Sports columnist calls ESPN's Sam Ponder support for fairness in women's sports 'plain old bigotry'

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ESPN broadcaster Sam Ponder came under fire on Sunday as her support for keeping women’s sports fair and equal was the subject of an opinion column from USA Today’s Nancy Armour.

Ponder, and fellow ESPN colleague Sage Steele, have voiced their support for Riley Gaines, who has taken the reins to lead the calls for transgender athletes to participate in sports against the gender they were born as instead of the gender they identify as. Gaines has been at the forefront since she tied with Lia Thomas in the NCAA Championship in 2022.

Recently, Ponder spoke about the issue again after Gaines tweeted the messages she received about transgender high school runners participating in the girls division in California.

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Riley Gaines speaks during a discussion on transgender athletes in women's sports during a National Girls and Women in Sports event, Feb. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"I barely said anything publicly abt this issue & I’ve had so many ppl msg me, stop me in the street to say thank you+ tell me stories abt girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment/being called hateful. It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls," Ponder tweeted.

However, Armour called Ponder’s words "plain old bigotry" in her column.

"Don’t be fooled by the people who screech about ‘fairness’ to cloak their bigotry toward transgender girls and women, the transgender girls and women who have the audacity to want to play sports, in particular," Armour started the column.

"This is, and always was, about hate, fear and