MLB broadcaster Alanna Rizzo on trans sports debate: 'I want to keep my stepdaughters safe'
Alanna Rizzo explains why she applauds Sophie Cunningham and wants to protect her stepdaughters' spaces from biological males in women's sports.
Alanna Rizzo is one of the foremost authorities on Major League Baseball. This week, she joined OutKick for a wide-ranging discussion about the state of the sport, the Dodgers, a potential lockout and various pop culture topics.
Rizzo also has two stepdaughters. When asked about the ongoing debate over transgender athletes in female sports, she provided the perspective of someone with seemingly no interest in scoring points in the culture war.
"I believe everybody should have a right to be who they are, want to be who they are, be in a safe space, be protected, and feel that they can talk about things and have their own opinion on things," Rizzo told OutKick.
"But when it comes to physical space, especially for young girls and young women who may not have the resources, fortitude, or physical ability to protect themselves, I’m not saying that people are going in there and attacking them. But I grew up in sports my entire life.
"I would have been very uncomfortable with a male in my space. I ran cross country and track, so nothing to the level of Sophie Cunningham by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not a professional athlete by any scope of the imagination, but I would not have wanted a male in my space, nor do I want a biological male in the space of my young stepdaughters," she continued.
Rizzo disagrees that saying women should be protected in their own spaces is political, homophobic or transphobic.
"People think that if I say women should be protected in their own space, young girls, young women, women in general should be protected, that I’m anti-trans people or anti-gay. That’s not at all what I’m saying," she continued. "I think everybody should have the right to be who they are. But when it comes to physical space, I would not want a male in my space.
"I just don’t think that’s something that’s appropriate. And I just don’t see why it’s such a divisive issue. I think it should be common sense, but there’s nothing common about common sense, unfortunately."
Rizzo appreciated the awareness WNBA forward Sophie Cunningham brought to the topic.
"I, for one, applaud what Sophie Cunningham is doing. I think it's very difficult to speak your mind when everyone around you is against that thought process and against what you believe in. I do believe that there should be a safe space for everyone in this world, but I also believe in protecting young girls and young women. I want to protect my stepdaughters' spaces."
You can watch part of the segment below:
Notice what Alanna Rizzo says. She wants every person to have a safe space to play sports at every level. But to provide that, we cannot force females to compete against or change alongside males.
In addition to wanting to protect young girls, Rizzo has a foundation with the priority of protecting dogs.
"There's a lot of abandonment and neglect and surrendering of animals, and the overpopulation crisis is absolutely an epidemic, and a massive, massive problem. People are doing backyard breeding, unethical breeding, abandoning their pets, surrendering their pets at alarming rates and they're getting euthanized at alarming rates all across our nation, in shelters just because of space."
Check out Alanna Rizzo's foundation, Guidry's Guardian Foundation, here.
Watch OutKick's full interview with her here.