Former Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago told SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly biological males should not play women’s sports and also opposed putting biological men in women’s prisons during a Monday interview.
The Trump administration settled with the University of Pennsylvania on July 1, requiring it to strip Lia Thomas, a biological male, of records and titles obtained while competing against women in NCAA swimming. Emanuel, who is reportedly eyeing a potential 2028 run for the White House, gave conservative-sounding responses during a rapid-fire series of questions during a slightly more than two-minute segment on “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“Do you believe boys should be able to play girls’ sports?” Kelly asked the former Obama administration official, who quickly responded, “No.”
“Do you believe that kids under the age of 18 should be able to be put on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones?” Kelly asked, with Emanuel responding, “I think that parents have to make that decision themselves, I think… the child is too young to make that decision. It has to be made with the family, and that choice. I think that before someone makes that life decision, they have to think twice about that.”
WATCH:
Kelly endorsed President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, citing child sex changes as her rationale during an interview on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in October 2024. During the 2016 campaign, Kelly, then a host with Fox News, and Trump clashed after she asked him about his treatment of women during a Republican primary debate.
“Do you then disagree with the Tim Walz policy in Minnesota, where a child who doesn’t get affirmed by his parents, can go into Minnesota and get jurisdiction there and get the parental decision overruled?” Kelly asked Emanuel, who responded, “Yeah, look, I think these are life decisions and I’m also slightly both, I have two minds, not two minds, but two strains that influence my opinion.”
“One, this is a life decision, and a child can’t make that decision,” Emanuel continued. “You have to have some moral development and character and judgment and foundation for that. Two, parents have to be involved in that and that’s for them to make. I don’t think the public should be in that space.”
Emanuel also said that biological men who are undergoing sex changes should not be placed into women’s prisons. The Trump campaign ran ads during the 2024 presidential election featuring Vice President Kamala Harris discussing how she pushed “behind the scenes” for transgender prisoners to receive sex changes.
The issue of biological males who identify as transgender competing in women’s sports became nationally prominent following Thomas’s participation in the 2022 NCAA championships, where the biological male won the 500-yard women’s final.
Several college teams elected to forfeit matches against San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team in 2024 due to the presence of a biological male on the San Jose State roster, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Emanuel is considering a 2028 presidential bid, labeling the Democratic Party’s brand as “weak and woke” in a May interview with The Wall Street Journal, adding that the party’s brand had become “toxic.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
