Michael McCarter, Opinion Editor and Vice President of Standards and Ethics for Gannett, the company that owns USA Today, defended the decision, claiming Kennedy’s op-ed was “inflammatory.”

"The opinion teams across the USA TODAY Network are focused on delivering local, timely, relevant, and diverse opinion pieces. We recognize the importance of sharing varying perspectives and the vital role we play convening conversations. Sen. John Kennedy’s submitted opinion column did not meet our ethical guidelines, which state we will treat people with respect. After further review, our editorial team removed the column from our website. Sen. Kennedy has been given the opportunity to revise his language - not his viewpoint - to adhere with our standards," McCarter told Fox News Digital.

Kennedy responded by lashing out at USA Today, telling Fox News Digital that the outlet’s leadership thinks “they are the speech police” and that “Drunk on certainty and virtue, they think they are our moral teacher.”

The senator argued that most Americans “don’t support allowing biological men to participate in women’s sports because they think that will bastardize sports, skew the results, and hurt women” and said Gannet “should simply report the two sides and not try to silence the position It disagrees with.”

USA Today published Kennedy’s piece, titled “Is transgender inclusion more important than women’s sports?” on May 11.

In the piece, Kennedy argued that “Men and women don’t compete for the same reasons” and that “transgender activists want athletic institutions to ignore these obvious physical differences so transgender athletes can feel included even if it hurts biological girls in the process.”

USA Today also had a problem with terms Kennedy used in the piece.

They also claimed Kennedy's use of the terms "biological male" and "biological female" goes "against our standards," claiming they were "loaded language" and citing the Associated Press Stylebook, which alleges such terms "are sometimes used by opponents of transgender rights to portray sex as more simplistic than scientists assert."

Of course, Kennedy is absolutely right in his assertion that the majority of Americans do not support forcing female athletes to compete with biological men. A Gallup poll conducted last year showed that not only do most Americans disapprove of this agenda, there is a growing percentage of folks who oppose it.

A larger majority of Americans now (69%) than in 2021 (62%) say transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth gender. Likewise, fewer endorse transgender athletes being able to play on teams that match their current gender identity, 26%, down from 34%.

Republicans, Democrats and independents are all modestly less supportive of transgender athletes playing on current gender identity teams today than two years ago. The result of these changes is that Democrats are now divided on allowing transgender athletes to play on either male or female teams, while in 2021 more were in favor than opposed. Large majorities of independents (67%) and Republicans (93%) remain opposed to giving transgender athletes a choice of competing on male or female teams.

The survey also found that 55 percent of respondents believe that trying to change one’s gender is “morally wrong” while 43 percent say it is “morally acceptable.”

So, obviously, USA Today’s decision has nothing to do with public opinion on transgender athletes. It has everything to do with a political agenda. Unfortunately, the people who run many of these outlets are less concerned with presenting certain points of view than with staying in the good graces of the hard left.

Moreover, many in charge at these companies are true believers in progressive ideology. They are loathe to publish viewpoints that contradict their opinions, even if it means doing their audiences a disservice.