The former sports star has said it “isn’t fair” for trans girls to compete in girl’s sports at school.
Jenner announced she would be running to be the next governor of California last month as a Republican nominee.
The 71-year-old has long held a contentious relationship with the LGBTQ+ community due to opinion on trans rights and representation.
In an interview with TMZ, the reality personality spoke to a TMZ reporter in a car park and offered her stance on trans girls participating in sports.
“I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school,” she said. “It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”
Taking to social media, Jenner posted that she “didn’t expect to get asked” about trans sports rights during a coffee run.
However, the star defended her comments and reaffirmed her ideology online: “I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”
The US has seen a disturbing rise of anti-trans bills being introduced and passed. Currently, there are more than 234 anti-LGBTQ bills under consideration in state legislatures across the US.
There are 122 proposed bills that directly discriminate against transgender people and more than 60 of these bills, like the Women’s Sports Act, ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
Recently, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) which bans transgender girls and women from participating in sports.
The amended Senate Bill targets trans women and girls at the elementary, secondary, or post-secondary level of education, and requires parents to submit an annual affidavit “acknowledging the biological sex of the student at birth” to allow their child to participate in school state sports.
SB 2, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, was passed on Monday (April 20) and states “Athletic teams designated for ‘females,’ ‘women’ or ‘girls’ shall not be open to students of the male sex”.
The recently passed bill calls for “certain athletic teams to be designated based on biological sex.” Oklahoma House passed the Senate Bill with a high majority reaching a 73-19 vote.
Tennessee became the third state to ban trans athletes from competing in middle and high school sports after Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, signed the law.
Mississippi and South Dakota both passed bills discriminating against transgender youth in sports.
Mississippi’s Bill 2536, which exists under the title “provide that schools designate teams by biological sex”, aims to make it state binding that educational institutions must segregate sports teams based on biological sex.
The passed legislation made Mississippi the first state to pass a law banning transgender girls and women from school sports.
South Dakota legislature passed an anti-trans bill, H.B. 1217 in March. The state became the second state legislature to pass an anti-transgender bill this year.
Arkansas also passed a law, Senate Bill 289, which allows healthcare professionals to deny care to individuals under religious grounds.
The 71-year-old public figure took to her social media accounts announcing her run for the political position.
“Californians want better and deserve better from their governor,” she wrote.
“For too long, career politicians have over-promised and under-delivered. We need a leader with a vision and the resolve to see it through.
“This will be a campaign of solutions, providing a roadmap back to prosperity to turn this state around and finally clean up the damage Newsom has done to this state.”
Jenner ended her statement criticising the current governor, Gavin Newsom, and his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Small businesses have been devastated because of the over-restrictive lockdown. An entire generation of children have lost a year of education and have been prevented from going back to school, participating in activities, or socializing with their friends,” she exclaimed.
According to a report from Axios, Jenner has assembled several high profile campaign specialists to help in her fight for governor. Former Trump campaign staffers Tony Fabrizio and Steven Cheung have both been brought on to assist with her election plans.
California counties have till April 29th to certify the signatures and if passed and an election will take place in October or November.
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