be considered discriminatory.

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [ >> this meeting of the senate judiciary committee will come to order. this weekend cities including chicago, across the globe will host their annual pride parades to celebrate lgbt q family, friends and neighbors. just a relative short time, a few decades, our nation has

made remarkable progress in protecting the rights of lgbt q americans. 8 years ago this month for instance, marriage equality was made the law of the land. last year on a bipartisan basis, congress codified these into law with respect for marriage act. pride month is an opportunity to celebrate these milestones, today we remember pride began with an active resistance. back in 1970, the first pride parade was organized to mark the 1-year anniversary of the stonewall uprising. it was a protest led by gay, transgender and gender nonconforming americans who refuse to accept an unjust system of laws and united together to change not just america but the world. today we draw to gather in acknowledging and defending the rights of lgbt q americans

because right now extremist politicians across america are targeting our lgbt q youth along with the medical professionals who care for them and the parents who love them. i want to turn to a video that shares the story of one of those parents and his plea for the leaders in his home state of missouri to stop these attacks. >> i am a husband, a father of four kids, two boys, two girls including a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter. today happens to be her birthday and i chose to be here. i remember the day everything changed for me. i got home from work and my daughter and her brother were in the front lawn and she had, my daughter had on one of her older sister's plan addresses and wanted to go across the street and play with the neighbors kids do was time for dinner, i said coming, she asked can she go across the street. i said no.

she asked me if she went inside and put on boy quote she then go across the street. and play. and then it hit me that my daughter was equating being good with being someone else. my child was miserable. i cannot overstate that. she was absolutely miserable. on that day my wife and i stopped silencing our child's spirit. i now have a confident, smiling, happy daughter. i came here today as a parent to share my story. i need you to understand that this language if it becomes law will have real effects on real people. it will affect my daughter. it will mean she cannot play on the girls volleyball team or dance squad or tennis team. i ask you please don't take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her who are out there. let them have their childhoods. let them be who they are.

>> since the start of this year, our nation has seen a wave of anti-lgbt q bills. more than 525 have been introduced in 40 one states, many of them specifically targeting our transgender youth. some bills seek to ban gender affirming care while others are designed to dictate what sports kids can play or what bathrooms they can use but all of them are part of the same concerted effort, exercising the power of government to target children. at the same time leaders on the far right are promoting anti-lgbt q, during this year's conservative political action conference, one speaker was applauded when he declared, quote, transgender is a must be eradicated. we must reject this divisive and hateful rhetoric. at this point i remind our colleagues our children are listening and they are in danger.

in fact, transgender youth are among the most at risk of homelessness, depression and death by suicide. when these young people who are already struggling here politicians amplify hateful rhetoric that denies their very existence, what message does it send? we have a responsibility to support all our children no matter how they identify. this morning across america families are meeting with doctors and being told they must make critical decisions, life and death decisions about surgery and medical treatment for their children. these are personal, and family moments which the parents will never forget. i know. i've been there. but increasingly, state legislatures have decided that the decisions will be subject to regulation and committal punishment by the government. you saw the video of the missouri father. to see sound like a radical,

anxious to experiment with this child's future, not to me. he sounds like a father who resisted acknowledging the real condition of his child until he realized he was wrong. i'm sure it was a painful, labored process and journey but he's convinced he did the right thing for his transgender daughter. regulating the age when a young person can purchase a tattoo or drive a car is one thing but making a decision that fundamental that could affect the life of an individual should be viewed differently. brings me to another reminder. as a member of this committee we also have a responsibility to engage in civil discourse. spirited debate is a sign of healthy democracy, we should not tolerate language that disparages anyone. i would like to close by saying it is natural to be confused by what we don't know. most americans don't know anyone who identifies as trans. my hope is this hearing will be a chance to share the stories

and reveal the truth, like the rest of the lgbt community transgender americans are our neighbors, colleagues, fellow citizens who have the same hopes and dreams all of us share. lgbt q americans are asking no more and no less than the freedom to live as who they are. i had to to ranking member more and for his opening statement. >> thank you for what you said about how we conduct ourselves here. an important topic to talk about, definitely two sides to every story and two sides to this story. you characterize those people who are concerned about minors having puberty blocking drugs and surgery as far right. i don't think that is true. there are a lot of people in this country very much worried about where we are headed as a nation particularly when it comes to young girls having to compete against biological males. title ix was passed in 1972 to

ensure that women would have a place in college athletics because most are non-revenue-generating sports. some generate revenue, most don't. most athletic directors would say it makes the college experience better to support women athletics at that level. of theater program for olympic teams, there's been a lot of success, the women's soccer program and much of that came from the experience they had in college. this desire to level the playing field for women in 1972 was bipartisan. so now we have an assault, i think, on that concept. mentioned 8 years ago the birkenfeld decision created a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, legislation

you talked about. we are not talking about that here. we are talking about other things here. the father who testified before the missouri, whether was house or senate seemed very sincere and i don't question that at all. he was worried about something being taken away from his transgender daughter. that is a good concept to remember. rights of one should be upheld and cherished, but there are limits to the rights of one group versus the other, one individual versus the other individual. your rights have to be balanced against other people's rights, here's where i come down on this. you will never convince me that a biological male who swam 3 years on the men's team and transitioned for the senior year, that was fair. and miss gaines will talk about

that. this is going on all over the country, young girls are working hard in their particular sports and on occasion having to compete against a biological male who decided to transition and the evidence, i think is pretty common sense based that there is an advantage, at the olympic level, you take certain tests, testosterone and other tests you have to take to compete in women's sports because there's a disadvantage and i believe this debate will go into the 2,024 cycle. the question before us, one of the questions, is, is it okay for state to ban transition of a minor and i think it is. i think the state has every interest in protecting minor children regarding the medical procedure that is life altering, given the evidence we

have about how these procedures work. i find it curious that in europe -- they are beginning to pump the brakes and slow down laws that would allow minors to be transitioned because the evidence suggests that it is probably not the best thing to do and they are taking a cautionary note, which makes america the outlier. that the title of this article behind me. so today will you hear both sides of the story. my democratic friends, if they could, would stop every state in the country from having laws regarding minors being transitioned. that's your position pretty much on your side. and on our side we believe the states have every right to do

that in my state they are going down that road. so as we celebrate the 1972 title ix act, reaching 50 years, plus we live in a time where the whole concept of title ix is very much at risk, we are not talking about equality in marriage here today, we are talking about what are the boundaries, if any in american society when it comes to minor children, and what is fair to all of us, thank you. >> thank you. we have five witnesses today. i will introduce the majority witness and ask senator graham to introduce his witnesses was our first witness is harleigh walker, 16 years old from auburn, alabama. she is here with her dad. she is advocated for trans rights and the importance of access to gender affirming care in her home state and nationwide.

