A recent opinion piece in far-left news outlet USA Today slammed ESPN’s Sam Ponder for being a “bigot” after she spoke out against biological men competing in women’s sports.

Sam Ponder

On Thursday, sports commentator for ESPN Sam Ponder replied to one of Riley Gaines‘ tweets that showed text messages from female athletes and their parents thanking Gaines for speaking out against trans athletes and asking her for advice.

In response, Ponder wrote, “I barely said anything publicly [about] this issue & I’ve had so many [people message] me, stop me in the street to say thank you [and] tell me stories [about] girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment/being called hateful. It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls.”

Poder has briefly addressed her support for biological female athletes in the past, tweeting in April, “It is a shame that we are needing to fight for the integrity of Title IX in 2023 and the reason it was needed in the first place.”

On Sunday, far-left USA Today columnist Nancy Armour slammed Ponder for “plain old bigotry” just because she is advocating for women’s rights.

Nancy Armour

“Don’t be fooled by the people who screech about ‘fairness’ to cloak their bigotry toward transgender girls and women, the transgender girls and women who have the audacity to want to play sports, in particular,” wrote Armour. “This is, and always was, about hate, fear and ignorance.”

Armour then called Ponder’s “quest for fairness” a “sham.”

Armour’s reasoning? Ponder hasn’t complained about fairness in women’s sports before the issue of transgendered people competing in sports. However, there hasn’t been an instance of male athletes taking away opportunities from women in sports before now, so there was no reason for Ponder to express outrage.

“Did Ponder use her platform to express outrage at any of this? Urge her nearly half-million followers on Twitter to write or call their representatives and ask that women be given the funding and opportunities they rightfully deserve? Did she publicly participate in any of the many excellent documentaries, videos and commentary ESPN did to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Title IX last year? Or even Tweet about them?” wrote Armour.

“No, she did not. Her public concern about ‘fairness’ for female athletes starts and stops with the minuscule number of transgender women who are participating in sports.”

Sure, there are issues with pay inequality in sports, but one must also consider that it is difficult for pay equality when men’s sports get more viewership and, subsequently, more sponsorships.

Transgender women (biological men) competing in women’s sports automatically have an unfair advantage and will take away victories and opportunities from hard-working females.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.