Joe Biden’s education secretary pick said that he believes schools have a “legal responsibility” to include transgender men in women’s sports.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, incoming Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was asked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) whether he believes it is fair to have transgender boys participate in girls’ sports. Cardona affirmed that transgender men should have access to biological women’s sports.
“I think that it’s critically important that the education system and educators respect the rights of all students, including students who are transgender, and that they are afforded the opportunities that every other student has to participate in extracurricular activities,” Cardona said.
“I think it’s the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities, and this includes students who are transgender,” he continued.
Biden ED secretary pick Miguel Cardona on whether it's fair to have boys in girls sports: "I think it's the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities and this includes students who are transgender." pic.twitter.com/QYUgztSTkF
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) February 3, 2021
During the confirmation hearing, Paul told Cardona that he found his position on biological men competing in women’s sports to be “bizarre” to most Americans.
“A lot of us think that that’s bizarre, not very fair,” Paul said, later adding: “Frankly, some boy that’s six-foot-two competing against my five-foot-four niece doesn’t sound very fair. I think most people in the country think it’s bizarre.”
President Biden already issued an executive order calling on schools to allow transgender athletes to compete in sports based off the gender with which they identify rather than their biological sex. The order contradicts the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights Title IX interpretation that such rules deny women equal athletic opportunities and violate federal law.
The Department of Education ruling came after four female track athletes from Connecticut — Cardona’s home state — challenged the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rules that allow transgender males to compete against biological females. According to The Daily Signal, the lawyers representing the female athletes believe the Connecticut rule violates sex discrimination laws, which mandate that schools treat male and female athletes equally.
Cardona has taken far-left stances in education in his previous capacities. According to The Washington Free Beacon, as Connecticut commissioner of education, Cardona helped create and institute a mandated, statewide minority-studies course rooted in critical race theory. The course will be required for all high school students in Connecticut.
The finalized curriculum, which was approved by Cardona, includes readings about the Black Lives Matter movement and asks students what minority experiences “reveal about the United States, its foundation, and how power is structured today.”
Related: 5 Times Transgender Athletes Dominated Women’s Sports