White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt answered questions Wednesday about recent Democrat defiance against keeping trans athletes out of women’s and girls’ sports.
During a news briefing, Leavitt scolded the party for its persistent stance on the issue despite data suggesting most Americans oppose trans inclusion in women’s sports.
“You can’t say you are the party of women and then support men in women’s sports and not stand up for basic law and order and immigration reform that will protect women in this country,” she said.
President Donald Trump addressed trans inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports in Tuesday night’s speech by honoring guest Payton McNabb, a former girls’ volleyball player who suffered permanent brain injuries when a trans athlete spiked the ball in her face in 2022. Trump shared her story during his speech and then vowed to cut federal funding to schools that allow trans athletes to compete.
But McNabb’s story was only met with applause from the Republican side of the room as Democrats remained seated and silent.
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Payton McNabb, center, and second lady Usha Vance, right, are shown during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
However, Democrat congresswomen wore pink during Trump’s joint address, one day after Senate Democrats blocked the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
“I think the message that Americans should take away from last night is that they have a president who’s committed to do what’s right [for] them, and I think it’s very ironic that Democrat women were wearing pink to support our fellow females, yet they couldn’t stand for a woman who was almost killed and severely injured by a man on the volleyball court,” Leavitt said.
McNabb told Fox News Digital that the silence across the aisle was “heartbreaking.”
“Even with daughters of their own, the fact that they did not get this bill through is just completely heartbreaking. I’m not the only story, there are so many female athletes who have shared their story, and it’s not like they don’t know. It’s insane that this is the hill they’re willing to die on,” McNabb said.
“It’s just sad … it’s just embarrassing.”
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Meanwhile, some Democrat governors across the nation are keeping their states’ public schools from following Trump’s executive order to keep biological males out of women’s and girls’ sports.
Maine, California, Minnesota and Massachusetts are all currently under investigation by the Department of Education for potential Title IX violations after their high schools were instructed to defy Trump’s order and to continue enabling trans athletes in girls’ sports. The department is also investigating a school district in Washington over the same issue, even after that district voted to ban trans athletes in girls’ sports, defying current state laws.
“The president has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women’s sports, which he believes is an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars, and so that fight continues and the president won’t back down,” Leavitt said. “This is a commonsense policy, 80% of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women’s sports.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (AP/Evan Vucci/File)
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.
Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
Conservative activist Riley Gaines has vowed to help unseat all the lawmakers who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, leading up to the 2026 midterms.
“In some of these private, confidential conversations that I have had with several Democratic senators, they assure me that they know it’s absurd to allow men into women’s sports and that they wouldn’t want it to happen to their daughters. But they hide behind many different excuses,” Gaines told Fox News Digital.
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