Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports (DOGE Subcommittee Hearing)

Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations

2025-05-07

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Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This meeting of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency quickly became a contentious debate over the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports, particularly fencing and volleyball, while also addressing the subcommittee's jurisdictional scope. The discussion featured personal testimonies from female athletes and highlighted deep divisions between Republican calls for protecting women's sports and Democratic accusations of bullying transgender individuals and using the hearing as a political distraction.

Themes

Subcommittee Jurisdiction and Government Efficiency

The chair, Marjorie Taylor Greene, asserted that the hearing falls within the subcommittee's purview, citing USA Fencing's status as a congressionally chartered body and its obligations under federal law, including Title IX and the Ted Stevens Act [ 00:21:38-00:22:08 ]

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. Republicans maintained that USA Fencing's policies on transgender athletes and its site selection criteria, which consider LGBTQ+ rights and abortion laws, raise questions about its compliance with federal mandates [ 00:24:15-00:24:50 ]

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. Conversely, Ranking Member Melanie Ann Stansbury and other Democrats argued that the hearing had nothing to do with government oversight or efficiency, as defined by the subcommittee's rules, which focus on federal civil service and operations . They contended that the hearing was a political stunt designed to bully transgender individuals and distract from more pressing issues like potential cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, or the Trump administration's dismantling of federal agencies .

Fairness and Safety in Women's Sports

Two witnesses, Stephanie Turner and Peyton McNabb, shared emotional personal accounts of competing against biological males . Ms. Turner, a fencer, described a culture of intimidation at USA Fencing that compelled her to protest and step away from the sport due to the presence of biological males in women's events . Ms. McNabb, a former high school volleyball player, testified about suffering a traumatic brain injury after being spiked in the head by a transgender athlete, emphasizing inherent biological advantages of males in sports . Republicans underscored these biological differences, presenting statistics on male advantages in strength, speed, and other physical attributes, arguing that these advantages compromise fairness and safety for women . Damien Lehfeldt, USA Fencing Board Chair, maintained that fencing has a long history of mixed-gender competition and that USA Fencing's policies on transgender participation align with international federations, which, according to him, prevents them from being more restrictive .

USA Fencing's Policies and Leadership

Republicans severely scrutinized Mr. Lehfeldt regarding USA Fencing's policies, particularly its stance on transgender athletes and its site selection criteria [ 00:23:44-00:24:50 ]

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. They criticized the organization for allegedly prioritizing political stances, such as LGBTQ+ rights and abortion laws, over its statutory duty to foster fencing nationwide and ensure fair competition [ 00:24:15-00:24:50 ]

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. Several members challenged Mr. Lehfeldt on past social media posts, which they characterized as disparaging towards parents concerned about women's sports, and asked for clarification on his personal views versus the organization's policies . Mr. Lehfeldt clarified that USA Fencing follows guidelines set by the Ted Stevens Act and international bodies, and committed to changing policies if laws or international consensus shift . He also apologized for previous "inappropriate" social media comments, acknowledging they were unbecoming of a leader [ 02:52:09-02:52:22 ]

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Impact on Transgender Individuals and LGBTQ+ Rights

Fatima Goss Graves, President of the National Women's Law Center, strongly argued that transgender women do not pose a threat to women's sports and that the focus on this issue is a misdirection [ 00:57:16-00:57:35 ]

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. She highlighted the extensive discrimination and violence faced by transgender people, stressing that attacks on this community harm all women . Democrats emphasized the small number of transgender athletes in college sports (estimated at fewer than 10 out of half a million) as evidence of the disproportionate focus on the issue . They also raised concerns about a "slippery slope," suggesting that scrutiny of gender identity could lead to invasive checks on cisgender women, particularly women of color [ 02:34:19-02:35:49 ]

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Tone of the Meeting

The meeting was highly contentious and polarized, marked by frequent interruptions, heated exchanges, and personal accusations [ 00:58:23-00:58:23 ]

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. Republicans repeatedly accused Democrats of supporting "mentally ill biological men" and engaging in "grooming children," while Democrats lambasted Republicans for spreading hate, bullying, and using the hearing as a performative distraction from their own policy failures and budget cuts . There was a significant breakdown in parliamentary decorum, with numerous points of order, challenges to the chair's rulings, and debates over time allocation . Emotional testimonies from witnesses and passionate statements from members on both sides underscored the deep convictions and frustrations surrounding the issue, with little to no common ground found during the proceedings .

