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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted anti-trans legislation targeting girls in sports at a hearing dripping with transphobia.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers and advocates clashed over proposed restrictions targeting transgender athletes in sports.
The hearing, marked by intense debate and critical interrogations, underscored the growing Republican-led efforts to legislate on the rights of transgender Americans. Democrats stood in the way of the misinformation and transphobia that was pervasive during the GOP-controlled hearing.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat, played a pivotal role in the hearing, challenging the underlying motives of these legislative proposals. She pointedly questioned the disproportionate attention and resources dedicated to marginalizing an already vulnerable group.
A video of her speaking out has been viewed 2.5 million times on X.
“We’re here today because there’s a proposal here to further marginalize trans women in sports,” Ocasio-Cortez began, highlighting the tiny percentage of transgender individuals in the U.S. population and questioning the need for such targeted legislation for an even smaller percentage of transgender athletes.
The hearing brought forth alarming revelations about the extent of privacy invasions potentially sanctioned by these proposed bans. Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, shed light on the intrusive measures that could be implemented, including genital examinations.
“In some states, any individual could challenge whether someone is a girl enough to play. In some states, it requires actual genital verification, which is shocking,” Goss Graves explained.
Ocasio-Cortez underscored the broader implications of such policies, expressing concerns over the invasion of privacy for all women and girls, transgender or cisgender. She emphasized the potential for arbitrary and invasive examinations based on mere suspicion of a person’s gender.
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The discussion also delved into the intersection of these bans with issues of racial and medical bias. Goss Graves highlighted the historical scrutiny and discrimination faced by Black women athletes, a concern echoed by Ocasio-Cortez.
“There are examples of Black women who are even professional athletes whose bodies have been more examined and demonized, Goss Graves said. “We’ve seen that with my fan favorite, Serena Williams, whose body is often talked about.”
Ocasio-Cortez concluded her remarks by juxtaposing the push for these bans against the voting record of some lawmakers on other women’s rights issues.
“I don’t believe we’re sitting here in a panel of men that has actually thought about the biology and privacy consequences of all women – trans or cisgender,” she said, casting doubt on the motivations behind the hearing.
Afterward, Ocasio-Cortez took to X, formerly Twitter, to comment on the hearing.
“Targeting trans children for playing sports makes all women, whether trans or cisgender, less safe,” she wrote. “Sex testing is regressive, invasive, discriminatory, and a fundamental violation of our privacy as women and as Americans. This is shameful.”
Amid this heated debate, Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett highlighted the influential role of conservative think tanks in shaping state-level policies, particularly in Republican-leaning states. She criticized the Heritage Foundation, noting its significant impact in Texas and Florida.
“I know your organization, the Heritage Foundation, loves Texas. Ooh, they love Texas,” she said. “They always sending us some nonsense bills that somehow set this country on the wrong trajectory. They send them to Texas; they send them to Florida. Every deplorable state that we can think about, they usually coming out of y’all's think tank,’ Crockett said.
The hearing also saw moments of procedural tactics and linguistic contention. In a pointed response to Crockett’s use of the term “deplorable states,” Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna employed a common right-wing rhetorical strategy. She interjected, “I identify with my pronouns as state and states, and thus I move to strike deplorable states from the record.”
Her comment, misusing the concept of personal pronouns, is an often-used right-wing tactic to challenge and divert the conversation.
