By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Donald Trump Delivers Remarks at the University of Alabama Commencement
The speech was also filled with false claims about the economy, elections, and more.
Donald Trump continued his attacks on transgender women athletes in a commencement speech Thursday at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
He referred to a trans woman weight lifter who supposedly beat a nontrans woman and set a record.
“You look at the weight lifting where, 18 years it stands and they have this young woman,” he said, according to AL.com, a site for several Alabama newspapers. “And her parents are right where you are in the front row. And they’re so proud of her. And there’s like 209 pounds. And she’s gonna lift that, the record stood for 18 years.”
He “then imitated a woman struggling to push a barbell over her head,” the site reports.
“Can’t do it,” he said. “And then a guy comes along — or a gal or whatever — a transitions person comes along.”
“And he was a failed weight lifter as a man — but he comes along — 206 pounds — they put the little thing [weights] on — then he goes ‘boom, boom,’” Trump said. “And breaks the record by like 119 pounds,” Trump said. “That’s not right.”
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
He did not name the trans weight lifter, but he may have been referring to Anne Andres, a trans woman who won the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s Western Canadian Championship in 2023, beating cisgender women, and broke a record.
However, Andres is an outlier. The very few trans women in women’s sports, and they do not dominate women’s athletics. Also, there are many factors besides gender assigned at birth and hormones that contribute to athletic performance. Plus, Trump certainly made women athletes look weak.
The best-known trans woman weight lifter is Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand, who in 2021 became the first out trans athlete to compete in the Olympics. But she failed to win a medal.
Trump’s speech at the university was filled with falsehoods as well, notes a fact check by AL.com and other sources. He again insisted the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and that he actually beat Joe Biden; “did not accurately cite his margin of victory in Alabama for any of the three general elections in which he was a candidate”; “claimed egg prices have dropped 87% since he took office” when they actually are up; “claimed gas prices are down, but the numbers don’t bear that out”; and “boasted of having the ‘most successful 100 days of any presidential administration in the history of our country,’” according to the article.
“While that claim is subjective, several benchmarks undercut his claim,” the site reports, including his historically low approval ratings and the economic downturn.