we also have doctor ximenia lopez, pediatric and or can all just in dallas, texas and associate professor of pediatrics, and pediatric endocrinology division at ut southwestern. our final witness is kelley robinson from chicago, president of the human rights campaign, the first black clear it of queer woman to lead the organization. would you introduce them? >> matter sharpest senior counsel director of the center for legislative advocacy, alliance defending freedom in atlanta, georgia. director of the center for legislative advocacy and special counsel at the alliance. mr. sharp focuses on state and local legislative matters providing legal testimony, how proposed legislation would impact civil rights and constitutional freedom. he's advised governors,

legislatures and policy organizations on the importance of protecting first amendment rights. in tennessee, riley gaines, single-sex basis for women, advocates for equality, stands up for women's safety and opportunities. miss gaines is a former 12 time all-american swimmer from the university of kentucky, has been a powerful voice speaking against biological males participating in women's sports. miss gaines has challenged various sports leagues and travels to raise awareness about the need to protect women spaces and encourage other female athletes to join her because. thank you, mister chairman. >> thank you. here's what we will do this morning. we will swear and the witnesses and allow each of them 5 minutes for an opening statement and members of the committee will be allowed to ask 5-minute rounds of questions of the witnesses so i

asked the witnesses to please stand and raise your right hand. do you are from the testimony or about to give will be the truth, the truth and nothing but the whole truth so help you god? let the record reflect all witnesses answered in the affirmative, so we can proceed with harleigh walker. >> my name is harleigh walker, 16 years old from alabama. i thank you for the opportunity to tell you about myself and what it is like to be a trans person. i hope to share what my journey has been like and clear up the false information i've heard coming out of congress and state legislatures including the alabama state legislature. there's been so much misinformation about what it means to be a transgender person and what healthcare looks like for trans youth. most of what i'm hearing is inaccurate at best or outright misrepresented steps taken by qualified medical professionals. growing up i had a great childhood. loving family and friends. as i grew i felt something was different. between 10 and 11 i told my

parents i believe i was transgender. nobody pushed me to be transgender, no one suggested, forster influenced me, it is not a choice. i knew this was who i was. after i came out my parents did the best they could to support me, took me to our local pediatrician, he sat down with and referred us to medical professionals in our state that could best treat me. he never once pushed an agenda on me. instead he listened to me, his patient, and advised all of us how to get the best healthcare for my situation. the team of specialists he referred us to earn credit will, focused on getting to know me, understanding my specific case, getting to know my parents and figuring out how to care for me as a patient. they advised that no point where they talk about surgery on a minor, it wasn't something they would discuss. they never pushed any agenda. one of the things that stuck out to me was if i ever decided to stop or change my mind, it was okay and they would support

me no matter what. this is the opposite of what i hear in the news and the legislatures. makes me wonder why legislators think they can tell my parents and my doctors that i can't get the care i need to be happy and healthy. i want you to look at me and hear my words which i am a very happy 16-year-old girl. i have wonderful friends who accept me for who i am and i am active in my debate team and other curricular activities. i love to travel, i enjoy concerts and music like taylor swift and listening to my record collection in my room. i get all as in school and looking forward to college. i'm not miserable in my life. i'm not depressed. i'm just trying to be a teenager in america. same as any other teen. i keep having to jump through hoops so other people don't have too. i keep having to spend spring break are lobbying for my right to exist while my friends are on vacation but i'm in front of this committee instead of on my summer vacation just to ensure my right to exist is not taken away. in alabama, not one lawmaker is willing to sit down with me and

my parents to learn what it is like to be transgender. instead these lawmakers post rhetoric and laws that weren't true and not logical. same - things like transgender people are being groomed by parents which is nonsense. in support of these laws my governor decided to say horrible things about me and those like me and my state. i would love you to imagine a moment if these statements were made about you and your kids, how would it make you feel? what would you do to protect your kids from these harmful laws and statements? if you were me would you want to stay in a state where the people who were elected to represent you and make sure you have a safe place to live instead talk about your family this way? i live a few miles from the best college in my state but can't consider going there because of the continued attacks against me and my community. alabama was one of the first states to ban trans healthcare but because of the new laws that have been passed in states across the nation and because we don't have the equality act to help protect me from dissemination i had to start looking at colleges very far away from where i was born and

raised. my parents say this break their heart. they can't stand the thought of their kid being so far away where they can tell me if i needed them. this disco nation which will make me have to move where i live or work to go to school is not designed to protect or help me. i want you to understand the determination makes me unsafe. this journey isn't easy. as i first began my transition there was incredible amount of bullying in my middle school. so much so that my parents decided i needed to go to online school not because i wanted to but the bullying got so bad it was close to violence and the school was doing nothing about it. we worked with the school and i eventually got to go back. kids shouldn't feel helpless at school against being bullied or just committed against just because they are different. leaders in our state and country had the ability to help. so many decided -- despite all this, called a demon or monster or other despicable things i love my life, love my family, love my friends and i'm happy. i'm asking you to help us stop

certain people from using the transgender community as a political pond. stop attacking our lives, these are human rights hanging in the balance, help us communicate that they are impacting people's lives and our pursuit of happiness, we are just like your kids, your neighbors and you. we deserve the ability to be happy. thank you. >> exactly five minutes. thank you. mr. sharp. >> good morning, ranking member graham and other members of the committee, map sharp with alliance defending freedom. america is a beautifully diverse and tolerant country, people from various walks of life with different beliefs and values peacefully live and work together and care for one another. because we recognize the inherent dignity and worth that is endowed on each of us by our creator. the hope center in anchorage alaska and bodies these ideas by serving everyone in the community no matter how they identify, the center provides

women and men with clothing and job skill training and at night operates a women's shelter to provide a safe place for sex trafficking and abusive situations. one man who identifies as a woman tried to gain access to the women's shelter. he was drunk and injured but the hope center staff wanted to help so they paid for a cab to take the man to a local hospital to get him the care he needed. rather than applauding this act of charity city officials accused the hope center of violating the city's gender identity ordinance and demanded men be allowed to sleep in women's shelter just feet away from victimized women. this is just one example how laws and policies that promote gender identity ideology violate women's rights, endanger children and the road our constitutionally protected freedom to speak and act according to our conscience which many of the federal government's rules driving this ideology, we've seen the administration push unlawful interpretations of title ix and other laws that ignore the truth of what it means to be male and female, these policies

