Queer Eye Star Jonathan Van Ness Gets Emotional During Heated Conversation With Dax Shepard About Trans Athletes

Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and podcast host Dax Shepard got into a heated debate about trans kids during a recent interview.

The friction began after Shepard shared his opinion that the New York Times is a left-leaning news organization — a view with which Van Ness strongly disagreed. Van Ness argued the paper continuously shares anti-trans views, while Shepard argued that the paper was merely questioning the use of things like puberty blockers.

This sparked a tense 20-minute back-and-forth. Van Ness specifically took issue with trans children not being allowed to play various sports — citing that the “unfair advantage” argument is not plausible when sports themselves are not fair to begin with.

“Your explanation is, well, there’s other things that are unfair, I would say. Then let’s fix those things that are unfair. Let’s fix the socioeconomic problem that prevents certain people from having access to these things,” Shepard said.

“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, no. There’s a name for us. You can’t steal my identity to help your cause. You can’t take away the defining characteristic that allows me to relate to all these other women who have been oppressed,'” Shepard said.

Van Ness sighted the various bills that have been proposed to stop trans kids from participating in sports or not be able to receive transition care.

“There isn’t legitimate questioning going on. There is like a public targeted onslaught towards queer people,” Van Ness said. “…It’s a bogeyman to make us feel that our girls are being attacked, that there are things are being taken away with fairness in sport.”

Van Ness later broke down, saying that he’s tired of having to defend children.

“I just I wanted to chat about my podcast,” Van Ness said.

“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,” Shepard said.

“I could just like, cry because I’m like, so tired of having to, like, fight for a little kids because they just want to be included,” Van Ness said.

“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 am very tired,” Van Ness said crying.

Listen above via Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman.