GOP passes girls’ sports bill, as all House Dems side with Lia Thomas
When House Democrats go home this weekend, every one of them should have trouble looking their daughters in the eye. In one of the clearest indications of what the president’s party has become, not even one had the backbone to buck the extremists and protect Title IX. Sticking a knife in the backs of the women’s movement they’ve claimed to champion, Democrats showed the country whose side they’re on. And it’s not America’s girls.
Rep. Greg Steube’s (R-Fla.) bill to stop the Lia Thomases of the world from stealing our daughters’ titles, scholarships, and innocence still passed by a vote of 219-203, but not before Democrats showed their true colors. So beholden to radical transgenderism, one after another made absurd claims on the House floor about a piece of legislation that basically mirrored the 1972 policy they’ve said they support.
In the running for most outrageous statement of the day, California Rep. Mark Takano (D) insisted that even having the conversation was “traumatizing.” “We know transgender students already face widespread bullying and discrimination,” he claimed. “Adding to their pain by targeting their participation in school sports is both wrong and dangerous. This debate itself has been traumatizing.”
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Others, like Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), insisted, “This bill is about bullying children. Stop bullying children.” Then there was Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who called the GOP’s efforts “cruel” and “creepy.” And who could forget the Squad’s Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Mich.), who argued that it should be called “the cancel kids trans hate bill.” “This bill fuels a virulent hate campaign against kids who just want to play with their friends.”
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines would tell you that Lia Thomas was not her “friend,” especially after he robbed real women of their rightful places on the podium. Nor did they feel particularly “friendly” when he walked around the locker room, naked, as a biological man. To her, the idea that anyone would openly fight to eliminate girls from their own sports is mind-boggling.
“Equal opportunity, privacy, and safety in our sports shouldn’t be controversial,” Gaines said. “The women who once advocated for Title IX should be outraged, as this goes against everything they fought for. Female athletes of all ages, levels, and sports deserve better.”
Hearing that Joe Biden himself will veto the bill if it gets to his desk, Riley could only shake her head. “The president has declared that science, truth, and common sense no longer matter … President Biden is catering to a radical minority at the expense of women, who are 51% of the population.”
If there is a silver lining to the Democrats’ extremism, it’s that every one of them is on record. Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-Ill.) joined Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Wednesday and reiterated that there are two “fundamental things” that the president’s party won’t do. “Number one, protect life,” she pointed out. Number two, “they’re not protecting our girls.”
“We’re pushing back on this evil … Nobody wants boys and men in the locker rooms and showers with our girls,” Miller argued. “I mean, Riley Gaines, after she competed against Lia Thomas, said he disrobed in the bathroom, and he’s a complete 100% male. This is dangerous for our girls. And also, it’s discounting the opportunities that Title IX gave them in athletics. And this is it’s outrageous …They’re on the wrong side of this issue. And I’m happy to put them on record. They can vote against women. They can vote against protecting our girls, and like I say, vote against parental rights also.”
If Democrats think this will endear them to their feminist base, they’re mistaken. Far-liberal groups like Women’s Liberation Front and Women’s Declaration International USA are deeply disturbed that the president’s party is leading the stampede to throw girls overboard. “I am a registered Democrat and always have been,” Kara Dansky, president of WDI USA told Fox News, “and I think it’s the height of hypocrisy for Democratic leadership — including the president — to champion the rights of women and girls to abortion … while simultaneously denying the rights of women and girls to single-sex spaces.”
FRC’s Meg Kilgannon agreed. “It’s disappointing to see that the entire Democratic party is so captured by gender ideology that they no longer value protecting women’s opportunities in sports,” she told The Washington Stand. “This is a lesson in power politics, when we see powerful women like former speaker Nancy Pelosi and many other accomplished members of Congress capitulate to the demands of LGBTQ interest groups run by and for men.”
Like the overwhelming number of Americans who stand with the GOP on this issue, Kilgannon is “grateful that House leadership brought this bill to the floor and passed it.” “It’s an encouraging sign to women and girls everywhere that we have a right to play sports, to be safe in our locker rooms, and to the protection of men who love and honor our abilities and our differences.”
At the end of the day, Miller chimed in, “Let’s speak truth. They are brainwashing our children — and they think if they repeat this lie long enough that the American people are going to believe it. But we, the American people, don’t …”
Originally published at The Washington Stand.
Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer for The Washington Stand. In her role, she drafts commentary on topics such as life, consumer activism, media and entertainment, sexuality, education, religious freedom, and other issues that affect the institutions of marriage and family. Over the past 20 years at FRC, her op-eds have been featured in publications ranging from the Washington Times to The Christian Post. Suzanne is a graduate of Taylor University in Upland, Ind., with majors in both English Writing and Political Science.
