[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PROTECTING WOMEN'S SPORTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, a year and a half ago, Riley Gaines bravely 
spoke out when she was forced to compete against a biological male, Lia 
Thomas, at the 2022 NCAA swimming championships.
  It is still an issue. Riley and Lia at the time tied for fifth place 
in the 200-yard freestyle after Lia had won the 500-yard freestyle the 
previous night.
  On the podium, the NCAA handed Lia the fifth place trophy for the tie 
that Lia and Riley had and gave Riley the sixth place trophy, telling 
Riley she would receive her correct trophy in the mail later, not even 
deciding by a coin flip or some other tiebreaker.
  I remember hearing this story and being completely appalled. I was 
sympathetic for Riley and for the heartbreak and disrespect she and all 
of the other women and girls had who worked their whole lives to 
compete at the highest level in collegiate swimming or even in high 
school and lower levels.
  I also remember hearing calls and rebuttals from those who 
sympathized with Lia Thomas and transgender kids across the country: 
Just let Lia compete. She deserves it. Transgender kids have the 
highest rates of suicide. Let them play sports and they will be happy. 
It is not happening often. Don't worry about it. This is just a one-
time thing. This won't open the floodgates.

  Unfortunately, this is not a one-time thing. This is happening often, 
and the floodgates have been opened at all age ranges. In the last year 
and a half, we have seen countless stories of opportunities being taken 
away from young women by biological males competing in their sports, 
whether it is being bumped from first place to second place or top two 
or males in running events where the girls are losing out on Olympic 
spots, endorsement deals, college scholarships, or even whether they 
are going to make the varsity team or not. All of these tragedies for 
women and girls in sports deserve outrage from all Americans.
  In addition, the left has silenced young women who have stated that 
they feel uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with biological males. 
Instead, for the case of Lia Thomas' teammates, these young women have 
been outrageously--get this--told to get counseling.
  Just a few years ago, we had the #MeToo movement in which we were 
told to believe all women, yet a few years later we are being told not 
to believe women or even see what their feelings and thoughts are but 
rather believe the biological male who believes he is a woman.
  Speaking of believe all women, last week, up in Canada, a 50-year-old 
biological male was allowed to participate in a swim meet with 13- to 
14-year old girls because he identified as a 13-year-old girl. You 
cannot make this stuff up. This 50-year-old man was able to use the 
girls' locker room to change with underage young women. I cannot 
express how angry this makes me and many sensible Americans and 
Canadians.
  Where are the adults in the room? How can any responsible adults 
allow this to happen, to just blindly stand by and say: Oh, this is no 
big deal?
  The safety, fair competition, and happiness of these young girls 
should be prioritized over this deranged 50-year-old man who somehow 
believes he has the right to violate everyone else's rights for his 
pathetic interest in competing against girls.
  We see this other sports as well, in ring fighting and others, where 
a biological male can actually do very devastating damage to a woman.
  What can we do about all this? In the House, we passed H.R. 734, the 
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, back in April. It passed, 
unfortunately, on a party-line vote. Sadly, not one Democrat could find 
the way to support and vote in keeping girls' sports for biological 
females.
  I am proud of the Republican Conference for making the safety, 
privacy, and opportunity of women and girls in sports, and in general, 
a top priority.
  I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to bring this bill up for 
a vote, to put your name on the line as to what you think about the 
sanctity of women's sports and women's and girls' place in society in 
general.
  In addition, many State legislatures have since passed bills to 
protect women's sports in their State. Some of their Governors even 
felt the need to pass a bill titled: the Women's Bill of Rights, which 
defines the word ``woman'' because of increasing numbers of challenges 
as to what the words ``man'' and ``woman'' mean. Unfortunately, this is 
necessary because if we do not codify the definition of sex-based 
terms, laws that prohibit sex discrimination don't mean anything.
  It is amazing that the media figure Matt Walsh has a film titled: 
``What is a Woman?'' that many on the left cannot even answer the 
question, or they give such contorted answers in their nonanswer that 
it is just pathetic. Even a Supreme Court Justice nominee had to avoid 
the language. Lord, help us.

                          ____________________