When it comes to male athletes in girls' and women's sports, Pete Buttigieg is so close to getting it. But he's not quite there yet. During an appearance on NPR's Morning Edition on Monday, host Steve Inskeep asked the former Transportation Secretary for his thoughts on transgender athletes in women's sports. Of course, he emphasized compassion and empathy. But to Buttigieg's credit, he actually acknowledged that, yes, parents have every right to feel concerned about fairness when their daughters are competing against biological males. "Compassion for transgender people, compassion for families, especially of young people who are going through this," Buttigieg began. "And also empathy for people who are not sure what all of this means for them, like wondering, ‘Wait a minute, I got a daughter in the sports league, is she going to be competing with boys right now?’ Just taking everybody seriously." Buttigieg went further, stating, "Most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women's sports." What a refreshingly common-sense take, particularly given that the standard Democratic Party playbook says to dismiss any opposition to transgender participation in women's sports as bigotry or ignorance. But here's where Mayor Pete falls short: Buttigieg insisted that policies regarding trans athletes "should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians, least of all, politicians in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn." The problem, though, is that Title IX is a real piece of federal legislation. It's the politicians' responsibility to ensure Title IX's protections are upheld. Leaving decisions solely to local sports leagues or school boards can be nearly impossible. After all, how can these local organizations protect female athletes when they're constantly under threat of discrimination lawsuits and state loopholes — like that infamous Minnesota policy that lets males compete based purely on changing the sex marker on their birth certificates? RELATED: Supreme Court To Decide Legality Of State Bans On Trans Athletes In Girls’ Sports Buttigieg's attempt at nuance gets shakier when he throws out this popular talking point: "I think that chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball, and middle school is different from the Olympics." OK, sure. Obviously, chess isn't weightlifting. But sex-based categories aren't just about physical strength. They're about fairness across all competitions. Just look at what happened in the UK Women's Pool Championships in April, where two biological males competed in the final match. Pool — like chess — isn’t exactly a test of brute strength, yet it created justified outrage when opportunities for women were taken away and a man was guaranteed to walk away with both the women's championship and the prize money. And as far as Buttigieg's "middle school is different from the Olympics" argument, what message are we sending to middle school girls with that logic? Do their rights not matter just because they aren’t Olympic athletes? Is it fair to tell a sixth-grade girl that she should quietly step aside for a boy just because politicians think the stakes are lower? When Inskeep directly asked about President Donald Trump's clear "no boys in girls' sports" stance, Buttigieg called it "grandstanding" and said "we should be empowering communities and organizations and schools to make the right decisions." The right decision, Mayor Pete, is to promote safety and fairness for girls and women by upholding the protections of Title IX — in any sport at every level. Even if it's fourth-grade chess.