MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle is pressing Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) on a bill he signed banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports.
Ruhle immediately asked Justice to provide an example of a transgender child “trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia.”
“I can’t really tell you one, but I can tell you this, Stephanie, I’m a coach and I coach a girl’s basketball team and I can tell you, we all know — we all know what absolute advantage boys would have playing against girls. We don’t need that,” Justice responded.
The MSNBC host argued Justice has no examples of it happening and asked him why he would take the time to sign the bill when there are bigger issues.
“Let’s talk about other things I can give you examples of in your state. According to U.S. News & World Report, West Virginia ranked 45th in education, 47th in health care, 48th in the economy and 50th in infrastructure,” Ruhle said.
She added, “If you cannot name one single example for me of a child doing this, why would you make this a priority? I named four things that would seem to me like a much bigger priority.”
Watch their comments below:
Arguing he did not make it a priority, Justice explained, “It just came to me and I actually signed it because I believe from the standpoint of a coach, I believe that girls worked so hard to obtain Title Nine, and I do not have any idea now why we are trying to disadvantage them in participating in a sport that they put so much into.”
Justice stressed the bill is not a priority to him claiming there are about only 12 transgender children in his state.
“I mean for crying out loud, Stephanie, I sign hundreds of bills, hundreds of bills. This is not a priority to me. But with all of that, I would say, I think that it would impose an unfair disadvantage on the girls. So, from that standpoint, I support it,” Justice continued.
Ruhle concluded the interview by inviting Justice back when “beyond anecdotal feelings as a coach, you can show me evidence where those young women are being disadvantaged in your state.”
She went on, “I can show you evidence of how ranking that low in education is disadvantaging young women and men in West Virginia.”
