KJP Won’t Say If Biden Thinks Biological Boys Should Be Playing in Girls’ Sports

On August 29, 2023, a reporter pressed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on one of the most contentious social issues in American politics: whether President Biden believed biological males should be allowed to compete in girls’ sports. Jean-Pierre repeatedly declined to give a direct answer, instead deflecting to a proposed Department of Education rule on Title IX and insisting the matter was “complicated.” When the reporter followed up by noting that Biden has granddaughters and asking whether he cared about girls being able to compete without fear of injury, Jean-Pierre cut the exchange short.

The brief but telling exchange encapsulated the Biden administration’s approach to the transgender sports debate throughout its tenure: avoiding clear statements while pursuing regulatory changes that critics argued would effectively allow biological males to compete against females in school athletics.

The Press Briefing Exchange

The reporter opened with a direct framing, citing then-presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s position on the issue.

“Question on a big election topic: transgender rights,” the reporter began. “Former Governor Nikki Haley and presidential candidate says, quote, ‘The idea that we have biological boys playing in girls’ sports, it is the women’s issue of our time.’ Does the President agree that this is a women’s rights issue?”

Jean-Pierre’s response was a textbook exercise in deflection: “So, we’ve talked about this many times. This is the Title IX specifically. Look, and again, we’ve talked about this multiple times. It’s a complicated issue. And there are a wide range of views on this.”

She then pivoted to the regulatory process: “The Department of Education proposed a rule, as you know, that gives schools the flexibility to establish their own athletics policies. And so, while establishing guardrails, right, to prevent discrimination against transgender kids, and that is something that is incredibly important that the President wants to make sure that we also do that as well.”

Jean-Pierre concluded by deferring to the bureaucratic process: “So I’m just not going to get ahead of that. As I said, there’s a proposed rule for, and Title IX, on Title IX, that the Department of Education has laid out, so I’m just not going to get ahead of that as it relates to Department of Education.”

The reporter then made the question personal: “The President has granddaughters. Does he care that girls are allowed to compete in sports without the fear of injury?”

Jean-Pierre’s response was abrupt: “I just — I — I just —” before moving on, leaving the question unanswered.

The Title IX Regulatory Push

The proposed rule Jean-Pierre referenced was part of the Biden administration’s broader effort to rewrite Title IX regulations to include gender identity as a protected category. Title IX, the landmark 1972 federal law, prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding, including school athletics.

In April 2023, the Department of Education released a proposed rule that would prevent schools from imposing blanket bans on transgender athletes participating on teams consistent with their gender identity. However, the rule did include a provision allowing schools to limit transgender participation in certain circumstances if they could demonstrate that such limits were necessary to ensure competitive fairness or prevent sports-related injury.

Critics of the proposed rule argued that it was deliberately vague and would effectively force schools to allow biological males to compete in female athletics unless they could justify a specific restriction, placing the burden on schools rather than protecting female athletes from the start. Supporters contended that the rule struck a balanced approach by giving schools flexibility while preventing outright discrimination against transgender students.

The proposed rule faced significant legal challenges and political opposition. Multiple states had already enacted their own laws banning transgender athletes from competing on teams that did not match their biological sex, and the Biden administration’s regulatory approach was seen as an attempt to override these state-level protections through federal authority.

The Political Landscape

Jean-Pierre’s refusal to directly answer the question reflected the Biden administration’s broader political calculation on the transgender sports issue. Public polling consistently showed that a significant majority of Americans, including many Democrats, opposed allowing biological males to compete in female sports. A 2023 Gallup poll found that 69 percent of Americans believed transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on teams that matched their birth gender.

This created an uncomfortable dynamic for the Biden White House. The administration was ideologically committed to advancing transgender rights as a core element of its civil rights agenda, but the specific issue of athletic competition was a political liability. By refusing to take a clear public position and instead hiding behind the regulatory process, the White House attempted to advance its preferred policy without the president having to personally defend it in straightforward terms.

Nikki Haley’s characterization of the issue as “the women’s issue of our time” resonated with many voters, particularly parents of female athletes who had seen firsthand the competitive disparities that could arise when biological males competed against females. The issue became a significant campaign talking point during the 2024 Republican presidential primary, with virtually all candidates taking a firm stance against transgender participation in female athletics.

The Follow-Up Question and Its Significance

The reporter’s follow-up question about Biden’s granddaughters was particularly pointed. By making the issue personal, the reporter was attempting to cut through the bureaucratic deflection and get at a fundamental question: did the president, as a grandfather of girls, believe that female athletes deserved to compete on a level playing field?

Jean-Pierre’s inability to even complete a sentence in response underscored the degree to which the administration was trapped on the issue. A simple “yes, the president cares about fairness in girls’ sports” would have been seen as undercutting the administration’s transgender rights agenda. A “no” or a dismissal would have been politically toxic. So Jean-Pierre chose the only available option: a stammering non-answer followed by moving to the next question.

This pattern of evasion became a hallmark of the Biden White House’s approach to questions that pitted its progressive policy agenda against mainstream public opinion. Rather than engaging with the substance of difficult questions, the press secretary routinely resorted to procedural deflections, claims of complexity, or outright refusals to engage.

Additional Context

The Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite ultimately became one of the most controversial regulatory actions of his presidency. The final rule, published in April 2024, expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity but did not include the athletics-specific provision, which was separated into its own rulemaking process. Multiple federal courts blocked enforcement of the rule, and it became a major point of contention in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Following his election, President Trump moved swiftly to reverse the Biden-era Title IX changes. In early 2025, the Trump administration issued executive orders protecting women’s sports and reaffirming biological definitions of sex in federal policy, effectively ending the debate at the federal level in favor of protecting female athletes.

The exchange at the August 29, 2023 press briefing stood as an early indicator of how politically untenable the Biden administration’s position on transgender athletes would prove to be, and how the White House’s strategy of avoidance only amplified public frustration with its refusal to take a straightforward stance.

Key Takeaways

• When asked directly whether Biden believed biological boys should play in girls’ sports, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to give a yes-or-no answer, calling the issue “complicated” and deferring to a Department of Education rulemaking process.
• A reporter made the question personal by asking whether Biden, who has granddaughters, cared about girls competing without fear of injury. Jean-Pierre stammered and moved on without answering.
• The Biden administration’s proposed Title IX rule would have limited schools’ ability to restrict transgender athletes from competing on teams matching their gender identity, placing the burden on schools to justify any restrictions.
• Public polling showed roughly 69 percent of Americans opposed allowing biological males to compete in female sports, making the issue a political liability the White House sought to avoid discussing directly.
• The Biden-era Title IX changes were ultimately blocked by courts and reversed by the Trump administration in 2025.