Jonathan Van Ness is one of the stars of Queer Eye. Van Ness is a man who uses they/he/she pronouns, and he went on Dax Shepard’s popular Armchair Expert podcast earlier this week to discuss a new project. During the nearly two-hour episode, Shepard pushed back very gently on the idea of boys being able to participate in girls sports and men participating in women’s sports.
[Editor’s Note: You can learn more about Megyn’s position on preferred pronouns here.]
Van Ness Breaks Down
I guess Jonathan didn’t really enjoy the conversation because he decided to cry to engender sympathy because he knew he was losing the argument. Here’s a little sample of what happened when he was on with Shepard:
Shepard: Do I wish that the trans woman athlete had access and could play and follow her dreams? I do. Will I elevate her rights over women? We’re pretending that women aren’t the ultimate marginalized class throughout history. People who have written ‘cervix haver’ and she goes, ‘No, no. There’s a name for us. You can’t steal my identity to help your cause.’
Van Ness: There isn’t legitimate questioning going on. There is like a public, targeted onslaught towards queer people. It’s a boogeyman to make us feel that our girls are being attacked, that their things are being taken away with fairness in sports… Honestly, I just – I wanted to come, like, chat about my podcast like…
Shepard: We’re going to do that. I did not intend at all to get into a debate with you about this. I didn’t want that at all. I adore you. I think you’re hysterical, and talented, and I love that you’re an activist.
Van Ness: I could just, like, cry because I’m, like, so tired of having to, like, to fight for little kids because they just want to be included. I wish that people were as passionate about little kids being able to, like, be included or grow up as they were about fictitious women’s fairness in sports. I have to tell you, I’m very tired.
You know what, Jonathan? Same. I’m tired of having to stand up for my daughter’s right to play sports with other girls. I’m tired of having to stand up for North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb who got hit so hard in the face by a trans opponent that she has permanent damage.
Apparently Jonathan is too busy to realize that there are girls like this across the nation who are having titles taken away from them, scholarship opportunities taken away from them, the joy of winning taken away from them because they’re being forced to perform and play against biological boys.
Men in Women’s Sports
He goes on in this interview to say, “the science we have now says that transgender women do not hold an unfair biological advantage over cis women.” Number one, that’s a lie. Number two, the reason we don’t have 10,000 studies is because we can see it with our own eyes, and we don’t need them. And number three, it’s because anytime somebody actually does try to put something out showing it, they get a sh-tstorm rained down on them from the very abusive trans activist community.
Those are the only reasons that you don’t have hundreds of studies saying it’s obvious, but you don’t need that. Just look at Lia Thomas in the pool. I bet Jonathan Van Ness has never competed in a sport, but he goes on to tell more lies about Thomas:
Van Ness: Even if you look at the very limited number of trans people who have been allowed to play around elite sport or elite competition – particularly Lia Thomas, for instance – none of her numbers were record setting. None of her height, weight measurements were out of portion. In all of the pictures on the podium where they’re like, ‘Look at how much bigger she is.’ If you take her look and look at an Olympic level, she wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility for someone who was assigned female at birth.
This guy is an a-factual idiot. Let me just give you a few examples. In February 2020, Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle race at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in 01:43:12, setting a new Ivy record. In March 2022, Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 04:37:32. The time is the fastest ever recorded at Harvard University’s Blodgett pool. That’s a record, Jonathan, in women’s swimming. In December 2021 at the Akron Zippy Invitational, Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 01:41:93, a time that was good enough to set – wait for it – school, pool, and program records and marked the fastest time in the nation. Congratulations, sir. You’re now the fastest woman in America.
‘Trans Misogyny’
But that wasn’t all. Van Ness also had the nerve has the nerve to use the term ‘trans misogyny’ during the interview:
Van Ness: I’m not calling you a transphobe. You can not be transphobic and still have thoughts that espouse trans misogyny and espouse transphobic ideologies or beliefs and not be transphobic.
How dare he use the term ‘misogyny’ when referring to women standing up for women and girls and trying to keep men out of our spaces. You do not get to use that term. We all know what misogyny means, but here’s the definition: Hatred of women and girls; a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men. He’s talking about men competing against women and men in women’s spaces, and he’s trying to say it’s ‘misogynistic’ for women to say no? This is so bassackwards. It’s infuriating.
‘I’ve Had It’
I don’t care how often you cry in your soup. I’ll make you cry all day long. We’ll be doing this for years. I couldn’t give a sh-t how upset you are about these imaginary kids you’re referring to. By the way, the littles are allowed to play against one another. It’s post-puberty that it becomes a problem, which is documented by the science trademark.
This idiot goes on with Dax Shepard – who I believe is an honest broker but wasn’t prepared for these lies – and spews a bunch of bullsh-t with his tears to try to pull the sympathy away from the women whose opportunities were denied and put it towards these guys. I’ve had it.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 636 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.