elite athletic competition, and I was essentially endorsing the IOC position that ‘every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination and in a way that protects their health, safety, and dignity….[While maintaining] a level playing field, where no athlete has an unfair and disproportionate advantage over the rest.'”
He then explained that he was asked his personal opinion rather than his party’s platform (the Green Party itself strongly supports trans rights but does not explicitly mention sports in the platform) and that party members don’t have to agree with every policy. “This is thought policing and indoctrination, not political freedom,” he said.
Ware has also been criticized for expressing the belief that there should be limitations on abortion rights after 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Jill Stein's VP pick opens the door to a national abortion ban. Watch here: pic.twitter.com/BMtQphKqqU
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) October 31, 2024
He addressed these comments in the same Instagram post, saying he has never “taken a position against a woman’s right to choose” and shared a quote from himself2022 emphatically supporting abortion rights and saying that abortion restrictions in several states are an infringement upon Muslim religious law, which permits abortion any time before birth to save the life of the mother.
Ware also said his identity as a straight Black Muslim man makes him an easy target for accusations of transphobia and misogyny.
Ware is a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a hip-hop artist. Jewish Insider has accused an album by his duo, Slum Prophecy, of celebrating the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Stein has been criticized for her repeated runs for president, which many believe contributed to Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. While even members of her own family have asked her not to run this year, she has pushed on.
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