Transgender allies are criticizing Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) for telling a right-leaning website that it’s “legitimate” for people to worry about the fairness of including transgender student-athletes, and implying that trans athletes threaten the safety of people’s “daughters.” One longtime gay journalist called Gallego’s comments “appalling.”
Gallego is now one of five Democrats in Congress who have publicly opposed the full inclusion of trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. However, he has voted against legislation to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports nationwide.
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“As a parent of a daughter, I think it’s legitimate that parents are worried about the safety of their daughters, and I think it’s legitimate for us to be worried also about fair competition,” Gallego recently told The Dispatch, a right-leaning digital magazine.
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“There are some sports that some of these trans children should not be playing,” he said, adding that local school boards and associations should figure out the competitions where “there should be a separation [based on players’ sex assigned at birth].”
Indeed, policies on trans sports participation used to be decided by local school boards, state athletic associations, and governing bodies overseeing certain sports and schools. However, Republicans have passed bans on trans sports participation in 28 states – all since the 2020 elections – though courts have blocked six of the states from enforcing their bans. Nevertheless, the president has issued executive orders to pressure colleges, universities, and sports governing bodies, like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), to adopt trans sports bans.
Gallego added that parents of trans children are also “worried legitimately about the health and wellness of their kids,” and said trans children should compassionately be told, “Hey, listen, we love you. We want you to be part of our community, but this is just the one place you can’t play, and let’s find other activities for you to be involved.”
In April 2023, Gallego voted against H.R. 734, the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, a federal bill seeking to ban trans women and girls from participating in women’s sports. He is also a four-time co-sponsor of the Equality Act, federal legislation that would enshrine LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections into law, and a member of the House’s pro-LGBTQ+ Congressional Equality Caucus, which seeks to advance progressive queer-inclusive legislation.
However, online commenters still criticized his recent remarks on trans athletes.
Chris Geidner, longtime gay legal reporter and author of the Law Dork blog, called Gallego’s comments “appalling” and noted that the senator’s comments stand in opposition to nearly every other Democrat in Congress, except for a few.
In addition to this being appalling from Sen. Gallego, the fact that the senior editor at The Dispatch frames it as coming from a "rising star" Dem and in opposition to "progressives" — as opposed to in opposition to virtually every elected Dem except Suozzi, Moulton, and Newsom — is trash.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T16:36:53.682Z
Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi (NY) and Seth Moulton (MA) have both made statements against trans female athletes playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
“I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports. Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be,” Suozzi said after Democrats lost the presidential elections in November 2024. Republicans spent over $56 million in anti-trans ads during the election
Moulton said, “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
Last January, two Texas Democrats — Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar — voted for a federal bill to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports nationwide. All other Democratic congress members voted against it.
One of Gonzalez’s election season ads stated that he opposes trans women playing women’s sports. He said that the issue was a “notable” one for Latino voters, the majority of whom supported the Republican presidential candidate in the last election.
In a November interview with Politico, Cuellar said that Democrats have underestimated how strongly voters feel about the issue, especially in rural America and his district in South Texas.
While Republicans have said that trans sports bans protect girls’ and women’s sports, critics of this position have pointed out that sexism, abuse, and poor funding harm women’s sports and discourage female athleticism far more than trans competitors. Critics also note that most young trans student-athletes just want to play sports alongside their friends, and that such inclusion is important to their overall well-being.
Many other Democrats have spoken out in favor of trans inclusion in sports.
Out Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), for instance, said, “No, we’re not going to abandon our support of all Americans, including our trans friends and neighbors and family members. Absolutely not.” Instead, Balint said that Democrats should work on strengthening their coalition of voters.
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