Charlie Neibergall/ AP
Nikki Haley is once again trying to have it both ways. In response to a question asking her to define “woke” during a CNN town hall on Sunday, the Republican presidential candidate suggested that transgender girls in sports can be blamed for a rise in suicide rates among teens.
“How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker rooms? And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year,” Haley said, calling the topic the “women’s issue of our time.”
“We should be growing strong girls, confident girls,” she continued.
The former South Carolina governor appeared to be citing a recent CDC survey that found nearly a third of teenage girls have seriously considered suicide. But there is no evidence to support Haley’s assertion, which was swiftly blasted as anti-trans. In fact, the same CDC study revealed that LGBTQ teens are at higher risk of suicide and that transgender youth experience greater levels of violence.
Haley’s remarks, which come amid a sharp rise in anti-trans laws across the country, are an escalation of a 2021 editorial she wrote for the National Review, in which she called the inclusion of trans women in sports an “attack on women’s rights.”
Nikki Haley discussing trans girls in kids sports: "How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker room. And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year." pic.twitter.com/rA2lD06yVe
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) June 5, 2023
When pressed on whether there was any room for “humanity” in the so-called debate, Haley, in typical fashion, seemed to slightly backtrack, insisting that “we need to take care of these kids.”
“I think there is a humane way to do it,” she continued. “Let’s get them the help, the therapy, whatever they need so that they can feel better and not be suicidal, but don’t go and cause all these other kids to feel like that pressure is on them. They don’t deserve that, and they don’t need that, either.”
Haley did not offer advice on how to square that call for humanity with her own suggestion that trans people in locker rooms could be responsible for suicidal ideation.
