White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged answering questions on Tuesday about President Joe Biden’s view on men competing against women in women’s sports.
A reporter asked Jean-Pierre about remarks from Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who said, “The idea that we have biological boys playing in girls’ sports, it is the women’s issue of our time.”
The reporter asked Jean-Pierre, “Does the president agree that this is a women’s rights issue?”
Jean-Pierre claimed that the administration has “talked about this many times” and that “it’s a complicated issue, and there are a wide range of views on this.”
She said that it was “incredibly important” to Biden that transgender individuals not be discriminated against when it comes to protecting women’s sports.
“The president has granddaughters,” the reporter fired back. “Does he care that girls are allowed to compete in sports without the fear of injury? Does he think it’s fair for girls to have to compete against biological males?”
Jean-Pierre responded, “I just answered the question. It is a complicated issue. It is truly a complicated issue with a wide range of views — a wide range of views. There is no yes or no answer to this; it is complicated. There’s a rule that the Department of Education has put forward. And we’re going to let that — that process move forward.”
“And it is — again, we want to make sure that while we establish guardrails with this rule, that we also prevent discrimination, as well, against transgender kids,” she concluded. “But, again, a complicated issue with a wide range of views, and we respect that.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: Karine, question on the big election topic, transgender rights. Former Governor Nikki Haley and presidential candidate says, quote, “The idea that we have biological boys playing in girls’ sports, it is the women’s issue of our time.” Does the President agree that this is a women’s rights issue?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, we’ve talked about this many times. This is the Title 9, specifically. Look — and, again, we’ve talked about this multiple times. It’s a complicated issue, and there are a wide range of views on this.
The Department of Education proposed a rule, as you know, that gives schools the flexibility to establish their own athletics policies. And so, while establishing guardrails — right? — to — to prevent discrimination against trander- –gender — [transgender] kids, and that is something that is incredibly important that the President wants to make sure that we also do that as well.
So, I’m just not going to get ahead of that.
As I said, there’s a proposed rule for — and Title 9 — on Title 9 that the Department of Education has laid out, so I’m just not going to get ahead of that as it relates to Department of Education.
REPORTER: The President has granddaughters. Does he care that girls are allowed to compete in sports without the —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I just —
REPORTER: — fear of injury?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I just —
REPORTER: Does he think it’s fair for girls to have to compete against biological males?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I just answered the question. It is a complicated issue. It is truly a complicated issue with a wide range of views — a wide range of views. There is no yes or no answer to this; it is complicated. There’s a rule that the Department of Education has put forward. And we’re going to let that — that process move forward.
And it is — again, we want to make sure that while we establish guardrails with this rule, that we also prevent discrimination as well against transgender kids.
But, again, a complicated issue with a wide range of views, and we respect that.
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