MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle welcomed West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s (R) onto “MSNBC Reports” to discuss the state’s bill prohibiting transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams.
Ruhle asked the West Virginia governor to provide a single example of a transgender child attempting to get an unfair advantage in the state.
“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,” Justice replied.
The MSNBC host continued to question Governor Justice’s decision to put this bill as a priority considering he couldn’t provide any example of a transgender child looking for an unfair advantage in sports.
“Let’s talk about other things I can give you examples of in your state,” Ruhle said. “According to U.S. News & World Report, West Virginia ranked 47th in health care, 48th in the economy and 50th in infrastructure.”
“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.”
Nonetheless, Justice pushed back and stated that this proposal wasn’t a priority for him, citing that he signs several bills.
“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 said.
“I don’t know why we’re doing that. This is not like it’s a big priority to me.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
