CNN raises eyebrows by claiming 'there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth' in news report

CNN raised eyebrows on Tuesday by declaring "there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth" in a straight-news report on issues regarding transgender athletes playing women’s sports.

The article by CNN breaking news and politics reporter Devan Cole headlined, "South Dakota's governor issues executive orders banning transgender athletes from women's sports," noted South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, R., banned transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports with a pair of executive orders.

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Cole reported the executive orders "do not explicitly mention transgender athletes," but instead "echo of the transphobic claim, cited in other similar legislative initiatives, that transgender women are not women." The CNN reporter noted the reference to "biological sex," is disputed by critics before penning the fifth paragraph of the report that shocked some readers.

"It’s not possible to know a person's gender identity at birth, and there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth," CNN’s Cole wrote.

The line caught the attention of many readers, and The Daily Caller’s Mary Margaret Olohan pointed out it was a blanket statement without a source or quotes.

"Remember when the propaganda outlet CNN ran an ad campaign about ‘facts’ called ‘this is an apple, this is a banana?’ Maybe they should work on ‘this is a penis, this is a vagina,’" Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway responded.

"We live in a literal clown world where the elites pretend not to know what it means to be a man or a woman. The only way to maintain your sanity is to reject this absolute nonsense everywhere you see it," author Allie Beth Stuckey wrote.

Reason editor Stephanie Slade wrote, "I'm sorry. Is this supposed to be a hard news writeup?"

Many others took to Twitter to question CNN’s claim:

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