Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has changed his public position on transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports, telling Fox News he now opposes their participation when it raises concerns about safety or fairness.
“I oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said in the interview with Brooke Taylor.
“As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes; I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness,” he added.
The comments mark a shift from Talarico’s record as a state representative, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune. During his time in the Texas House, Talarico voted against Republican-backed restrictions that would have barred transgender student-athletes from playing on teams matching their gender identity. At the time, he argued such proposals amounted to government efforts to “police people’s private parts” and warned they would harm “the least of these,” invoking language from scripture.
Talarico had also drawn a comparison between arguments used to justify the bans — that transgender athletes held a genetic advantage and that exclusion promoted safety — and rationales historically used to keep Black athletes out of professional sports.
“Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports,” Talarico said in 2021.
In his recent interview, Talarico characterized the earlier Republican bills as “overly broad” and said the amendments he backed at the time would have shifted decision-making authority to local communities and school boards rather than state lawmakers.
“I supported amendments that would have given the power to make these decisions to local communities — like conservatives used to believe,” Talarico said. “I think that the people closest to these problems are best equipped to make decisions for themselves, not politicians in Austin, not politicians in Washington. I trust local officials and local communities to make these decisions, and that’s what I voted for.”
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