Polls Show Opposition to Transgender ‘Women’ Competing in Female Sports Growing

There is growing public opposition to men who identify as women competing in sports against biological females, even as more people say they accept transgenderism.

As Breitbart News reported last year, a narrow plurality of Democrats favor allowing men who say they are transgender to enter women’s sports, but the change is opposed two-to-one by adults, independents, parents, and middle-class voters, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll.

“Democrats favor men’s participation in women’s sports by 43 percent to 36 percent, said the survey of 1,000 adults, which was conducted May 28 and 29,” Breitbart News reported. “But the entry of men into women’s sports is opposed 54 percent to 28 percent among all adults, by 52 percent to 27 percent among independents, and by 77 percent to 13 percent among Republicans.”

Now, the U.K.-based Fair Play for Women reported on the trend in that country and around the world:

To date there have been three official polling surveys in the UK each asking whether transgender women should or should not be allowed in women’s sporting events (Populus 2018, You Gov 2018, You Gov 2020). In 2018 just over a quarter of respondents answered ‘yes’. By 2020 this dropped to just one in five respondents with a concomitant increase in the number of ‘no’s.

Increased public awareness and access to information has coincided with falling public support for the trans-inclusive rules first adopted by the International Olympic Committee in 2015 and then followed by all major sports governing bodies.

While support for someone’s gender identity is relatively high in the U.K. – up to 43% agree with the phrase “transwomen are women” – the public can and do distinguish between gender identity and biological sex, particularly in contexts such as sport where the latter is acknowledged as relevant. In such cases it is largely accepted that policies need to be based on an individual’s biological sex rather than on their preferred gender identity.

The Fair Play for Women also cites how the issue is being addressed in the U.S., including a public petition launched by the U.S. group Save Women’s Sport, which currently has more than 12,000 signatures. 

It also cites Article 7 of the Declaration of Women’s Sex-based Rights, which calls for single-sex sporting opportunities for women. This document has been endorsed by more than 200 organizations and has received over 11,000 supporting signatories.

“In response to increased public concern and developing scientific evidence, the U.K. Sports Councils have now commissioned a detailed review of their own 2015 guidelines for transgender eligibility domestic competitive sport,” Fair Play for Women reported. “Similarly, when asked about their current policy on transgender inclusion by Fair Play For Women, a majority of sports national governing bodies in the U.K. say their rules are ‘under review.’”

Fair Play For Women also reported on a September 2019 private letter of concern that was sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed by more than 60 British Olympic medalists, world-class sportsmen and women, and leading scientists. The letter asked the IOC to suspend its transgender guidelines until further scientific study and analysis could be completed.

As Breitbart News reported, more than 300 current and former professional Olympic and collegiate female athletes sent a private letter last month to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) urging it “not to give into bullying tactics” and to not boycott the state of Idaho for passing the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The law provides a level playing field for women athletes by only allowing biological females to compete in women’s sports in high school and college.

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