Pete Buttigieg's Comments About Trans Athletes Have Starkly Divided Democratic Voters

With three years left to go before the election, 2025 was a year for Democrats to start shoring up their candidates and getting ready for the fight through the midterms to the general election in 2028.

However, controversy after controversy kept kneecapping strong candidates. Including former South Bend Mayor and Secretary of Transportation under President Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg.

In an interview, Pete made a comment about trans athletes that had many Democratic voters up in arms and some coming to his defense, showing that the party is far from unified. Here's what Pete had to say and why people are so divided.

The comments came as Pete sat down for an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition. He covered several issues, including his thoughts on the rights of transgender individuals following comments made by the former White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel. Rahm dismissed the importance of trans rights, even as he has dropped hints at plans for a 2028 presidential bid (via The Hill).

Pete, who is also rumored to be considering a run in 2028, said on the subject of trans rights, "Your approach starts with compassion — compassion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially young people who are going through this, and also empathy for people who are not sure what all of this means for them." He added, "And I think when you do that, that does call into question some of the past orthodoxies in my party, for example, around sports."

Pete continued, "I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports." When asked if he believes that a parent complaining about this issue has a case, Pete responded, "Sure. And that’s why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians. Least of all, politicians in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn.”

While the initial points about leading from a place of compassion and encouraging communities to get together to make the right call when it comes to transgender athletes competing in sports struck a positive chord among Democratic voters, some of Pete's comments were taken as transphobic and harmful, drawing immediate pushback.

Many users online pointed out that Pete, as a married gay man, has benefitted from the push for equal rights, and called him out for "turning on" others in the LGBTQ community by validating anti-trans beliefs about unfair advantages supposedly possessed by trans athletes who compete in women's sports.

Some called for Pete to be dismissed as a 2028 candidate, with one user writing on Threads, "Can we just err on the side of listening to trans Democratic voters on issues of our liberty??? Tighten up the alliance?"

The user added, "We're losing rights over here, and it starts with rhetoric." Several transgender individuals said that they felt hurt by Pete's dismissal, calling his comments "dangerous" in an emotionally charged and politically dangerous time for those in the LGBTQ community.

Others, however, have pointed out that Pete has a history of pro-LGBTQ and, specifically, transgender allyship, offering him support for considering nuance in the conversation.

It's unclear how Pete's reputation with Democrats will suffer, if it does, but one thing is very apparent: Democrats are as divided as ever over topics that matter to the voter base, and time is ticking.

They have three years to sort out the issues that are foremost for the party, decide how they want them represented, and get behind a candidate who can be their voice. Lest the Republicans win another term, throwing transgender rights into a state of even greater peril.