ESPN star sounds off on transgender athletes in girls’s sports activities debate

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Outspoken ESPN star Stephen A. Smith took a transparent place within the ongoing debate about transgender athletes' participation in women and girls's sports activities.

"Organic males shouldn't be competing towards organic ladies in sports activities, interval," Smith mentioned throughout an look on "Real Time with Bill Maher" after the Olympics' coverage on transgender girls was talked about.

"What about defending the younger girls? Younger girls going up towards organic males — organic males — there isn't a excuse for that."

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Stephen A. Smith joined Invoice Maher on the March 27 episode of "Actual Time," discussing politics and who may doubtlessly lead each events going ahead. (Actual Time with Invoice Maher/YouTube)

Smith then talked about former College of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.

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"Lia Thomas, for instance, was a male, and he was ranked over four-hundredth on the earth. … After which he turned a she. … And No. 1. Effectively … does it actually take an Einstein to understand that there’s one thing flawed with that image?"

Sadie Schreiner places a transgender flag in her hair earlier than heading to the awards stand after ending third within the finals of the 200-meter race on the 2024 NCAA Division III out of doors observe and discipline championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium Might 25, 2024, in Myrtle Seashore, S.C. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Publish through Getty Photographs)

Smith has previously spoken about his views on transgender athletes in women and girls’s sports activities, together with throughout a February 2025 Radio Row interview forward of that yr's Tremendous Bowl.

"So, that’s how I have a look at it. LGBTQ rights and all that stuff, I’m in full assist of that, however when transgender athletes — males — are transitioning to girls they usually’re competing in feminine sports activities, that’s a special animal to me," he mentioned.

"That’s not nearly LGBTQ rights. That’s about preying on the rights of females on the market in every single place who had been born feminine, they usually’re at a determined drawback."

Stephen A. Smith (Perry Knotts/Getty Photographs)

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These feedback from Smith surfaced across the identical time in 2025 when President Donald Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" govt order, which directed federal businesses to interpret Title IX based mostly on organic intercourse at delivery.