demand schools indoctrinate students into gender ideology and even hide students mental health struggles from their parents. they ignore the physiological differences between women and men allowing males to compete in women's sports. this exposes young women to greater risk of physical injury on the playing field and deprive them of the chance to compete and even earn college scholarship. .. the school mandated students embraced its views on gender ideology and censored any dissent. such a viewpoint discrimination is abhorrent to our first amendment. and for years state and local governments have misused public accommodation laws to coerce people who serve everyone

regardless of who they are to speak messages with which they disagree on pain of investigation, fines and even jail time. for example, colorado officials are misusing a state law to censor lori smith owner of website design company 303 creative and require her to create designs the fight with her sincere belief about marriage. lori was awaiting a decision from the u.s. supreme court is hoping the court will uphold the freedom of all americans to speak what they believe without fear of government punishment. perhaps the most troubling campaign is the push to give dangerous and potentially reversible gender transition procedures to children. it put kids on a one-way street toward medical transition. they harm healthy bodies, our children into lifelong patients agenda clinics and a reveille deprived kids of the chance of becoming natural parents later in life. all with no proven long-term benefits to the child compared with safer mental health treatments. after seeing the outcomes and

continued isis at rates among those who had medically transitioned many of the european countries that pioneered these procedures begin correcting their mistake. they reversed course to prioritize counseling and psychotherapy over drugs and invasive sterilizing surgeries. despite that the settlement of the best evidence in europe's example of government officials are ignoring the science and pressuring states, medical providers and even parents to support the harmful medicalization of children. knowing this, congress should reject laws and policies like the mist and equality act that pushed the government may data view of sexuality and identity and have devastating consequences for children, women, charitable organizations and all americans. they are unnecessary, unjust and they erode the true tolerance of different views that is a hallmark of a great nation. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. sharp. dr. lopez. >> good morning, dear senators thank you for the opportunity of being able to speak at this

judiciary committee. i did today representing myself and not my place of work hospital or institution. i am a pediatrician trained in pediatric and -- i have been providing gender affirming care to transgender youth for more than ten years in texas. i've also published scientific research that shows that gender affirming care improves a psychological well-being of transgender youth. i am here today to be the voice of my patients and their parents because in texas and in other states where bills are being passed, the lights in future of transgender youth are at risk. the parents of my patients are debating whether to flee their states amid high financial family and social cost. the effects of the campaign of misinformation that led to these bills are also having chilling effects beyond healthcare access. my patients and their parents

are suffering from discrimination at school, at church, at social gatherings, everywhere. many families unable to leave the state are pulling their children out of school and isolating them, leaving in hiding. the general public should know that campaign of misinformation has falsely demonized healthcare for transgender adolescents which is based on more than two decades of research and clinical practice and is accepted as the established medical care by every leading medical organization in this country, including the american academy of pediatrics, the american medical association, any others. there is no professional medical association involved in the care of transgender youth that opposes this care. gender affirming care does not involve genital surgery in minors and no medical interventions are provided before the age of puberty. gender affirming care consists of puberty suppression after the onset of puberty which then may be followed by hormone therapy

in later adolescence. in accordance to the endocrine society the american academy of pediatrics and the world professional for transgender health, this treatment can be medically necessary and life-saving. this care is based on a careful individualized assessment of adolescent which significant and persistent gender disorient. which if left untreated predictably can cause serious harms including anxiety, depression and other negative physical end of the mental contrast. in contrast has shown that when these youth received the medical care they need, they can thrive. this care is not pushed by doctors or parents. it is a highly complex decision that involves mental health providers that includes assessing the stability of the gender identity over time to the maturity of adolescent to assent to treatment. importantly, the pair i see in my practice which is true of practitioners across the country

come from all backgrounds -- parents -- conservatives and religious ones. my patients who are supported by the parents and receive timely gender affirming care often have no mental health issues and they thrive. i also want to speak up on half of science and medicine, and my colleagues. gender health providers and hospitals are being attacked by extremists. politicians are deciding how medical care should look like with this regard of patients, parents, science, experts,, legitimate medical societies. banning this care also risks the advancement of this medical field and its research. this is a dangerous precedent for our society as a whole and harms us all. ending -- principles of medicine which includes patient autonomy and do no harm and to provide the best treatment available.

physicians are being left to decide whether they should violate the medical ethics, or break the law. i ask that the complex medical decision of whether to receive gender affirming care is left to parents, patients and her health providers. thank you for the opportunity to speak and be heard today. >> thank you, dr. lopez. ms. gaines. >> good morning senators. my name is riley gaines, i'm an advice for independent woman's voice. i recently graduated from university of kentucky was a group of the uk women swim and dive team. i probably finish my career as a 12th ncaa all-american, five-time sec champion, acc record over in the 200 butterfly making it one of the fastest americans of all time, a two-time olympic trials qualifier, sec's co-athlete of the year and a cc community service leader of the year but all of that to say that it's a lifelong journey competing at the level and it's impossible to put into words the amount of sacrifice and dedication that it

takes. on march 17 at 2022 my teammates and i as well as female swimmers from universities around the country were forced to compete against biological male leah thomas. thomas was led to compete in the women's division after competing as a member of the universe of pennsylvania's men's swim team for three years here we watch on the side of pool as thomas winter national title under 500 free stop beating up the most impressive and accomplished female swimmers in the country including many olympians and american record holders. my body lengths. previously thomas had been ranked 462nd at best in the men's division the year prior. the next day i raced thomas in 200 freestyle which ended up in a tie. we want the exact same time down to the 100th of a second. having only one trophy, the ncaa handed it to thomas and told i had to go home empty-handed. when asked why, which was a a question to were not prepared to be asked, actually appreciate the honesty because they said thomas is crucial thomas had it

for picture purposes. thomas had to have it for the pictures. i feel betrayed. i felt belittled. i felt reduced to a photo op but my feelings didn't matter. what mattered to the ncaa with the feelings of biological male. in 1972 congress enacted title ix to an unjust sex discrimination in all aspects of education including college athletics. but by allowing thomas to displace female athletes in the fall and on the podium the ncaa intentionally and explicitly discriminate on the basis of sex. all of -- acted the name of inclusion and his policies exclude female athletes which with a very female athletes title ix was passed to protect. that is not all. in addition to being forced to give up our awards at her titles and opportunities, the ncaa force me in my female swimmers to share a locker room with thomas. a six-foot four male exposing male genitalia let me be clear

