Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) claimed that student athletes will be forced to undergo “genital examinations” if biological men are prohibited from playing women’s sports.
Ocasio-Cortez made her statement during Tuesday’s House Oversight Subcommittee on Health hearing, which focused on the Biden administration’s proposed rule changes to Title IX, which would redefine sex discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.” If adopted, the changes would extend Title IX anti-discrimination protections to all Americans who identify as women, rather than just females. Consequently, women’s sports would no longer be limited to biological females.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed that, if the changes are not accepted, underage women everywhere will be subject to genital examinations.
“We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, ‘I don’t think you are a girl.’”
“And we’re saying this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America, where states are criminalizing access to abortion and want nothing more than data on women to figure out when, who’s getting a menstrual cycle, who doesn’t have one, and we’re supposed to believe this is going to make us better and safer?”
“I think not, and, per usual, I don’t believe we’re sitting here on a panel of men that has actually thought about the biology and privacy consequences of all women, trans or cisgendered.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s statements come almost a year after the Ohio state senate removed a controversial provision from a state house proposal that required “internal and external” exams to confirm a student-athlete’s gender in order to ensure biological men could not compete against women.
Ohio senate Republicans replaced the provision with a requirement for student-athletes whose gender is in question to present a copy of their original birth certificate in order to compete.
In June 2022, Ohio state senate President Matt Huffman said about the genital-inspection provision, “I’m not sure why that’s in the bill, it’s unnecessary. All of these tests can be done with a simple DNA swab.”
Riley Gaines, NCAA star swimmer and noted women’s sports advocate, testified at the hearing. In March 2022, Gaines placed fifth while swimming for the University of Kentucky in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship, tying with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. Thomas was the first male swim champion in the NCAA women’s division.
Representative Summer Lee (D., Pa.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, called Gaines’s testimony “transphobic” in her opening remarks.
Gaines responded to Lee’s accusation in opening remarks of her own.
Gaines described the competitive disadvantage suffered by women athletes who are forced to compete with biological males, as biological males have a significant physical advantage over females — a gap that cannot be closed by hormonal treatments. In addition, women are more likely to sustain serious injury from their biological male competitors and are also required to share locker rooms with them.
“In addition to losing out on opportunities to Thomas, we also had to share a locker room and change in front of this six-foot-four, fully in-tact, naked male … Common sense Americans know intuitively this is not fair to women.”
“Let me be perfectly clear, a school that knowingly allows a male athlete to take a spot on a women’s team…is denying a female student athletic opportunity. And that is sex-based discrimination, and it violates Title IX.”
The All-American swimmer reaffirmed that “There’s a place for everyone to play sports in this country, but unsafe, unfair and discriminatory practices towards women must stop.”
“Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness. And ranking member Lee, if my testimony makes me ‘transphobic,’ then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist.”