During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) responded to the Supreme Court’s decision on biological men in women’s sports by saying that he believes that “people have a right to live the life that they’re born to, the life that they want to.”
Pritzker said, “Well, look, we believe that people have a right to live the life that they’re born to, the life that they want to. And, in Illinois, anyway, we protect LGBTQ+ rights, we protect trans kids.”
He continued, “Remember, in Illinois, trans athletes — we, literally, in high school, have three trans athletes. We have a 133,000 athletes in total in our high schools, and three of them are trans. Why is the Republican Party focusing on this issue? Why have they passed laws in, I think, 27 states that have restricted or banned, outright, trans kids being athletes in schools? It seems to me like they’re just — again, they’re trying to foment on an issue that, frankly, I think we ought to be talking about bigger things. I know in the state of Illinois, we have much bigger challenges, as they do all across the country, with things like they’ve cut SNAP benefits, they’ve cut Medicaid, they’ve made life harder for people, raised prices. These are all things that we’re having to deal with in our states, and they’re trying to distract with something that has very little impact.”
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