Washington Democrat compares keeping males out of women’s sports to racial segregation

A blue state Democrat recently made a wild claim about the efforts to stop male transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

Washington Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Moses Lake, compared barring transgender-identifying athletes from girls’ sports to Jim Crow-era racial segregation.

“I recall a time in our country’s history not that long ago … where people like my grandfather were told that they could not participate in sporting activities because he was a black man,” she said. “I can recall a time in our country’s history, Madam Chair, where people like my grandfather and my great-great-grandfather were not allowed to participate in processes and places in our society because of the color of their skin.”

Reeves made the comparison during an Education Committee session last week while speaking in favor of SB 5123. The measure would expand Washington’s nondiscrimination protections to its public schools – including protections for so-called gender identity and immigration status.

However, Rep. Michael Keaton, R-South Hill, pushed back at Reeves’ comparison.

“One thing that doesn’t change is bone density, lung capacity, and the ability that a male has versus a female,” he said. “There’s been too many stories already this year of females being hurt, or females working their entire life to accomplish a goal and to be able to be successful in something, dedicate their life to it, and then a male changes categories and takes it all away from them.”

While Reeves told Keaton that society is “evolving” to allow transgender athlete participation, he said that’s not progress.

“I don’t view it as evolving, actually,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a disingenuous argument from me or my side to say that our opinion of it is that we’re actually devolving from a time before Title IX, a time before women had rights in this country, a time before girls could actually go and compete in sports with other girls without having to risk being hurt or having scholastic or other opportunities robbed from them.

“We’re going backwards in history, not forwards.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also blasted Reeves, calling her delusional.

“Washington State Rep. Kristine Reeves compares excluding men from girls’ sports to racial segregation,” Kirk posted on X. “Not sure who is more delusional: The men who think they’re women or the politicians still defending them?” 

The debate comes as the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office is investigating a school district near Olympia for sanctioning a girl who spoke out against a transgender-identifying player on an opposing girls’ basketball team. 

National polling shows about 80% of Americans oppose transgender-identifying males competing in girls’ sports.