“We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage”
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY FLICKR
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat New York representative often known as AOC, spoke at a House Oversight Sub-Committee meeting on 5 December about her concerns surrounding a proposed Republican bill that wanted to ban trans women and girls from participating in school sports entirely.
The bill, dubbed the Protection Of Women And Girls In Sports Act, argued that it is a violation of federal civil rights to allow “male sex” individuals to be allowed to play sports for women and girls. This bill passed a House vote earlier this week but is expected to fail in the Democrat majority Senate.
AOC took particular issue with the nature of the bill and said: “We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say ‘I don’t think you are a girl’.”
The New York Democrat also called upon the CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, Fatima Goss Graves, to explain what “sex testing” looks like in states which have a ban on trans youth in sports.
“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,” Graves explained.
Graves also pointed out that “sex testing” would disproportionately affect certain groups like Black women and girls, citing Serena Williams as an example of how Black female athletes have their bodies analysed and questioned more than their peers.
Targeting trans children for playing sports makes all women, whether trans or cisgender, less safe. Sex testing is regressive, invasive, discriminatory, and a fundamental violation of our privacy as women and as Americans. This is shameful. pic.twitter.com/ikrdhBMfpj
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) December 6, 2023
In her powerful speech, AOC spoke about how the recent focus on trans people in sports was not only transphobic but unnecessary. “I think about this all the time because trans people in the United States don’t even exceed one per cent of our population and yet, there are so many resources, energy and time dedicated to figuring out how we can more finely exclude them from our sports.”
She also called out the Republican party on the fact that the bill was not only transphobic but also displayed their misogyny.
“And we’re saying this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America where states are criminalising access to abortion… We’re supposed to believe that this is going to make us better and safer? I think not,” she continued.
“Per usual, 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, here.”
AOC’s comments follow in the wake of a number of sports banning trans people from competing in the category that they identify with – the most baffling one being chess.
DIVA magazine will celebrate 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
