Democrat Texas Rep. Colin Allred has flip-flopped on trans-identifying males competing in women’s sports following attacks from his opponent, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Allred, who is challenging Cruz for the high-profile Republican’s senate seat, has never before said that he does not want men in women’s sports. He’s also repeatedly voted in favor of allowing men in women’s spaces.
Just last month, Allred touted his support for the Equality Act, arguing it “would level the playing field in terms of extending the civil rights protections that we have, based on race, and gender, national origin, to sexual identity and how you identify.”
He then made light of the sexual and pornographic content pushed on children in schools, joking, “banning books, man? Have they heard of the internet? When they do that, all they do is create a list for those kids to go read.”
Democrat Colin Allred claims discussion of transgenderism in locker rooms and biological men in women’s sports by @TedCruz is an attempt to “distract” Texans.
Cruz brought the receipts! #TXSen pic.twitter.com/HIYzr3rswf
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 16, 2024
But in an ad released last week, Allred argued that he does not support males in female sports.
“I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying. Ted Cruz is lying about my record because he can’t defend his own,” argued Allred in an ad titled “Lying Again.”
Allred did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.
His remarks prompted a rebuke from the far-left Human Rights Campaign, which told the LGBTQ outlet, the Advocate, “Congressman Allred needs to explain his comments in this ad. They simply don’t square with what we know about his record. For years, he has supported our community and worked to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. Texans deserve to finally have a leader who values equality and freedom.”
In 2023, Allred voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have blocked male athletes from participating in scholastic athletic events designed for females. He also voted against an amendment to that same bill which would have required a study on the effect that men participating in women’s sports has on women.
Allred similarly co-sponsored and voted for the radical Equality Act in June 2023 (and in 2021, and in 2019), legislation that would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to prevent “discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation.” That means men who identify as women could not be denied access to the locker room, prison, shelter, or sports team of their choice.
The Texas Democrat cosponsored a March 2023 resolution to recognize “that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights” — a resolution that would call for federal law to be amended to allow men to “participate in sports on teams and in programs that best align with their gender identity” and to “use school facilities that best align with their gender identity.”
And his past rhetoric similarly denounces efforts to protect female spaces as “dark” and “shameful.”
Texas should be a place where our young people can be who they are, free from discrimination.
This is yet another dark, shameful moment for our state as the GOP in Texas is more focused on attacking trans students than fixing the real problems we face. https://t.co/IlPhyp5OK2
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) October 17, 2021
Allred is not the only Democrat to recently flip-flop on men in women’s sports: The Daily Wire reported Tuesday that Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola, who formerly voted against legislation defending the integrity of women’s sports and spaces, reversed her position on the topic following a September report on her transgender stances from The Daily Wire.
Peltola’s record is remarkably similar to Allred’s: both joined their Democratic colleagues in co-sponsoring the Equality Act and voted against the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.”
