New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler faced the fire on Thursday, March 21, during a hearing in the House. During that hearing, he attempted to push back on claims from the right about transgender athlete participation in women’s sports, saying, “men do not compete in women’s sports.” Rep. Harriet Hageman, Liz Cheney’s replacement as Wyoming’s Republican Representative, sparked the incident with a lengthy list she argued shows otherwise
The spat between Rep. Nadler and women’s sports activists began with Rep. Harriet Hageman. She, speaking before the House, presented a lengthy list of instances in which transgender athletes participated in women’s sports competitions, something she framed as being “instances of men hijacking women’s sports.”
“I ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record instances of men hijacking women’s sports and the various examples that we have demonstrating not only injuries that have been suffered by women as men have participated in girls’ sports, but also the women — the girls and women who have been affected by this, including Riley Gaines, when Will Thomas decided to join the female — the women’s swimming team in Pennsylvania,” Hageman said.
Nadler wasn’t having it. Trying to shoot down her attempt to get unanimous consent for entering her list into the rerecord, Rep. Nadler fired back that the list contained “mistruths” and thus should not be entered into the House’s record. “I object to concluding these mistruths in the record,” Nadler fired back at Hagema and her list.
Rep. Hageman wasn’t done. Sniping back at Rep. Nadler after he refused the request for unanimous consent in entering the list into evidence, she argued that it was “telling” that he was fighting to keep the information she was presenting out of the record. Rep. Nadler, doubling down as well, argued that it was untrue, saying, “Men do not compete in women’s sports.”
Watch that exchange here:
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Rep. Nadler’s comments drew fierce backlash online. Women’s sports activist Riley Gaines, for instance, posted a picture of herself competing against Lea Thomas and wrote, “Ironic he says this on the EXACT 2 year anniversary of this photo being taken. This 6’4″ man isn’t fooling anyone with any amount of common sense. 2 years ago today I had a fire lit under me and communists like Nadler continue to fuel it.”
Further, commenting on Rep. Nadler shooting down Rep. Hageman’s attempt to enter the list unanimously, Gaines wrote, “Rep Hageman: ‘I ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record instances of men hijacking women’s sports’. Rep Nadler: I object to concluding these mistruths in the record.’ This is an attempt to erase and rewrite history. Make no mistake, Nadler is a grade-A communist.”
Similarly, Rep. Hageman chimed in on X as well, building on her earlier argument in the committee hearing. Doing so, she wrote, “It’s even worse. Now he’s telling our committee that there are more than two sexes. You’re either a male or a female, and you should compete against your own biological gender in sports.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded buyer