On Tuesday, an eventful hearing in the House of Representatives unfolded where tensions flared over the hot-button issue of transgender participation in women’s sports. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) and former collegiate swimmer and conservative activist Riley Gaines squared off, where Lee accused Gaines of propagating “transphobic bigotry” for her opposition to biological males competing in women’s athletics.
Gaines quickly fired back at Lee, labeling her as a misogynist for her views, which many deem as unfair to female athletes. Gaines said that we “must stop inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness and ranking member Lee if my tests and testimony makes me transphobic then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist. Thank you.”
The palpable tension in the hearing was further exacerbated when Rep. Lee motioned to formally remove Gaines’ statements from the record, which caused the committee to be temporarily suspended. “Madam Chair, excuse me, I move to have the gentlewoman’s words taken down… she’s engaging in personalities,” Rep. Lee said.
Lee essentially accused Gaines of making personal comments about another member of the House, behavior that is strongly discouraged. “Can I just ask how it’s fair to be called transphobic?” Gaines hit and defended herself.
During the pause in the procedure, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene comically weighed in on the matter, stating, “I would say men disguising themselves as women are engaging in personalities.” MTG’s hilarious comment has drawn laughter and praise from conservatives across social media.
See footage of the incident below.
Within the past couple of years, Riley Gaines has exploded onto the scene of conservative politics, focusing on protecting women’s athletics. In 2022, while competing on the University of Kentucky swim team, Gaines tied for fifth place with the controversial University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship. Following this event, Gaines began lobbying state legislators to pass laws to ensure fair competition in women’s sporting events.
The American Tribune also reported on a shocking event earlier this year, where Gaines was threatened and reportedly assaulted by a violent mob of protestors. However, she remained undeterred, committed to fulfilling her goals as a conservative activist.
“You know, I am worried about my safety. I have to be now. When we have people who are willing to do this, and we know why they’re willing to do this, it is because they don’t have reason, they don’t have logic, they don’t have science, they don’t have common sense on their side. That’s on my side. And so they protrude by violence, whether it’s physical or verbal violence,” Gaines stated.“But what this means for me does not deter me,” Gaines emphasized. “This assures me that I’m doing the right thing. This will not silence me. When they want me to be silenced, it just means I need to speak louder.”
Gaines was forced to spend hours hiding from the aggressive mob in a safe room where she said, “I’m OK currently, but an hour and a half later, I’m still barricaded in a room with ambushers on the outside yelling and threatening violence. As police escorted me out of the event space to my current location, I was hit, physically, twice by what I presume was a male individual. This only assures me I’m doing the right thing.”
Note: The Featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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