Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that all women will have to undergo genital examinations if biological males are banned from participating in women's sports.
The “squad” member spoke Tuesday evening during the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, where the topic of gender participation in competitive sports was discussed.
AOC, 34, said there were several proposals that would marginalize transgender Americans and claimed that questioning the gender of athletes would open women and girls up to “genital examinations.”
“We're talking about opening up all women and girls to genital exams if they're underage, possibly just so someone can point at someone and say, I don't think you're a girl,” Ocasio Cortez said.
“And we say this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America,” the New York Democrat said. “Where states criminalize access to abortion and want nothing more than data on women to find out when, who gets a menstrual cycle, who doesn't have a menstrual cycle, and we have to believe that this is going to make us better and safer?”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that all women will have to undergo genital examinations if biological males are banned from participating in women's sports on Tuesday.
Women's sports advocate and NCAA swimming legend Riley Gaines hit back 'if my testimony makes me transphobic…your opening monologue makes you a misogynist'
“I don't think so, and as usual I don't believe we're sitting here on a panel of men that has actually thought about the implications for the biology and privacy of all women, trans or cisgender,” AOC finished.
Rep. Summer Lee — the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health — agreed with the AOC, saying that women testifying against biological males playing in women's sports is “transphobic.”
Women's sports advocate and NCAA swimming legend Riley Gaines hit back 'if my testimony makes me transphobic…your opening monologue makes you a misogynist.'
Lee quickly moved to retract Gaine's comments for “engaging personalities” rather than the substance of the debate.
“I want to have the lady's words recorded.” Lee turned to the chair.
After a brief pause in the proceedings, Lee withdrew her point of order.
Gaines, 23, endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' US presidential bid in June and appeared as a witness later that month at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on civil rights protections for the LGBTQ community.
She later told the hearing that she believes there are too many trans athletes competing in women's sports and that “Americans intuitively know this isn't fair.”
Rep. Summer Lee – the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health agreed with AOC, saying women testifying against biological males playing in women's sports is 'transphobic'
Ex-Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was the first to testify before the subcommittee on Tuesday
“There are numerous documented examples of men competing not only in women's swimming, but also in women's track and field, cross country, basketball, volleyball, hockey and other sports at all levels of competition,” Gaines said in her prepared statement . provided to the media.
“At the high school level, male athletes' participation on women's teams is perhaps one of the most under-reported stories in the country.”
“Science supports that instinct,” she continued. 'Research consistently shows that male bodies have approximately a 10% athletic advantage over female bodies.
“This gap is visible in almost every sport and at every level of competition. Yes, hormone therapy can reduce this gap. But it cannot close it, and studies consistently show that surgery and testosterone suppression do not return male athletic performance to normal female levels.”
Gaines has consistently campaigned against trans women's participation in sports since 2022, when she finished in fifth place in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who previously competed against men.