A Democrat running to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House said she is "not super worried" about biological men being in women's locker rooms, as she says she supports them being allowed on women's sports teams.
Sue Altman, who played basketball at Columbia University before playing professionally in Ireland and Germany, told potential voters at a town hall in Phillipsburg last week that she "got such a benefit from Title IX" but that she did not have an issue with "our trans brothers and sisters" being added to women's athletics, according to the New York Post.
"If we decide as a society that making rules about who is and who isn’t female is more important than giving young children a chance to be on teams and compete and to be part of something bigger than themselves, especially young people who are more susceptible to suicide and bullying, then I think we’ve lost our way a little bit," Altman said.
"As someone who’s been working to advocate for women’s rights and women's sports, I promise you that in the locker rooms of women's sports teams, we’re not super worried about this," she continued. "We've been worried about getting equal access to gym time, good referees, good trainers so you don’t get injured, fair shake at scholarships, equal pay at the higher levels."
Altman, a former leader of New Jersey's progressive Working Families Party, seeks to defeat Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District in next month's election. The race is currently ranked as a toss-up, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Last year, Kean voted in favor of a House bill to provide protections for women's only athletics, a proposal that passed the lower chamber.
The issue of transgender athletes' participation in women's sports has been controversial in recent years, as biological men have taken first prize over women in the U.S. and in international competition. There have also been cases of women being injured in competition by transgender athletes and women expressing discomfort about changing in the same locker room as a biological male.
The percentage of Americans who believe athletes must play on teams that correspond with their biological sex rose from 62% in 2021 to 69% in 2023, according to a Gallop survey.
According to the survey, a majority of Democrats in 2021 supported athletes participating in sports based on their gender identity, whereas in 2023, more Democrats believed athletes should be on teams that correspond with their biological sex.
Studies have found that transgender women athletes hold a competitive advantage over biological women even after hormone therapy.
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"This is a place where people care about girls sports, and I respect that," Altman said. "And I also know that I grew up with people who are now trans, who have transitioned from boy to girl or girl to boy, and those people struggled in adolescence."
"And I will let individual sport committees decide the highest, highest level things, but at the very heart of it, we have to respect people of all genders and give young children, especially young people and adolescents struggling with their gender identity, the chance to compete," she said.
