New York City Education Dept. Ex-LGBTQ Program Manager Admits Trans Athletes Have 'Competitive Advantage'

A former LGBTQ program manager for New York City's Department of Education has admitted that transgender women athletes have an unfair edge over biological women athletes.

In a video clip posted by Project Veritas, Eric Vaughan, a former LGBTQ program manager at the New York City Department of Education, admitted his opposition to transgender athletes competing in female sports.

Initially reluctant to speak on the controversial issue, he eventually stated that he is "conflicted" and "not on board" with the notion, which he describes as "horrible."

Vaughan, who left his position in 2021, also admitted that the DOE just forced him to insist that trans athletes have no unfair advantage over biological athletes in women's sports competitions.

"I don't agree with a lot of the stuff. The thing is they want me to say that there is no competitive advantage to being a trans athlete. There is a competitive advantage," he said.

Vaughan noted that trans women dominate sports because of their distinctive physiques; "You can't deny that."

The former NYC DOE official said: "Either they're going to dominate playing for the sport they identified with before or they're going to be uncomfortable and not feel safe with the old gender that they used to identify as, the one that they're born as."

When the reporter in the video sought clarification if he supports trans women competing in female sports competitions, Vaughan said, "Like not yet."

The Lia Thomas Controversy

Vaughan's remarks come in light of the controversy generated by Lia Thomas, a transgender female swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania who broke records.

Thomas,22, played on the men's team for three years before she decided to join the women's squad. The controversial trans athlete used testosterone suppressants for a year to turn feminine.

The New York Post reported that biological women athletes are fuming that the NCAA would allow Thomas to compete.

In June, the Education Department sought a regulation process to establish school measures for selecting eligibility for men's and women's sports teams, with a plan to strengthen Title IX's safeguards amid states prohibiting transgender athletes' participation.

Title IX is a landmark federal civil right that outlaws all forms of discrimination based on gender in elementary, secondary, and higher education institutions that obtain federal financial aid.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona explained the decision by saying that standards are changing "in real-time," referring to the rising number of states that have passed laws banning transgender girls and women from sports competitions.

That month, the Department of Education released its long-awaited amendment to federal Title IX guidelines prohibiting discrimination based on sex in education, giving the situation a new urgency.

The Movement Advancement Project, a non-profit research group, reported that 18 states prohibit transgender children from participating in sports aligned with their gender identification.

In a statement, hundreds of civil rights and LGBTQ advocacy groups called state laws barring transgender children from athletics a phony answer to a "nonexistent" problem.

The LGBTQ advocates argue that there is "no evidence that the participation of transgender girls and women has affected the level of play in states with inclusive policies." They further claim that girls' athletic participation "has grown or kept the same" in states implementing "inclusive sports regulations" compared to those with "discriminating rules," wherein participation has dropped.

Public Demand Protection for Women in Sports

The deadline for public comments on proposed revisions to Title IX regulations came last August 31, and the education department received over 210,000 public comments.

A significant amount of public comments seem to be expressing concern over transgender athletes in women's sports. Despite this, a sizable percentage of the 88,000 comments posted to the regulations.gov website as of September 23 seems to be, at least in part, expressing worry about transgender athletes.

One frequent concern is that the proposed regulation pushes females to give up their educational opportunities to guys who do better than them. This seems to be referring to the worry that trans women athletes may usurp female athletes' scholarships or roster spots.

In a report from Mediaite, even transgender Olympic gold medalist Caitlin Jenner has expressed her disapproval of trans women participating in sports for females, saying that "biological boys" should not be allowed to participate in women's sports.

"We need to protect women's sports," Jenner stated on Fox News' "America Reports."