Former Vikings captain speaks out after Minnesota misses Trump admin's deadline to protect girls' sports

A former Minnesota high school girls' softball player opened up about losing to a transgender pitcher in the state tournament and how the declining safety of the state has caused her and her family fear.

Former Minnesota Vikings captain Jack Brewer says he feels his family, figuratively, is being "held hostage" by the North Star State's Democratic policymakers who continue to enable transgender athletes in girls' sports. 

The state did not comply with the Trump administration's Friday deadline to ban trans athletes from girls' sports. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison cited the current government shutdown in a letter to the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, saying he has no "substantive response" to the Title IX deadline. 

Brewer, who also served as captain for the University of Minnesota's football team, has family and young relatives living in the state, and called its trans athlete policies "dark and demonic." 

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Jack Brewer, former safety for the Minnesota Vikings, speaks during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 27, 2021. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"I still have plenty of family in Minnesota — nieces, nephews, cousins — and family members who coach high school sports there," Brewer told Fox News Digital. "My family is being held hostage to these dark and demonic laws. I feel for my little nieces who have dreams of being athletes, for my young cousins playing high school sports, and for my former teammates who are now coaches and athletic directors across the state. These are my people — that’s why I speak out. I say things they can’t. It’s a sad reality