Pete Buttigieg acknowledges 'fairness issues' with trans athletes in women's sports

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Prominent Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg weighed in on the debate about transgender athletes competing in women's sports. 

During an interview with NPR, Buttigieg acknowledged "fairness issues" in the debate. 

"Around sports, … I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports," Buttigieg said. 

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Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic presidential candidate, speaks to supporters at a primary night election rally at Nashua Community College Feb. 11, 2020, in Nashua, Iowa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Democrat then agreed that parents who have complained about trans athletes competing against their daughters "have a case." However, Buttigieg also argued that politicians shouldn't be dictating policy to determine whether males can compete in women's and girls sports. 

"And that’s why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians … in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn," Buttigieg said.

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"Chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball and middle school is different from the Olympics. So, that’s exactly why I think that we shouldn’t be grandstanding on this as politicians. We should be empowering