(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) NCAA President Charlie Baker said women could use a different restroom if they were uncomfortable with transgender athletes.
Baker made the comments during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
“Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so,” he said.
Baker defended the NCAA stance on allowing transgender athletes to use the restrooms and locker rooms.
“I believe our guidelines give people optionality in how they choose to use their facilities,” Baker said. “We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments that they need to make accommodations for the people who are playing.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., grilled Baker over allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports.
“Why don’t you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?”
— Sen. John Kennedy goes after NCAA President Charlie Baker, at a Senate Judiciary hearing on legalized sports gambling, for the NCAA not banning trans women from women’s college sports pic.twitter.com/XzGerxTvHX
— The Recount (@therecount) December 17, 2024
“Why do you support allowing transgender women, who are biological males, to compete against nontransgender biological females?” Kennedy said. “You are allowing biological males to compete against biological females, and you folks at the NCAA don’t do anything except sit there, watch, cash your checks and suck on your teeth.”
Baker said it was debatable whether transgender athletes have an advantage.
“There’s not a lot of research on it, but it’s certainly debatable,” he told Kennedy.
Kennedy reframed the question and asked if a biological male would have an advantage over a biological female.
The president ended up agreeing with Kennedy.
In 2022 Payton McNabb was forced to end her volleyball career after a transgender opponent spiked a ball at her, according to the New York Post.
She was diagnosed with a series of issues from the incident, including a traumatic brain injury, partial paralysis, a brain bleed, and on going memory loss.
“It was 100% avoidable, if only my rights as a female athlete had been more important than a man’s feelings,” McNabb told the outlet.
She added that she will never be silent on the issue.
“Every single person that fights for truth, people absolutely attack them, but it doesn’t bother me because I know what I’m saying is common sense,” she said.
