Republican Senator Tuberville Falsely Claims "Entire Teams Are Turning Trans"
The statement was not backed up with any factual references, and was made on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures.
In an interview Sunday on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, Alabama Senator and former football coach Tommy Tuberville claimed that “entire men’s teams… women’s teams are turning trans.” Tuberville previously served as the primary sponsor of a national transgender sports ban, which was defeated in the U.S. Senate earlier this year. The senator offered no evidence for his incendiary claim, and to date, there is no documented instance of “entire teams” identifying as transgender. His remarks follow a string of increasingly exaggerated claims from Republicans and President Trump about the presence of transgender people in sports and schools.
“Entire men’s teams across this country now that are turning trans… women’s teams that are turning trans. That’s going to be a situation now where it is going to pick up speed, because these woke globalists are pushing these kids to say, ‘if you can’t compete in men’s sports, let’s just transition to say you’re a woman and participate in women’s sports.’ It is dead wrong, and we’ve got to stand up against it, but the Democrats… they’re all in of keeping this situation going in the wrong direction,” Tuberville said. The host offered no pushback, nodding and replying “yeah” during the segment, failing to fact-check the baseless claims.
See the segment here, originally posted by Aaron Rupar on Bluesky:
There is no evidence of entire men’s or women’s teams “turning transgender.” Most sports have vanishingly few transgender athletes, and in most cases, they are not competing at high levels. In West Virginia, for example, the state sought an emergency hearing over just one transgender athlete. Nationally, NCAA President Charlie Baker has testified that he is aware of only 10 transgender athletes competing at the NCAA level across the entire country.
There is also no evidence of transgender athletes being “pushed” to transition due to poor performance in sports. Transitioning and obtaining eligibility to compete in a different gender category is a lengthy and difficult process, often requiring multiple years of hormone therapy. The process results in significant physical changes and alterations to athletic performance, creating a substantial barrier for anyone seeking to transition solely for competitive advantage.
There are a few examples of all-transgender teams in sports history, but none of them “turned trans.” These teams were formed within LGBTQ+ leagues and teams created to provide inclusive spaces for athletes who are often barred from competition elsewhere. For instance, Team Trans Hockey facilitates transgender participation in amateur hockey and occasionally fields all-trans teams to compete against each other or other LGBTQ+ teams. These teams were not existing rosters that transitioned en masse; they were intentionally formed to foster inclusion in recreational sports.
The notion that being transgender confers an advantage in sports is not supported by the data. Transgender people make up roughly 1% of the population. With over 570,000 NCAA athletes, we would expect about 5,700 transgender athletes at the collegiate level if participation were equitable. Instead, there are only about ten—500 times fewer than expected. That number doesn’t even account for the physical impacts of medical transition, such as reduced muscle mass and endurance, which often make competitive performance more difficult, not easier.
Senator Tuberville’s remarks are the latest in a growing string of bizarre and baseless statements about transgender people in schools and sports. Far-right influencers have claimed—without evidence—that students are identifying as animals and demanding litterboxes in classrooms. Donald Trump has insisted, again without evidence, that children are receiving gender transition surgeries at school without parental knowledge. These falsehoods mirror Tuberville’s, and together they represent a broader trend: a disturbing willingness by Republican politicians to embrace outright fiction in order to stoke fear and justify discriminatory legislation.
Let’s call it what this truly is: Madness. Hysteria. They’re obsessed with us to the point of frothing at the mouth. They’re the type of people who need restraining orders. All we want is to be treated equally, left alone, and most of all, TO LIVE!!!
Yet they can’t stop thinking about us (in the worst ways possible)!
If that were true, then why not just have those teams play each other and avoid this whole thing? I really wish I lived in the conservative world where everyone is trans.