Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark defends allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports; states she has “dozens of trans people” in her life

On June 2, 2025, a community forum to discuss the impact of federal actions on Vermont was held in Essex with the state’s Attorney General Charity Clark, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, and Treasurer Mike Pieciak participating in the event. A concerned community member at the forum discussed the importance of Title IX and asked why Vermont’s officials have not acted to protect women. Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark responded by downplaying the concerns and defended people who identify as transgender:

How many scholarships in the state of Vermont do you think are going to trans women over women who were given the right gender assignment at birth? I mean, you are talking about extremely teensy tiny, I don’t even know what. And I don’t think it happens in Vermont. But do you know what does happen? Let me tell you. My office has the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and we do have people in this state who target children, who rape and molest and assault children. And they overwhelmingly are one type of person. And yet, listen. Do you know who I want to protect? Everyone. And trans people deserve our respect. They deserve our love. They are our neighbors. They are our community members. And I appreciate that you are concerned about an issue that I don’t even see, and I have certainly not experienced in my life. But I have experience in all the dozens of trans people in my life as they have been targeted and they have been discriminated against and they have suffered. And all I want to do is stand up for them, and I always will.