Buttigieg: Approach to transgender rights ‘starts with compassion’

[Jessica_Rose]

Buttigieg: Approach to transgender rights 'starts with compassion'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/buttigieg-approach-to-transgender-rights-starts-with-compassion/ar-AA1JsFMq?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=4ee8e59a537f4389bf43fb4bcff69f89&ei=40

Brooke Migdon (28 July 2025)

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Democrats should approach transgender rights, including eligibility requirements for trans athletes, "with compassion" during an interview aired early Monday with NPR's "Morning Edition."

Buttigieg...  was asked about his messaging on transgender rights in response to remarks from former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that diminished trans identities.

"Your approach starts with compassion — compassion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially young people who are going through this, and also empathy for people who are not sure what all of this means for them," Buttigieg, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic nomination, told host Steve Inskeep on Monday.

"And I think when you do that, that does call into question some of the past orthodoxies in my party, for example, around sports, where I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women's sports," Buttigieg said.

"Meaning the parent who has complained about this has a case," Inskeep interjected.

"Sure," Buttigieg said. "And that's why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians. Least of all, politicians in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn."