Trans NCAA runner Cece Tefler claims men's titles won in women's sports can't be revoked: 'that's not how the direction of progressiveness works'

Cece Tefler, the first biological male to win an NCAA title, spoke with CNN on Tuesday, saying that the athlete’s "identities" are under attack in America, the athlete is "willing" to sit down with US President Donald Trump to have a conversation surrounding trans-identified males in women’s sports, and how titles being stripped from trans athletes is "not how the direction of progressiveness works."

In 2019, Tefler won the NCAA Division II 400-meter hurdles and previously competed as a male at Franklin Pierce University. Tefler had hoped to compete at the Olympics, but World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, voted in 2023 to ban biological males from competing against women if they transitioned after Tanner Stage 2 or the age of 12, whichever came last.

Tefler claimed that "each of my identities is a target, especially in America" at this moment, with Tefler adding, "I’m black, I’m a woman, and I’m transgender, and I’m an athlete." Tefler claimed that in recent weeks, "I feel like a lot of the anti-trans rhetoric has become louder, more in my face. Prior to this set-in-stone administration, I woke up every day and I faced adversaries when I leave my house. Now, I wake up every day and I have to make sure that I make it home alive."

Tefler said that the athlete is "willing to sit down with the IOC, the USATF, the NCAA, with any of my international federations, even the Trump administration, Trump himself, if he wants to sit down with me and talk and have a human conversation and see me." Tefler was asked what the athlete would say to the president, to which Tefler said, "I need some explanation as to why you want to completely eradicate us from society when we've done nothing wrong. Think about the humanity and to think about the younger kids like me who have doctors confirming their gender, have people behind them and like even if he wants to have a team to go around with me and see my day-to-day life and what I go through as a transgender female athlete, [I’m] all for it."

Earlier in February, Trump signed an executive order barring biological males from competing against female athletes in schools that receive federal funding. Schools that do allow this risk their funding being pulled. In the wake of Trump’s order, the NCAA updated its policies to state that female sports are for biological females only. 

Tefler was asked whether the athlete believed the NCAA would have made their policy change if Trump hadn’t come back to office, to which Tefler replied, "no, because the NCAA has always stood by their word, I definitely felt as though that they were pressured to make this decision."

Tefler said that the last few weeks since Trump has taken office have "amplified that feeling of winning the national championships in 2019 because it makes me feel like not only was history made then, but also it will stay in the books and be reminded that policies and orders are not forever, but our resilience is." Tefler later added in response to questioning about the Department of Education pressuring the NCAA to revoke titles won by transgender athletes, "That’s not how history works, and that’s not how the direction of progressiveness works, and you can’t take back history."

The interview was widely panned on X, with one account writing, "CeCe Telfer — the first man to cheat his way to a women’s NCAA title in 2019 — explains he can’t be stripped of his title because “that's not how the direction of progressiveness works.” Women beg to differ. You came for our sports & our spaces and we are fighting back hard."

English broadcaster Piers Morgan wrote, "Absurd CNN interview just now with trans sprinter CeCe Telfer, treating her like some poor victim of Trump’s ban on trans athletes in women’s sport. She was born male, looks & speaks like a man, runs like a man, and is smashing women’s records. She’s not a victim, she’s a cheat."

All Grover, founder of the female-only app Giggle, rewrote Morgan’s post to reference Tefler's biological sex, writing, "Absurd CNN interview just now with male sprinter CeCe Telfer, treating him like some poor victim of Trump’s ban on trans athletes in women’s sport. He was born male, remains male, runs like a man because he is one, and is smashing women’s records. He’s not a victim, he’s a cheat."