about this, we were not forewarned we would be a locker room. no one asked our consent and we did not get our consent. and i'll set the scene as the female locker room is a modesty. we were forced to take off her swimsuit in front of a man who is doing the exact same thing. if nothing else, i truly hope that you can see this is a violation of our right to privacy and how some of us have felt uncomfortable, embarrassed and even traumatized by this experience. i know that i does speak for every single person who computed against leah thomas but i know i speak for many because i saw the tears. i saw that years from the night in 17th place finishers the missed out on being named an all-american by one place and i can attest to the extreme discomfort in the locker room from these 18 to 18 to 22d girls when you turn around and there's male eyes watching in that same room and i can attest to the whispers and the grumbles of anger and frustration from these girls are just like my

stuff at work our entire lives to get to this meet. and i can attest to the fact that around the country these cmo athlete who oppose the inclusion of leah thomas in women's divisions were threatened, intimidate and emotionally blackmailed into silence and submission. but, unfortunately, our experiences are not unique. the number female athletes have been denied opportunities, traumatized or hurt by policies that claim to vote inclusion is going at an alarming rate. i hear these female athletes and their parents. i hear from these people are seriously injured. one with permanent injuries that will plague the rest of her life because she was forced to compete against an much physically stronger man. this is unacceptable and integrity of women's sports is lost. it's unfair, it's discriminatory and it must stop. women's rights to privacy is an opportunity -- encroached on. sports consortiums locker room stoermer and shelters prisons some of try to -- speaking of as

trans-a look or bigoted this is untrue. i've heard from people within this community, gay lesbian intransigent by americans that a great the motion should not be asked to step aside no matter how they identify. defending women's rights is not anti-anyone. believing in biology is not bigoted and following the side there only two sexes and they are very real and important differences between the two sexes is not hateful. it's fact. i will end end with the court briefly from martina navratilova. there will always be significant numbers of voice in that it would be the best roles of women in head-to-head competition. claims to the contrary are simply a denial of science. i thank you, guys for listening and i truly hope you heard my story. >> thank you ms. gaines. ms. robinson. >> chairman durbin, ranking member graham, and members of the committee my name is kelley robinson. i practice of the present of human rights campaign. our nation's largest civil rights organization working to

achieve fully equal different lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and people across the country. thank you for inviting me just make testimony at this important hearing. on behalf of more than three by members and supporters i come today with a single message. the lgbt to plus people of the united states are living in the state of emergency. this is not an exaggeration. this is not the dramatization. more than 525 anti-builds up and introduced this year in the state more than 220 of those bills target the transgender community, many targeting children, transgender children. and more 75 of those anti-lgbtq+ bills have not become law. this includes laws that ban books and since the curriculum in the classroom. this includes laws that forbid children from being able to safely use a bathroom at school and laws that criminalize doctors providing life-saving gender affirming healthcare. the purpose of these laws is to facilitate a rise in political

extremism by alienating and isolating lgbtq+ americans and impact of these laws is truly alarming. there is not more than violence against lgbtq+ americans than ever before with mass shootings in our safe spaces, murders of transgender people and threats from the proud boy, neo-nazis and of the groups of southern poverty law center is designated as extremist. there was more anxiety and depression among lgbtq+ children. data from our route survey about lgbtq+ teams shows is also making young people feel unsafe and can prevent them from seeing a full future for themselves. there's more conversations among families about whether the state where they live essay for their children. a mother of two transgender teens who is deciding whether to move from her home town in texas me simply we have accepted that this state is not safe. it is like a war zone. in every county you represent come in every county of your colleagues represent you will find parents and children,

teachers and nurses, kennedy leaders and small business owners who are afraid that the rise and legislate assault on the political extremism has put a target on their back. such fear has no place in the united states of america. that's why for the first time in h.r. season of half-century history we have declared the state of emergency. we've also issued a guidebook lgbtq+ americans stay safe as a navigate the new anti-lgbtq plus laws. and a report details details the impact of these laws for advocates, policymakers and for the media. i submitted both into the record. chairman durbin, ranking member graham and members of the committee, we need you to help us answer the state of emergency with a sense of urgency. today senators will introduce the equality act which make protection for lgbtq+ americans consistent and explicit across our nation. it's been nearly a decade since this bill was first introduced and in that time lgbtq+ members

of the military have served openly. marriage equality has been codified and federal law and more lgbtq+ members of congress have been elected than ever before. furthermore, today more than eight in ten americans support comprehensive nondiscrimination laws for lgbtq+ people. it is time for congress to catch up with what our country already is and passed the equality act. i want to conclude today by saying that although this is a state of emergency, i believe we still live in atlanta infinite possibility. a nation that prides itself on progress. for every tennessee, there is a minnesota which is recently passed a statewide ban on so-called conversion therapy. for every florida there is a a michigan which recently became the 22nd state to make lgbtq+ nondiscrimination protections law. for every taxes there is a a pennsylvania which is on the cusp of becoming the 23rd state to do so.

for every defense of marriage act that is a respect for marriage act. for every extremist there are many, many more americans who support lgbtq+ writes. our nation is greater than all this hate and we must take action now to in this emergency and security quality for every american. without exception. >> thank you ms. robinson. we will now start the five-minute rounds. i'll begin. lindsey graham is my friend and my colleague. we see things carefully and we still get along, which i think is the nature of good work and congress dick alisa hope it is. i would say to him it is interesting to me that you cannot put a nominee for the supreme court of the united states at that table and they also sit there with that the person expecting a question as to whether or not there are going to be influenced by foreign laws. you look at laws in other countries or acoustic with a good what the answer there waiting for is i stick with america. and now we have references to

europe as the standardbearer in terms of where america should go for its future. secondly, called an outlier in that headline, guilty as charged. america has always been an outlier. a written constitution for over two other jews, bill of rights that people can depend on. we are outliers. no one in europe can make the same claim. so i would just start with the premise, i love europe, as of the europeans but we are americans. when it comes to decisions as basic as the rights of individual citizens and freedoms come i think we've got a pretty good starting point with the constitution and bill of rights. i want as to dr. lopez, the ribbon references may year to whether or not your profession in which you've done for your life for the last ten years is an outlier in itself? in fact, that you're not doing what is mainstream medicine in america. how do you respond to that? >> that is not true.

the type of care that i provide gender affirming care is the mainstream best practice, recommended by all the legitimate medical societies in the united states and across the world. and as i said in my opening statement, we have clinical experience, more than 20 years, and a robust body of evidence that supports this treatment as life-saving. we treat depression and anxiety. there are no other studies that support any other treatment. this is the main treatment. >> and accepted by the american medical association and the american academy of pediatrics as well? >> correct. >> is or any major professional medical organization in the united states of america that opposes this form of care?

