House subcommittee should REJECT Biden Administration's proposal allowing trans athletes to compete in women's sports, ex-college swimmer Riley Gaines tells Congress: 'Americans know this is not fair'

The House Subcommittee for Healthcare and Financial Services became the latest legislative body to address the controversy of transgender athletes in women's sports on Tuesday as former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, ex-Oberlin lacrosse coach Kim Russell and the Heritage Foundation's Sarah Parshall Perry testified in favor of a ban.

Tuesday's hearing took place as the Biden Administration's Education Department is pushing to change Title IX to support the inclusion of trans athletes in women's sports.

'There should be no debate about this, however we are here today because the Biden Administration is choosing to ignore the truth, and I might add, the science,' said committee chairwoman Lisa McClain (Republican-Michigan) to open the proceedings.

Ranking committee member Summer Lee (Democrat-Pennsylvania) disagreed. 

'It's disappointing to me that, although the title to this hearing implies a much-needed discussion, we're likely to be forced to listen to trans-phobic bigotry,' Lee said. 'Because, actually, protecting female athletes and Title IX is important. Participating in sports provides so many benefits to our young people... So why are my Republican colleagues working so hard to prevent our trans youth from participating?'

With the battle lawns drawn, witnesses provided their testimony to the hearing. 

Gaines piggybacked McClain's sentiments, arguing that too many trans athletes are competing in women's sports. 

'There are numerous documented instances of males competing not just in women's swimming, but also in women's track, cross country, basketball, volleyball, field hockey, and other sports at all levels of competition,' Gaines said in her prepared statement, which was provided to media.

'At the high school level, the participation of male athletes on women's teams is, arguably, one of the most underreported stories in the country.'

And according to Gaines, who has become a popularized across conservative media: 'Americans know intuitively that this is not fair.

'Science supports that instinct,' she continued. 'In fact, studies consistently show male bodies have about a 10% athletic advantage over female bodies.

'This gap is evident in almost every sport and at every level of competition. Yes, hormone therapy can narrow this gap. But it cannot close it, and studies consistently demonstrate that surgery and testosterone suppression do not reduce male athletic performance to normal female levels.'

Gaines has persistently campaigned against the participation of trans women in sports since 2022, when she tied for fifth place in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who previously competed against men.

On Tuesday, Gaines claimed that Thomas was only 'mediocre' prior to transitioning. 

'Take Thomas for example,' she said. 'He was mediocre against the men ranking in the 400ths and 500ths nationally at best, then dominating all of the women in the entire country (by body lengths might I add) in a matter of a year.'

On Tuesday, she argued that allowing transgender women to compete against other females presents a safety hazard.

'Injuries, of course, can and do happen even when females are playing against other females,' said Gaines, a member of the conservative Independent Women's Forum. 'But allowing males to play women's sports increases the likelihood and severity of such injuries.

'That's one of the reasons why—for 50 years—federal Title IX regulations have allowed schools to offer separate teams for women and men when the sports are contact sports or involve competitive skill.'

Gaines took specific aim at the Department of Education's proposal to permit anyone who identifies as female to compete in women's sports.

'It is my sincere hope that members of this committee will take action to stop the Biden administration's illegal administrative rewrite of Title IX,' she concluded.

Gaines, a Tennessee native, endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' 2024 US presidential bid in June and later that month appeared as a witness at Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting civil rights for the LGBTQ community.

During that testimony and again on Tuesday, Gaines said she was traumatized by being forced to use the same locker room as Thomas: 'In addition to being forced to give up our awards, our titles, and our opportunities, the NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to share a locker room with Thomas, a 6'4' 22-year-old male equipped with (and exposing) male genitalia.'

Another member of the Independent Women's Forum, Russell was removed as the women's lacrosse team coach at Oberlin College in Ohio after speaking out against transgender athletes in female sports.

Russell has claims she was moved to a paperwork position that removed her from directly working with students as a consequence of her opinions on transgender athletes in women's sports.

'Oberlin College removed me from coaching women's lacrosse after I chose to publicly tell my story and refused to be silent or back down about my belief that men—no matter how they self-identify—should not be allowed to compete in women's sporting events,' Russell said in her prepared statement.

To offer a differing opinion, minority witness and National Women's Law Center CEO Fatima Goss Graves spoke from her prepared statement on Tuesday, saying that Congress should 'pursue policies that meaningfully increase gender equity and promote fairness.'

'Anti-trans policies undermine Title IX's intent for at least three reasons,' she wrote in her prepared remarks.

'First, policies excluding trans girls and women from school sports programs threaten all women and girls who excel in athletics, and all who depart from gender stereotypes, by encouraging challenges that place burdens on women to prove they are ''real'' women and creating risks of intrusive and harmful sex verification practices.

'Black and brown women and girls who play school sports are at particularly high risk of harm under these policies, because Black and brown women are often viewed as 'nonconforming' with white-centric standards of femininity.

'Second, these policies reinforce a false binary by assuming that those assigned male at birth are inevitably and inherently athletically superior and those identified as female are inherently weaker and less athletic.

'This reductive narrative harms all women and girls. We see it demonstrated in the over-resourcing of men's sports programs and the chronic failure to invest in women's sports programs.

'Finally, trans-exclusionary policies in women and girls' school sports programs undermine Title IX's intent to make athletic participation, with all its educational benefits, available to all students free from sex discrimination. Depriving trans women and girls access to women and girls' sports denies them of opportunities to gain academic and social benefits, including a sense of community and belonging among their peers.'

Graves concluded by encouraging the Subcommittee to support the Biden Administration's proposed Title IX changes supporting the inclusion of trans athletes.