Former ESPN host and current Atlantic writer Jemele Hill ignited controversy Tuesday night after comparing the national debate over transgender athletes in women’s sports to the historic civil rights struggle for racial equality. Speaking on CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Hill suggested that efforts to restrict biological males from competing in women’s sports are akin to past discrimination against Black Americans.
Hill criticized recent policies and language targeting transgender individuals in areas like the military and athletics, warning that such restrictions could pave the way to broader oppression. “It’s bathrooms today, it’s sports tomorrow. It’s the military today,” Hill said. She denounced the wording of proposed policies as labeling transgender people “inherently untruthful, undisciplined, dishonorable.”
CNN commentator Scott Jennings noted that polling shows roughly 80% of Americans oppose men who identify as women competing in female sports divisions. Hill dismissed the statistic, arguing that public opinion is not a moral compass, citing past opposition to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. “The majority used to believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a threat,” she said. “Were they right? No, they weren’t.”
Hill then pivoted to diversity programs in the military, asserting that criticism of DEI initiatives is often coded language for targeting Black Americans. “Suddenly, when you don’t protect the most vulnerable, you wind up making it worse for everybody else,” she claimed.
Her remarks sparked sharp reactions online and from conservative critics, who called the comparison offensive and a false equivalence. Many argued that equating the battle over biological fairness in women’s sports with the historic fight for civil rights diminishes the legacy of actual racial discrimination.
The segment underscored the deep divide in American public opinion, as mainstream support continues to favor protecting women’s sports from male intrusion, while progressive voices push for full inclusion based on gender identity.