>> no. >> that speaks for itself we are talking about science and medicine versus a political spin on the issue. i want to say i'm old enough to remember the debate on the equal rights amendment 50 years ago. the fears if we pass the equal rights amendment, women will be serving in combat. you know what? women are sitting in combat because they want to serve in combat and we need them. if we passed the equal rights amendment will of men and women the same bathrooms. have you been to restaurants with all gender bathrooms? i've seen them quite frequently in chicago. i'm sure you've seen them, too. when i listen to ms. gaines i think there's a fundamental call for justice in your statement. i understand it. we've got to be able to work that out as as a nation. not at the expense of haley walker and her future if there has to be a middle ground here that is fair to both. as far as i'm concerned that's our job on this side of the table to deal with that moving

forward. dr. lopez you said and what to make sure it's under record clearly, that accepted medical practice in the field does not provide for surgery for youth, is that correct? >> genital surgery is not recommended for minors. that is the standard of care. >> in terms of hormone therapy, that is not administered until after you be? >> that is recommended in adolescence. >> if you went forward with any surgery at any point or even medications that we are talking, has been your practice to involve the parents of the in person involved? >> that is the standard of care. parents come all legal guardians and parents have to consent to the treatment. that's part of the medical decision-making, is to involve the parents and discussed the risk and benefits like with any type of medical treatment. and at the end of the day it is the parents that consent to the

treatment. >> ms. robinson, you noted the resurgence, if you will, of anti-lgbtq legislation across the country. a lot of it is focus on transgender issue but not exclusively when you look at the body of legislation. what else is coming up in the state legislature that concerns you? >> i mean we are concerned about bathroom bills reemerging, not moving toward explicit nondiscrimination for protection fraternities and so much more. and for me with even more concerning is the violent rhetoric that surrounds every introduction of a bill. i mean it's contributing to the fact that one in five of every a crime is now motivated by anti-lgbtq+ bias. this is an urgent problem facing our community and creating fear and isolation even when the bills are not passed into law. >> thank you. senator graham. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. robinson, state laws that you reference regarding transgender can , do you thiy

are driven by hate, ignorance? what's causing this? >> i mean we know that the people behind these bills are part of a well-funded opposition group, organizations like the alliance to defend freedom are a part of that. >> do you think it is driven by hate? >> i think it's driven by a well-funded group of speed if i didn't ask you whether you get the money. i asked you their motivations but i think it's driven by power. i think that there is a move right now could to control people and our bodies for the sake of power. i don't think it's about speedy just for power, right? you don't think these are hateful people that are doing the? >> i think that this is about power but i do think that as the bills are moving forward they are creating a culture of hate. have to say again that every time we see the introduction of these bills they are accompanied with violent online campaigns that -- >> i want to tell you that violent rhetoric has no place in this debate or any other debate.

ms. gaines, what's the average day like for a young lady trying to compete at the level you have computed at interim the training? >> so i started swimming when i was four. i graduated college when i was 22 site dedicated 18 years of my life to my sport which of course includes your sport specific training, swimming but also weightlifting can also your diet can also your sleep schedule not to mention the social sacrifices you have to make. at the collegiate level we were swimming in the water every single day for six hours. three of those hours being before 8 a.m. so your practice from five to eight, go to class, to come back to practice. you swim from 1:30 the fourth or. we ate dinner at 5:00 because we were starving. eat dinner, do you homework, i should shoulder, go to bed, wake up and do it all again the next day. we were swimming over ten miles on average every single day. >> dr. lopez, do you believe that leah thomas had an

advantage in swimming because she was a biological male who transitioned sometime late in college? >> i am not a sports medicine physician. i can only relate to the stand of the sports medicine, federal associate international association -- >> what do they say? >> they do not recommend exclusion of transgender individuals. >> do they believe it's therefore leah thomas who spent three years your swimminge men's team, in the senior year of college, to compete in the women's division? they think that's okay? >> as a medical professional i don't have the scientific expertise to provide an opinion. >> let me tell you as opinion, you don't need a medical degree. this is not okay. this is definitely not okay. you work all your life training

as a swimmer, competing against biological girls and you wind up your senior in college competing with somebody who three years swam as a guy. and you lose. ms. robinson, do 80% of americans support biological males competing in women's athletic? >> i can say more than 70% of americans believe that the rash of attacks on -- >> it's a simple question. do 80%% of americans support biological males participated in female sports? >> i mean, i can't verify that but what i can -- >> it's not even close, that there's nothing wrong with you if you have a problem with ms. gaines feeling cheated. there's nothing wrong with you if you have a problem with ms. gaines feeling uncomfortable

in a locker room. there's nothing wrong with you. we will sort this out as a nation with this idea that something is wrong with her because she feels cheated is absurd. you of any right to feel that way and i imagine a lot of young lady do feel uncomfortable being in a locker room under the situation she described. mr. sharp, what's the purpose of your organization? and what is your message to america? >> senator, want to protect the freedom of all americans and that includes our desire to ensure that children and women that their interests are protected that they are not harmed by this gender ideology that is being pushed and that each of us is free to live and work and speak without being coerced or punished by the government because of a good faith beliefs. >> one final question. ms. gaines, do you think the experience you had in the

dressing room is something that young girls throughout the country share your views? >> i get messages every single day from girls from all over the political spectrum. we mentioned this issue being politicized. this is not politics for me. this is a real life issue and i want to put on record i don't believe trent athletes should be banned from sports. that's the rhetoric being pushed on the opposition. anti-trans bill bans trans athletes. trans athletes should not be banned from play sports of course not. i would have wanted to be where it is there and what is a very don't understand how that is over controversial. but yes especially at the ncaa championships, every single girl at least on my team being a team captain i had this conversation with my team and we had over 40 girls 40 growth and income will felt this same way, we all felt uncomfortable in that locker room. >> thank you. >> senator coons. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses today for sharing your stories in your experiences.

