Winconsin Rep. Dave Considine has sparked a backlash after telling women to ‘work harder’ if they’re being beaten by transgender athletes in sport.
The gender debate continues to spill into the world of sport, with people on both sides of the argument keen to get their points across.
On Thursday, the Winconsin State Assembly Republicans passed a controversial bill created to exclude transgender athletes from participating in female sports.
Another bill was passed, too, that banned sterilisation, castration and irreversible hormonal treatments of young trans people.
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Considine believes it is ‘selfish’ for some parents to be concerned about their children potentially missing out on scholarships due to trans athletes competing in women’s sports.
He said: “The best we got was, well, some parents are concerned that their daughter might miss out on a scholarship.
“They might miss out on playing for this team or that team.
“Boy, that…sounds like selfishness.
“I’m sorry to label it that way but that sounds like what it is to me.
“I’m only worried about myself, I’m not worried about building the team and having my school have a powerful team.”
Considine then doubled down by bringing his granddaughter into the argument.
He then made the claim that she’d said women must work harder when facing transgender athletes.
“And my granddaughter who is playing college sports, I asked her about this when we had this two years ago,” he said.
“And she said ‘you know what, if a trans woman was competing against me in the sport then that just means if that person is better than me, I need to work harder.'”
Considine has since faced a strong backlash for his comments online.
“Pretty much how things work in the Woke world,” said one user on X.
“I am completely disgusted by this man and his comments,” said another.
A third said: “Got it, biological facts don’t matter.”
A fourth said: “Then why doesn’t his granddaughter just play men’s sport if she really wants the challenge?”
“Why does he hate women?!?” opined another.
And a sixth user ranted: “This man is ridiculous.”
Taking to Facebook, Considine has since reiterated his point and said it’s an ‘adult problem’ that shouldn’t impact children.
“Excluding trans athletes from participating in sports is not what kids want,” he said.
“Kids want to play together.
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“The issue we are talking about is an adult problem.”
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