MSNBC host urges people not to succumb to ‘manufactured panic’ about trans people

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has urged people not to join in with “bad-faith” attacks on the trans community.

Following the results of the US elections, which brought a stream of Republican victories, there had been “a lot of soul-searching… within the Democratic Party”, said Psaki, now a talk-show host on MSNBC.

“Some Democrats might reach the wrong sweeping conclusions and there are a lot of issues that fall into that bucket, but one in particular that stuck out to me is transgender rights,” she added on Inside with Jen Psaki.

In particular, she called out Democratic Massachusetts representative Seth Moulton for saying that trans women competing in sports was an issue that his fellow Democrats were not willing to face.

He claimed that colleagues “spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face”, adding that he didn’t want his two little girls “getting run over on a playing field by a male or a formerly male athlete”.

Psaki went on to say: “Reflection is good but if that were actually an issue at thousands of schools across the country, it would be worthy of a debate. But there are incredibly few examples of transgender girls playing in youth sports.

“When I say few examples, I mean that if you were to account the examples of transgender girls playing youth sports in any single state, the number often rounds to zero.” There is no evidence that “these kids are a threat to safety and fairness”, she went on to say.

The issue of trans women competing in women’s sports has gained prominence in recent years, especially after trans swimmer Lia Thomas won an event in the 2022 college championships.

Former college swimmer Riley Gaines has made headlines with her anti-trans rhetoric, while San José  State University’s women’s volleyball team has been at the centre of a storm surrounding an alleged trans player, which has led to other teams refusing to take to the court against them.

Psaki, who served in the Obama and Biden administrations, added that bans on transgender athletes only affect one or two people, with “legislators in more than 20 states” not being able to “cite a single instance in their own state or region where a transgender athlete competing was a problem”.

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