let me talk initially to ms. walker if i could. thank thank you, as a parene children myself i can only imagine how proud your parents must be of your voice and your efficacy. and thank you for sharing with us that you are a straight a student participation in school, and happy. it is a very difficult thing to insert yourself into these very heated debates in home state of alabama, and nationally. and i could feel your frustration explaining that as you search for college, you feel you can no longer safely do so in your home state. i just don't think that's right and i think someday soon we may be in a place where young people can search out there called strains without having to worry about whether they're in the state that affirms them or not. you mentioned something about this is not an ideology that been pushed on you. could you just help us for a moment understand, and you described closely with your

parents, then with your physician to make a decision about your future that reflects who you are and how you were created. can you just help us understand that a little bit from the, ms. walker? >> yeah. so like is that whenever i was about 11 years old i was doing research on lgbtq community and a cam across the term transgender. and growing up as a kid i was new i was different and so i came to my parents with saying that i think i am transgendered. and at first we didn't really know what that meant. we weren't super edge educe issue because you know at the time it wasn't a big public issue. so whenever we went to our doctors they were all incredibly supportive. and they never were telling me what i should do. the entire first couple of visits were just listening to make a listing to my story, though i was and what i thought

was best for me and what they could do to help me. it wasn't you need to start these community. what got to do all this to death by estrogen because everybody's journey is different. and they just want to do what was best for me, and they listen to me to make sure that that was what i wanted to do. >> thank you. dr. lopez, one of the things you mentioned was the importance of close consultation with parents in making a decision about gender affirming care. could you briefly speak to the role parents play in making decision about gender affirming care for their children? >> the decision to start gender affirming care is a highly complex decision. it's not easy for any parent from any background. most parents are not well informed when this happens to them. and it takes a lot of time and effort to meet with different types of professionals,

healthcare providers and physicians to go discuss risks and benefits of potential alternatives, which is what should be done for any type of medical treatment. >> and what sort of impact do you see on the mental and physical health of your patients in a state where there is a ban imposed on that sort of care or on books or on discussions in schools? doesn't have any impact whatsoever? >> i am very, very worried. that is the reason i am here. i'm here because i am very worried for the mental health of my patients. for the ones i see my clinic which is supported by the parent and receiving gender-affirming care are thriving. and if that is taken away from them i am sure the mental health will worsen, not only because the treatment that help them mistakenly but also because there's a feeling of statement and discrimination has been

created around them and as i say they are debating whether leave or hide. it's really devastating. >> mr. sharp, if i might, in your written testimony you criticized schools for trying to replace parents as the ultimate determinative of what's best for their children when it comes to things like teaching about lgbtq rights and issues. but if i understand you correctly from your spoken testimony he also think parents should be barred from making medical care decisions about their own children in the case of gender-affirming care as described by dr. lopez. which one is it? our parents in charge of what's in the best interest of their children or not? >> thank you, senator. we do support the right of parents but our laws have long recognized there are limits to those and that parents can't consent to things that can be damaging and harmful and that's why when the european countries are looking at the sites. this is not filed with the site and they do so. they find is not evidence mental

medical transition producing good outcomes and that's what we want to prioritize is that parents can choose among the psychotherapy counseling and other options option top children deal with gender dysphoria. >> thank you. dr. lopez if i might just an conclusion. your testimony was the american medical association and the american academy of pediatrics both support gender-affirming care as option for children and the parents to choose in consultation with physicians. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> how do you reconcile what mru with our national medical associations that are relevant to this care? >> first of all, no country in europe has banned gender-affirming care. they have taken steps to make sure that there is a cautious approach when deciding eligibility for gender-affirming care, and actually the steps they have taken a very similar to what is the standard of care practices recommended by the --

which he does recommend a very careful comprehensive assessment before deciding that this is the best care for the patients, and there is no single research study that shows a psychological therapy as mentioned by dr. cha is enough to -- issue that transgender people can have. >> thank you. thank you all for your testimony today. >> thank you, senator coons. senator hawley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks to the witnesses for being here. ms. gaines somewhat distant with you. thank you for your courage in being here today. thank you for your courage and advocacy for women pick you up and subjected to an unbelievable amount of abuse. you talk about intimidation, threats of violence. you have severed it. want to put up your a picture so everybody can see it. this was the welcome your tree or two at san francisco state

university just a couple of months ago when a mob assembled where what you're supposed to speak i believe for over three hours screen, threatened you, merrick energy in the room. do i have that basically correct? >> yes. i was held for ransom for three and half hours by hundreds of these protesters that you see on the board. they demanded that i had to pay them on if i wanted to make it home to see my family safe again the law enforcement in san francisco, i respect and i think law enforcement is what's breakup not me and i respect all law enforcement, but the law enforcement i was met with in san francisco in my opinion failed miserably and effectively doing their job. they had mention that it was not ideal for them to be seen as anything other than an ally to this community. that was a very obvious in the treatment and effectiveness for moving me safely from the situation. >> why would you threatened and barricaded into a room and held for ransom for hours on end?

what was it you were saying that was so terrible. >> i i was invited to speak on y experience of a cd in competing against a male. nothing opinionated about what i shared it was surely the exact lived experience of me and my teammate and fellow competitors help. so i spoke. after my speech that was of course a letter protesters in the room which i'm totally fine with people protesting, it's the right to protest but what i'm not fine with is when it does provide in a way that it did. because protesters afterwards they rushed into the room, they turned off the lights. they rushed to the front. myself and others were assaulted and thus was held hostage for 31 three and half hours per unbelievable, unbelievable. thank you for your courage in the midst of that. let's talk about the message you were sharing and you started to talk about it in your opening statement. tell us about your experience because nobody can question your experience. helping anybody sitting at the table and certain nobody at this

podium has had the experience that you had. you were talking about just the incredible surprise shall i say to put it gently of finding a biological man a six-foot four-inch biological man in your locker room and having to accept that without being asked about without being told about it even. what was that like for you. tell us about that. >> again will became aware with the undressing next to a man when we had to see a man undressing while we were simultaneously undressing as i meet at least left the locker room and it went to one of the officials on the pool deck and they said what are the guidelines to allow a man into a locker room under the guidelines for the accommodation for one of the the locker room? he so nonchalantly said back, we ask a got around this by making locker rooms unisex some think it was so in these reforms first and foremost you just admitted this is a male acknowledging how you do change your rules to make the locker rooms unisex. you acknowledge we do not share the same sex first and foremost

pick secondly, unisex? in man could've walked into our locker room, any coach coming official, any man who wanted to with a fitful rains to at bare minimum we were not forewarned about it? and that's that's the traumatizing part. of course the experience in that of the flock of itself is traumatizing that i think for me it was so easy for them to dismiss a right to privacy senator durbin, in your opening statement you had mention this rhetoric. you had mentioned that what message does it fit into trance individuals? my come back to that is what message does this into women, two young girls who are denied of these opportunities? so easily the rights to privacy and safety thrown out of the window to protect a small population to protect one group as long as they are happy? what about asked lex that is the overall general consensus of how we all felt in that locker room. >> why do you think it is the ncaa and so many people in power

