Rep. Mary Peltola, during the Alaska Chamber of Commerce forum with opponent Nick Begich on Monday, changed her position on the topic of men competing in women’s sports.
“I don’t think that we should have men competing in women’s sports,” she said. This is profoundly different from her previous position.
In 2023, Peltola voted in lockstep with House Democrats against a House Resolution to amend Title IX legislation and ban males who prefer to think of themselves as females from female-only competition categories in K-12 schools and colleges that receive federal funding.
Not a single Democrat voted to defend women’s sports, but the bill passed the Republican-led House, 219 to 203, and died in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Peltola stuck with the Democrats then, but has since been advised that she is out of step with her voters. Alaska voters — by a wide margin, according to polling — believe protecting fair competition is essential for the survival of girls’ athletics.
“This causes a lot of feelings for people, this is a culture wars issue,” Peltola said at the debate. “I’m not a very good activist, I’m not a champion on one side or another of most of these culture wars, because I feel like they are a complete and total waste of our time. We have real problems, we’ve got inflation, we’ve got every sector of the economy without skilled labor, skilled workforce. The list goes on and on.”
“No, I don’t think that we should have men competing in women’s sports, but you know, on the other hand, look at the number of female Olympian athletes who have been questioned about their femininity, they’re questioned, are they even a woman,” she added. “This is just not something that is number one for me.”
In the Olympic Summer games, a male boxer who identify as a woman won the gold medal in women’s boxing.