Participants

Transcript

This hearing of the subcommittee on delivering on government efficiency will come to order.  Welcome everyone.  Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time.  I recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement.  Good afternoon and welcome everyone.  I would like to start by playing a video of why we are here today.  So if we can go ahead and play that please.   Where's our digital team?  Where's our digital team?  Here we go.
to ban men from playing in women's sports.
There are only two sexes, male and female, and we are not going to tolerate biological men competing in sports or impeding in private spaces for women like myself or you.
A female fencer was given the ultimate punishment for refusing to compete against a biological man.
At the Portland Interscholastic League Championships, a trans sophomore runner from McDaniel High School.
M
Mr. Damien Lehfeldt
And Tom is pulling away.
Men should not be hurting women.  They're hurting women very badly.  They're hurting women.
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I was severely injured in a high school volleyball game by a transgender athlete on the opposing team.
Anyone who disobeys federal law will be either prosecuted, sued, or say goodbye to your federal funding.
Female athletes should never be forced to compete against mentally ill biological men who parade around in women's clothes.   But we'll hear from witnesses today who had to face off against biological male competitors.  This led one to suffer a life-altering physical injury from a volleyball spike to her head.  The other was thrown out of a recent fencing competition for refusing to compete against a man.  Why is this happening when we have federal laws on the books intended to foster women's sports?   Back in 1972, Congress adopted Title IX to create and protect equal athletic opportunity for girls and women in schools and colleges.  Congress included similar language in legislation governing other amateur sports competitions.   The law chartering the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, for instance, authorizes the Olympic Committee to recognize and empower national governing bodies to oversee individual sports on a national level.  That includes determining how athletes are chosen to represent the US in the Olympic Games and other international competitions.  These NGBs, such as USA Fencing,   have statutory duties and obligations including promoting equal athletic opportunity for women biological women specifically ngbs are to provide equitable support and encouragement for participation by women where separate programs for male and female athletes are conducted on a national basis   Yet, USA Fencing makes a mockery out of women's fencing by allowing biological males to compete in its women's fencing competitions.  We understand there are roughly 200 biological males competing in the USA Fencing women's division.
This includes males who have won national titles and represented the U.S.  in international competition in women's fencing.  We subpoenaed the board chair of USA Fencing, Damian LaFelt, to appear here today.   we did so because the board is responsible for setting usa fencing policies and for ensuring those policies comply with federal law at a recent board meeting where mr lay felt presided the board determined it would change its policy on transgender athletes if and only if forced to do so   Some science shows that men have numerous physical advantages over women that create unfair and potentially dangerous competitions.  Such physical advantages are significant in fencing.  According to a letter we received from USA Fencing Board member Andre Giva, a coach of Olympians and world champions,   Quote, transgender women fencers have significant advantages in women's competitions, he writes, citing advantages in body size, reach, shoulder width, muscle development, explosive strength, and recovery capacity.   And a United Nations report issued last year finds that testosterone suppression does not eliminate the advantage of biological males to avoid the loss of a fair opportunity.  It concludes, males must not compete in female categories of sport.   But it's not surprising that the USA fencing policy on trans competitors ignores the science.  The board is not shy about putting politics ahead of the sport, ahead of women, and ahead of the law.  In selecting sites for its national fencing events, for instance,   The board policy is to avoid states whose laws and policies on LGBTQ rights and abortion it opposes.
It uses equality maps to determine which states to blacklist from its competitions and which states to favor.  This ends up favoring a lot of blue states and harming a lot of red ones.  So it creates politically determined winners and losers.

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