seem intent to erasing your opinion, your views, the whole category of women? i noticed recently you posted this to social media about a message that harvard was sending a rat i think to its members telling them don't talk about leah thomas. don't share your attention if you get cockup by member of the media, then refer that to the university. don't say anything for heaven's sake. tell us about this. this is been your experience over and over. you are told as a woman to shut up don't say anything. what's that like. >> was that is continually happening and if we do speak up you immediately labeled as some, something they will will call you everything under the sun, whether it's trans public homophobic racist white supremacist domestic terrorist. they will follow all that you you and hopes to deter you and and hopes of silencing your leah thomas team mates were forced every single week to go to manchester lgbtq education meeting to learn how they were oppressing times that they were told their not about to take a stance because the school has taken the stance for them. they were told they will never

get a job, you'll never get into grad school, you lose your friends, your leisure scholarship and playing time if you speak up if they told these girls that if you do speak out any harm whatsoever comes towards thomas way, way, wr through social media, whether this mental emotional harm, then you are solely responsible and you could be responsible for a potential death and you don't want that, did you? of course not. who would ever want to responsible any potential death? but that is the emotional blackmail that is plaguing this country especially in universities. >> last question. i'll ask this into the chance response and i'm done with this, mr. chairman. let me get a chance response something leah thomas said recently to publicly, she said this publicly. they are using, called now, they're using the guise of feminism, they meeting you, using the guise of feminism to sort of push trans-phobic beliefs, meaning you advocating for women, women's rights is actually just a cover for trans-phobia. do you want to respond to that. >> was feminism is not a fluid

term. the original and the meaning of what it means to be a feminist is to uphold respect, honor, embrace and celebrate women on our own physical field, our own uniqueness. that term has not changed. what this really is is a man explaining which is ironic and do something we've seen before. >> thank you, senator hawley. since reference was made to my earlier statement i i would jt like to add something for the record. there is no evidence that transgender athletes are an issue at certain levels of sports. knows transgender female athlete has ever won an olympic medal in women's sports come from the international olympic committee has allowed transgender athletes to compete since 2004. 2004. one non-binary athlete who was assigned female at birth, won a medal in women's soccer in 2021. next is senator klobuchar.

>> thank you very much, mr. chair. i want to turn to you, ms. robinson, and talk about something that you think is important given my background as a prosecutor that we don't forget, and that is the attacks that we've seen from the unprecedented number of attacks on lgbtq americans. we know that lgbtq americans continue to face violent attacks, and there's hateful rhetoric, dehumanizing them, and that is one of the contributive factors. issue the fbi found that crimes motivated by bias against lgbtq people represented 20% of all reported hate crimes. i just, this is close to my heart because when i was a prosecutor i i was, i had nevr even been a member of the white

house. president clinton was president and he introduced the hate crimes bill him and i got to meet the family of matthew shepard. a with her along with the police were investigated the case. and i think that was a moment for america that kind of flipped how people thought about things and realized that he was just pursuing his own life and ended up as the investors described, looking like a scarecrow, someone thought, , pinned to a fence. could you talk about what trends you are seeing in lgbtq hate crimes? why didn't you answer that first. >> with yak, the real is scary. we're sitting here seven years since the pulse nightclub shooting were 49 lives were stolen in just over seven months since the shooting at club q vestal five lights from the community. this uptick of violence is real and you said already. one in five of the hate crimes motivated by anti-lgbtq bias. these bad bills targeting the

commute are often accompanied by campaigns of misinformation and lies that so few entrants will be in commute is. the very fact we can't identify leah thomas as a transgender woman is playing into the fear and anxiety that's motivating these hate crimes. i've talked to people every day. i talked to pediatricians that are being escorted to the cars by armed guards because of the bomb threat they receiving. i talked to drag queens are being confronted by brad boyce with ar-15s outside a of drag queen story hours. this epidemic is real and requires action both legislative and also cultural in stopping this ability for people to spout lies about our community. >> thank you. you mentioned minnesota in your opening remarks, and i think what we've seen over the last few decades, we have seen progress in the fight for equality, the bipartisan group that worked on the respect for marriage act, led by senator

baldwin, and we so appreciate her work and how she worked with people on both sides of the e to get that done. but about half of lgbtq adults to report experiencing workplace discrimination based on their identity. could you talk about the equality act, why it's important? and specifically, are there still places in the u.s. where lgbtq person can be denied a home simply because of who they are? is a crack pgh yes absolutely. right now there are only 23 states that have explicit nondiscrimination protections book for lgbtq community that with the meat is like going to restaurant in texas and be denied service because i'm married to a woman very mean some member of the committee can experience discrimination in housing, getting access to federally funded colleges and programs. this this is a crisis but weo make clear in this country does not a patchwork of protections based on your identity.

every american deserves equal access to civil rights and on discrimination protections. the equal, the equality act will move forward that into law. >> and i know there is major company supporting the bill, that there's been a lot of support for it. one of the question along those lines. are there still places in the u.s. where an lgbtq person can be denied a loan even because of who they are pgh ? >> yes, there are. >> okay. very good. could you talk about some of the progress? you mentioned minnesota, but some of the progress that had been made in states on a state-by-state basis which i think shows how, in fact, there are whole lot of people out there who support the work of hrc and bills and state versions of bills like the equality act. i know my state as you mention has been a leader. we were a leader on

anti-discrimination from the very beginning in 1993. we began protecting lgbtq people against workplace discrimination. we were the first state and nation to outlaw this commission based on gender identity. so could you talk about progress? >> absolutely. there have been incredible progress for our community. if i looked at 20 to 25 years, 60%% of americans oppose same-sex marriage and now nearly 80% support same-sex marriage and the respect for marriage act is a law of the land. that change because we are able to serve openly in the military. that change because we were able to tell the stories of our lives and show what our love looked like. that change because now the majority of americans knows someone who is lesbian gay or bi. we need to make sure in this fight we're not letting people's lack of visibility feed into fear and instead tell the stories about trans women, tell

