Congressional Candidate Yvette Herrell Interview: Transgender Athletes and More

There is no confirmed number of transgender athletes at the high school and college levels, though it is believed to be very small, fewer than 100 out of 8 million student athletes in the United States. 

Not all transgender people identify as women, and an even smaller number consists of transgender women hoping to compete in girls' and women's sports.

Privacy laws make it tough to identify the exact number of transgender athletes competing in public school sports, but researcher and medical physicist Joanna Harper estimates the number can't exceed 100 nationwide, per reporting in Newsweek. New Mexico has had fewer than 3 in the last 5 years. 

The topic has nonetheless become a hot-button issue among conservative groups and others who believe transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete on girls’ and women’s sports teams.

As reported by the Association Press at the time, Alamogordo a former school superintendent, Jarrett Perry, made it an issue even though the APS system did not have a single transgendered athlete involved in interscholastic sports at the time, and to date nver has had an "out" transgendered athlete arrempt to compete. 
The result was the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico took issue with the proposal. The organization sent a letter to the school board saying such a policy if adopted by the district would violate state and federal law.

Citing previous federal court rulings and New Mexico statutes, the ACLU wrote that the “proposal flies in the face of civil rights and liberties. This is about protecting our children from discrimination by the very professionals we trust to keep them safe.”

The end result the school board cancelled the workshop and the proposed resolution drafted under Perry's leadership by the school board was not issued. Alamogordo Public Schools Superintendent Jerrett Perry then soon after announced his retirement effective Dec. 17, 2021. The Alamogordo School Board held a special meeting to June 22, 2021 and accepted Perry's retirement.

The issue raised concerns and created a huge controversy and a divide within the local community. The issue was a false flag created to scare people into believing transgender indoctrination was happening within APS and that transgendered athletes were lining up to disrupt women's sports within the local system when the fact is no transgendered athletes have enrolled in APS athletics programs to date. 

Now yet again transgendered students are being targeted for political points. This time in the campaign for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District. Yvette Herrell challenging incumbent Congressman Gabe Vasquez is using scare tactics of transgendered sports to rally the base to vote as she polls 9 points behind Vasquez in recent polling. 

AlamogordoTownNews.org's streaming KALHRadio.org podcast via Anthony Lucero reached out to Ms. Herrell for an interview concerning her recent comments and political advertising around transgendered students which again an issue to rally her base. 

A link to the interview touching on the transgender ads and the race to date can be heard below:

https://youtu.be/hehcaGFAgQU?si=wRRiopqNlghP-LU0

KOAT News reports the ads run by Herrell suggest, “Girls have put in the work to be their best only to be beaten, even bruised and battered, by men competing in their sport. Vasquez voted to allow biological males to play in girls' sports, joining the extreme left.”

The ad is designed to elicit fear and anger against Gabe Vasquez for allowing biological men to participate in women's sports.

Per a fact check by KOAT News, Vasquez did not vote for people assigned male at birth to play in girls' sports — they can already. Instead, he voted against a law that would have banned them from playing.

Vasquez and 202 other Democrats voted against a bill more than a year ago called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.

It would have prohibited school athletic programs from allowing transgender women and girls from participating in programs that are for women or girls.

The vote went completely down party lines. It was sent to the Senate, where it died.

The ad was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee and approved by Herrell.

The transgender sports issue is being brought up in Republican attack ads in Tennessee and Kansas as well in hotly contested races. 

Herrell spoke with Alamogordo Town News to explain her position which can be heard streaming on Tuesday's news or via the podcast link. 

Alamogordo Town News's Anthony Lucero has reached out to the Vasquez campaign for an interview concerning the race and we will post that interview after it transpires. 

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