Earlier this year, a new transgender athlete story took hold in conservative media right as Donald Trump began his second term as president. A 31-year-old recreational fencer named Stephanie Turner forfeited a fencing match against a transgender woman named Redmond Sullivan suggesting she did not want to compete against a biological male. As is often the case with these stories, Fox News leapt into action.
The network booked an interview with Turner and brought on U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to discuss potential legal action against USA Fencing. The incident, according to McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi, violates Title IX and an executive order from Trump banning the participation of transgender athletes in sports.
But in a recent episode of his podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, Torre attempted to set the record straight on the fencing match and why Fox News was covering it so intensely.
“Part of what’s darkly funny about this is … typically, you have to convince people [to] pay attention to fencing,” Torre said. “Here, though, you find that the appetite, seemingly, has been insatiable.”
Torre pointed out that Sullivan, 19, is officially a D-level fencer according to the sport’s rating system. In other words, she is far from dominant. Turner, who is at a similar level, is 31 years old and appears to compete recreationally. The Cherry Blossom Open is a relatively insignificant regional tournament hosted by USA Fencing.
Conservative media often paints transgender participation in sport in black-and-white terms. Commentators depict transgender women athletes as dangerous and dominant. Torre’s guest, elite fencing coach Andrew Fischl, explained that it is common for professional-level fencers to train against opponents of all ages and genders.
“Fencing is one of the safest sport there is, and everyone has something to gain in practice, regardless of who the opponent is,” Fischl explained.
The pair also reported that Turner competed in a mixed-gender fencing competition the week before she “protested” the match against Sullivan. On the other hand, Sullivan faced the opposite situation as she continued to compete against men while undergoing hormone treatment to transition to a woman.
Nevertheless, Turner has appeared on Fox News to discuss her forfeiture and the stand she took against Sullivan.
“There is a very familiar and established playbook for athletes who are not among the best in the sport, or in this case, anything close to it, claiming to be victims,” Torre explained.
The first reason is that the “victims” become national news figures, gaining notoriety and attention in high places. Turner has become a cause for Trump’s cabinet as well as key legislators like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
The other part of the playbook is more important to the average person, according to Torre, who explained that these “victims” are used by the media to distract from real problems. Torre highlighted the stock market tracker on Fox News’ chyrons while they reported on Turner’s protest.
As the stock market plummeted due to Trump’s trade policy, Fox hosts droned on about fencing.
“It is no coincidence … that the trans athlete seems to be even more loudly proclaimed as a problem when there are other, actual, real f***ing problems,” Torre explained.
“I cannot think of a more familiar option in a playbook than, ‘Is there a trans female athlete somewhere that someone feels victimized by?’ So we don’t talk about tariffs or the rule of law or mass deportation … but there is Stephanie Turner.”
This is not the first time Torre has broached the subject on his podcast. The show won an Edward R. Murrow Award for its reporting on Ohioan transgender softball player Ember Zelch.
The takeaway from that interview was similar: Transgender athlete participation is a sticky subject, but not the scary hot-button issue that it is often made out to be in the news.
“What is so undeniable to me the more I report on this story is how unbelievably overblown and intentionally dishonest and politically convenient the coverage of this issue continues to be,” Torre said on the episode covering fencing this week.
Now Torre, who is also a regular commentator and fill-in host on MSNBC, is going directly at Fox News and conservative media for its role in perpetuating myths about transgender athletes and distracting its viewers from more impactful issues.
