Report — Dr. Oz on Trans Swimmer: ‘We Have to Have Compassion’ for Transgender Adults

Celebrity Doctor Mehmet Oz, a Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, recently stated, “we have to have compassion” for transgender adults when asked about transgender collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, according to a report. Thomas, a biological male who swims for the University of Pennsylvania, has been smashing women’s records this season.

Oz was hosting a private lunch in New York City on December 16, when he was asked about his position on transgender rights by an attendee who referenced Thomas, according to gossip website Radar Online.

The outlet reports to have obtained audio of Oz’s response:

“The transgender issue is kind of diluted a little bit,” Oz replied. “The suicide rate amongst transgender adults has grown [inaudible]. This is critical to understand. We have to have compassion on this problem. It is a devastating one. And transgender folks who are adults, when they are processing this, have to figure out if they wanna keep living the lie – they don’t think they’re who they are – or be who they truly are and are [inaudible] because of it. So that’s like the baseline.”

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“But then you layer on top of that changes to our society that hurt other people in an effort to protect one group of people, and that’s not fair. That’s not fair,” he said, circling back to the topic of trans athletes.

“Feminists have very eloquently fought for the ability to have women’s sports be on equal [inaudible] as men’s sports, and this takes away that ability,” he said, adding, “I would argue that what I just said can’t be said – I definitely couldn’t have said it on [The Dr. Oz Show] – and you need to be able to say those things.”