Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin participated in a CNN town hall Thursday night hosted by Jake Tapper, during which he addressed a number of topics while answering questions from parents, teachers, and students. One student who asked him a question was a 17-year-old who calls herself Niko and who has made herself look and sound more masculine. Niko used her moment to question Youngkin on his transgender policies.
“Governor Youngkin, your transgender model policies require that students play on the sports teams and use the restrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth,” Niko began. “Look at me. I am a transgender man. Do you really think that the girls in my high school would feel comfortable sharing a restroom with me?”
You can tell she thought she had asked a real gotcha question of Youngkin, but alas, Youngkin was armed with facts and common sense.
“So first of all, Niko, thank you for again asking the question and being here tonight and engaging in this important discussion,” Youngkin began. “What’s most important is that we try very hard to accommodate students. That’s why I have said many, many times, we just need extra bathrooms in schools.”
PJM’s Megan Fox reacted to the girl’s question on Twitter. “This chick is welcome in my bathroom any day,” she said.
Youngkin, however, sees a solution to boys wanting to use the girls’ bathrooms and vice versa so girls who don’t feel comfortable with boys in their restrooms won’t feel violated: “We need gender-neutral bathrooms, and so people can use a bathroom that they, in fact, are comfortable with.”
Youngkin then addressed the issue of sports. “I think sports are very clear, and I don’t think it’s controversial. I don’t think that biological boys should be playing sports with biological girls,” he said.
“There’s been decades of efforts in order to gain opportunities for women in sports, and it’s just not fair,” he continued. “And I think that’s pretty that’s noncontroversial and something that I think is pretty well understood.”
A student who said they identify as a transgender man asked Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin during a CNN town hall if he believes high school girls would “feel comfortable sharing a restroom with me.”
Here’s what the governor said. pic.twitter.com/1GSl9U8Ehx
— CNN (@CNN) March 10, 2023
Youngkin is correct, and an overwhelming majority of voters agree with him, according to a recent poll conducted by Summit.org in partnership with McLaughlin and Associates. The poll found that 60% of voters say letting biological men play women’s sports has been harmful to women’s sports, with a mere 18% saying it’s been helpful. When 22% of respondents without an opinion aren’t included, 77% of voters find allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports to be harmful, and only 23% say it’s helpful.
Related: Transgender Cannibal Baby-Rapist Put in Women’s Prison Near Mother-and-Baby Unit
Youngkin has been a steadfast advocate of parental rights in education and was elected in 2021 largely because of that part of his platform. Terry McAuliffe, Youngkin’s opponent in the election, grossly misjudged the significance of parental rights in education and saw his once substantial lead in the polls dwindle before Youngkin ultimately prevailed.
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