ESPN’s Katie Barnes Says Trans Athletes Do Have Physical Advantages in Some Sports

ESPN reporter Katie Barnes told CNN she thinks transgender athletes competing in women’s sports do have a physical advantage in some, but not all, disciplines.

Speaking to CNN host Jake Tapper, Barnes insisted science supports her claim male-born trans athletes have physical advantages over women but that those advantages are less meaningful from one sport to another, Fox Sports reported.

“I think it depends on what you mean by support that. From my reporting, the reality is that from a scientific perspective, we know that there are differences in sexes, and we know the differences do tend to lead to athletic performance differences as well, Barnes told Tapper.

“However, when we look at broad-based restrictions at all levels of sport, it’s very challenging to say that scientifically that is supported in all cases,” she exclaimed.

“Meaning that, something that might be appropriate for swimming does not necessarily apply to basketball, when it comes to individual sports versus team sports, as well as level of competition,” Barnes parsed. “So, I think the idea that transgender women have an advantage in all sports at all times regardless of any kind of medical transition, I don’t think that the scientific literature supports that at this time.”

That Barnes reasoned that trans athletes have any sort of inherent physical advantage over women is a small step away from the radical transgender activists who claim that no transgender athlete has any advantages over any woman regardless of the sport.

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Barnes’ comments came on the tail of the decision by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to approve a measure that would block any male identifying as a female from infiltrating women’s sports.

The NAIA Council of Presidents passed the policy without opposition by a vote of 20-0, replacing the previous ban policy, which only covered postseason competition.

The NAIA is not the only organization to begin blocking men competing in women’s categories. For instance, in March the Florida-based NXXT Women’s Pro Tour has updated its policy to permit only biological females to compete and ban transgender players from entering its events.

Last July, competitive cycling’s international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), officially moved to ban male-born athletes from competing in the women’s category. That move came only a month after British Cycling’s decision to ban men from competing as women.

Several other sports also moved to ban trans athletes from competing as women.

In Sept. of 2022, international rugby passed a rule preventing male-born athletes from competing as women. Also, in Dec., pro disc golf banned men from competing as women, as did the International Sport Fishing Confederation, which prohibited men from competing as women in Oct. of last year.

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