Celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels revealed one ‘irrefutable’ reason why transgender athletes should be prohibited from competing with biological girls.
The well-known health expert, who first made a name for herself as a fierce fitness coach on the popular reality show ‘The Biggest Loser’, said that the desire for ‘inclusion’ and the desire for ‘fair competition’ are at variance with one another.
“You’ve got two competing goals in sports,” Michaels said during a television appearance on Tuesday. “One is inclusion, which everybody can understand and get on board with. However, the second goal that’s in direct opposition with inclusion in this instance is going to be a fair competition.”
Michaels explained that “if your overriding priority is going to be fairness over inclusion, you’ve got to turn to the data”.
The fitness coach, who is also a certified nutritionist, told the hosts of Fox & Friends that when it comes to the issue of fairness, it’s important to consult the science.
“If we defer to the studies…they show that even on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, the decrease in physical performance is, quote, trivial. That’s what the data says,” Michaels stated.
Michaels then proceeded to cite an example of how puberty blockers and cross-sex hormonal therapy do little to alleviate the physical advantage transgender athletes have.
She explained the comparative grip strengths of “a biological male transgender female” and a “biological female transgender male,” stating that even if both individuals were “on blockers and cross-sex hormones,” the biological male/transgender female’s “grip strength was 17 percent greater than the female on testosterone and puberty blockers.”
Michaels, a black-belt holder in martial arts, called her opinion ‘common sense.’
Her interview took place after some female middle school students in West Virginia refused to participate in an athletic contest because their competitor was a natural-born male.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, competed in the Harris County Middle School Track and Field Championship on Thursday, two days after a court ruled West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the teen’s right under Title IX.
Pepper-Jackson took home first place in the shot put competition with her 32-foot effort, three feet further than second place, and she placed second in discus.
Despite being legally allowed to compete, some athletes protested Pepper-Jackson’s participation by refusing to play against her.
Five girls from Lincoln Middle School stepped up to the circle for their turn, then refused to throw the ball. Scores recorded from the event on Athletic.net show the athletes received a mark of ‘no distance.’
Pepper-Jackson won her years-long struggle to compete in sports since West Virginia Governor Jim Justice banned transgender athletes from competing in middle school, high school and college in May 2021.
On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the ban cannot be applied to 13-year-old Pepper-Jackson.
The court previously blocked the state’s attempt to kick the teen from her middle school cross-country and track and field teams in February 2023.
Tuesday’s decision does not overturn the ban as it applies only to Pepper-Jackson’s case – but the law could be in limbo if other transgender student athletes choose to challenge it.
The court noted Pepper-Jackson has lived as a girl for over five years. She began identifying as female in the third grade and has participated strictly on girls’ sports teams.
In addition to taking puberty blockers and estrogen hormone therapy, the student has legally changed her name, and the state of West Virginia has issued her a birth certificate listing her as female.
Offering the teen a ‘choice’ between not participating in sports and participating only on boys’ teams ‘is no real choice at all,’ Judge Toby Heytens wrote in the ruling.
Pepper-Jackson told NBC News in October that she would not give up on her fight to compete in girl’s sports. “I want to keep going because this is something I love to do, and I’m not just going to give it up,” she said. “This is something I truly love, and I’m not going to give up for anything.”
Her mother, Heather Pepper-Jackson, said, “She likes to do the best in everything, be it algebra or running or shot put or discus. She tries to excel in everything that she does, just like any other kid… if she didn’t start the fight, who’s going to?”
Earlier this month, there was an issue involving a 6-ft transgender athlete in Massachusetts who was allegedly suspended from a rowing team for leering at a girl’s bare breasts in the changing room.
Before the alleged incident, the athlete, who attends KIPP Academy in Lynn, injured three opponents during a girls’ basketball game in February. Video from the incident quickly went viral.
Collegiate Charter School of Lowell forfeited the game to avoid losing any more players ahead of the playoffs, and KIPP withdrew from its next game after backlash.
The same transgender student, who is aged 17 or 18, not only competed in girls’ basketball, but in rowing, volleyball, hurdles, shot put and tae kwon do, according to a report from Australian magazine Quillette.
Before video of the game drew national outrage, the student – sporting a stubbled beard – was featured in a volleyball promotion for an All-Star game on November 9.
The transgender student at KIPP was named a Commonwealth Atlantic Conference All-Star in Volleyball after a season in which she led the charter school team in most major statistics.
She had more ‘kills’ (unreturnable shots) than the rest of the team combined, and the most aces and blocks, according to school statistics. The team went 13-9 that season, in which she played in 68 sets – equal most on the team.
She was featured alongside two other girls in a promotion for the All-Star game on November 9.
The same student also set records in the 400m hurdles and shot put, both as a female competitor, at the Lynn All-City Track Championship on May 30 last year.
Her 41-foot 2-inch shot put was six feet longer than the best throw in the senior event of the Massachusetts state championships that year.
