n recent years, the debate surrounding transgender women and girls in female sports has become one of the most divisive topics in politics. However, one Republican lawmaker has been spreading outright misinformation to justify his position.
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville has been pushing for federal legislation that would prohibit transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports. But during a recent interview on Fox News, Tuberville made a blatantly false statement regarding the number of transgender girls currently competing in high school athletics nationwide.
“We’re getting to a point now where women and girls sports are getting ready to be extinct. Because already in states across this country, we have high school teams that are made up of totally boys participating against girls,” Tuberville claimed in the interview via Aaron Rupar.
That claim, however, is completely false. There is not a single high school team in the U.S. made up entirely—or even predominantly—of transgender girls. In fact, in 2023, there were only five transgender athletes competing in girls’ high school sports across the entire country.
Unsurprisingly, Tuberville’s misinformation ignited backlash across social media.
“This is just completely untrue. A total fabrication by Coach Tubs,” USA Today’s Dan Wolken posted on X.
“Not a good sign when all you have left is completely making things up,” the HRC’s Brandon Wolf added.
“Repulsive moron just makes things up and lies,” journalist John Harwood commented.
“There are 35 Trans high school athletes out of 6 MILLION kids 10 out of over half a million in the NCAA Meanwhile, over 14 million US households with high school-aged kids are food insecure If this is your primary concern, you are an evil moron,” another user wrote.
“Zero chance Tommy could produce a single shred of evidence of this happening,” someone else added.
“These people do nothing but lie and their supporters are too dumb and full of hate to care,” another person wrote.
“Tommy Tuberville is the dumbest man to have ever set foot in a Senate office,” another user quipped.
“There are fewer than 100 trans athletes in the entire country. And fewer than 10 in high school,” someone else noted.
This isn’t the first time Tuberville has been caught spreading falsehoods. Just last month, the former Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach falsely claimed that he recruited Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes to Texas Tech. Mahomes quickly shut that down, making it clear he had no connection to Tuberville and doesn’t even recall ever meeting him.
