Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday responded to criticism of his recent remarks about transgender athletes, telling content creator Aaron Parnas that compassion, not political theater, should guide public debate.I see this issue being used to divide. I see it being used to hurt people, Buttigieg said during a Substack Live broadcast. Its especially hurtful for trans people and people with transgender members of their family who witness themselves or people they love being used as a political football.The exchange followed a July 28 NPR Morning Edition interview in which Buttigieg framed the inclusion of transgender girls in sports as a matter of fairness, while rejecting blanket federal bans.Some Democrats, Buttigieg supporters, and LGBTQ+ advocates criticized his framing as playing into right-wing narratives. Parnas, a 26-year-old legal analyst turned social media powerhouse with over 4 million followers on TikTok and the top news-related Substack newsletter, gave Buttigieg a chance to respond directly.Related: Pete Buttigieg weighs in on fairness of transgender kids playing girls sportsWere talking about one of the smallest, as well as one of the most vulnerable minorities in this country and in the world, Buttigieg said. In order to bring people together on this, we also have to take everybody seriously, including parents who have questions.He repeated his position that decisions about participation should be handled by local communities, not lawmakers in Washington. Above all... those questions should be handled by communities and by sports leagues and not by politicians.Buttigiegs clarification comes as the Trump administration enforces executive orders banning transgender women and girls from women's sports teams. Though the policy has national reach, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified late last year that fewer than 10 transgender athletes were competing among more than 500,000 college athletes.Scientific findings on competitive advantage remain complex. In a March PBS NewsHour segment, University of Washington endocrinologist Dr. Bradley Anawalt explained that performance gaps between cisgender and adult transgender women narrow, but dont entirely disappear, after several years of hormone therapy. Military fitness data showed that trans womens running times aligned with cisgender womens after two years, while their push-up scores remained higher for the duration of a four-year study.Anawalt said that science alone may never resolve the tension. There are going to be inherent inequalities between people. And how do we limit those inequalities and yet allow everybody to play? he said. I really dont think that science is going to give us a perfect answer on this.Instead, he emphasized the cultural weight of the issue. This whole debate rages around sports because of how much we venerate sports and, at this point in time, what an economic engine its become, he said.Buttigieg echoed that broader view. Chess is different from weightlifting, he said last week. And middle school is different from the Olympics.