the stories about transmission, show the stories like harleigh the show at the end of the date these are simply americans who are trying to live. that's what we fighting for. >> okay. thank you to all the witnesses. i wish i could ask you all questions but my colleagues are waiting. thank you. >> senator blackburn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to each of you for taking your time to be here today. we certainly appreciate that, and riley, i want to come to you. riley is a tendency in desha tennessee and and where so and called up out of the work and the job that she is doing. one thing that i've noticed repeatedly over the last few years is this administration's intent, that they continue to push forward, erasing the word

woman. their intent when it comes to ending title ix and ending the ability for young girls. in tennessee i talk a lot about the lady balls. a great basketball team with such great history. and how important it is been to young girls. when a talk to girls that are played on that team, they talk about the impact that being able to be a lady vol and what i had on their life, was to them personally and professionally. and the talk about the opportunities that were open to them because they were a lady vol. they were a competitor and i see all the time there are hundreds

of young girls that are out there at their home beating that basketball against the backboard and blacktop in trying to hone their craft so they can be a competitor, they can be an athlete. and i was so disappointed that this administration, the department of education went so far as to propose a rule allowing biological males to compete in women's sports. riley, you have referenced the impact on young girls that this has. and how it is kind of defeating, not only to when you are competing to win you are preparing. and you reference the amount of work that you do, that 5 a.m. swimming, that 5:00 dinner, and away you are double tracking to be a competitor and also get an

education. so i want you to talk a little bit about the impact that keeping title ix and what title ix meant to you is you were that young girl training, hoping to get a college scholarship, hoping that you would be an ncaa college athlete. talk about that. >> absolutely. it's far bigger than athletic achievement and i think that something that gets lost a special woman only have a few minutes to share our testimony. i shared how i didn't get the trophy but let me reiterate. it's not about the trophy. i didn't care about holding the tangible object of this probably five dollars production trophy. about the opportunity. it's about the lifelong skills and characteristics you develop from playing sports. play sports aside for my faith i put a lot of this in my faith but playing sports has given me the leadership to do this come to security to take the arrows, to be held hostage to its

playing sports that is given me that confidence, and no girl should lose out on that. it is far bigger than athletic success or chances for opportunity. it is about those transferable skills. there was a study they came up the at 94% of female sea level executive, 94% 94% of thoses were female athlete anything that is an entirely true testament of what it means to be an athlete and the skills that provides you. and want to mention briefly the rewrite of title ix is an abomination. it is equally to sex to gender identity which means men would live in a dorm rent with women. men would have full access to bathrooms can , changing are, locker rooms. men could join sororities which we're seeing happening. that's happening at the university of wyoming. men could take scholarships away from women. in this rewrite it is sexual harassment if you miss gender attended in the individual it is sexual harassment that if you're in a dorm room and your women to

feel uncomfortable sharing the film, if you complainant asked be moved you are guilty of sexual harassment. >> and you mentioned the transferable skills. i think that is so vital. give me like the top three skills that you develop by learning to be a competitive athlete. >> i think especially being to your team captain a universe of kentucky i was in the top three skills i learned were teamwork, communication and leadership. without a doubt. those are skills that translate to your group or i graduate with every intent on being in dental school. actually what i what to do was endodontics. i scored in the top percentile and that's what i thought my life direction was going. those three skills i mention teamwork, leadership, and to munication would've been crucial to become a dennis and now i realize in my advocacy work they are just as crucial in this field as well. >> absolutely. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator kirk senator booker. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for you in the

ranking member for holding this committee and thanks to the all five of the witnesses here. it takes a lot to be here especially two of our younger witnesses that i was terrified in speaking front of crowds when i was both of your ages. it just is extraordinary to me the raw truth and testimony that you shared with folks here. ms. robinson, i just want to stop at you because i still live in this little bit of a bizarro world where i have arguments with friends on the talk about political friends talking about folks my community i think i'm wrong when i say in the states in america again american could post their pictures of their wedding online and then the next day be fired from their job. i mean literally most americans think this has already been accomplished somehow, that you just by being gay you can be discriminate against at your workplace. you could be discriminate

against an public accommodation or could be discriminate against in getting access to financial means the most americans take for granted or you can be discriminate against even serving on a jury. could you speak to that for a moment and just like i know we're talking about a lot of issues but that to me seems outrageous. >> absolutely. this is very real and why we need the quality act. what the equality act would use make explicit modest commission protections across race, gender, sex and sexual orientation. that's car in a something. one of the reasons we did the state of emergency is to lift up this crisis and make it clear especially as americans are thinking about where they're going to go to school or taking new jobs across the country. we had to make it clear there is a dizzying patchwork of protections for lgbtq+ people across this country. answers of that we issued a guidebook that includes we can go to file complaints and that also tools to navigate some additional hostile states with if i i could interrupt you

because i had the privilege of serving with the john lewis and i'm happy with senator merkley and senator baldwin to lead on this bill and the senate, but on the house side john lewis was leading on this bill. when you asked him here's this christian southern black elder man, and he would say that the issues are so similar to what he was dealing with. the same things people said about why they didn't want black people in their restaurant, why the didn't want black people to marry white people. why they didn't feel comfortable with their private business. why do i have to hire black people? people use religious excuses, cultural excuses. this is my own beliefs that is wrong. the bible says it's wrong. it is amazing to me that growing up with two black parents talking about the struggles of the time who did get denied jobs

and promotions, who did see violence and threats, who told stories about white people and black people that were attacked for standing up for equal rights for african-americans. am i wrong to draw this basic parable of human dignity, whether it's gender discrimination, discrimination against lgbtq americans come black americans get muslim-americans? is a line that goes through the basic right to be an american and have equal rights. >> was absolutely. this is fundamentally a civil rights issue. the equality act has to be signed into law to give us all equal access to that american dream. the other through line here is oftentimes we been able to find ourselves on the right side of the social issues. for example, the same things they're saying about trans people today they were saying about lesbian and gave people 20 years ago and now the respect for marriage act is a lot of the link at the same horrific things they're saying about trans

people today they're saying it about people who live with hiv and aids 30 years ago now we significantly reduce statement and were on a way to ending that epidemic in this generation in our lifetimes. we can make a change on this but a start by opening our hearts and minds and acknowledging the story of america come so many of us have faced this commission when we come together, when we fought and understood an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, we've been able to change the course of history. >> i was very moved by her testimony, ms. gaines, spatial because i don't think most americans understand what is to be an elite athlete. i'm here because i was a division i player, fundamentally 50, 60 hour work weeks on my athletic skills. the first dry stepped up, you might've had this expansion so, i thought visit of civilians live when you so much time, you're not getting up and doing practices. the experiences you had and the picture of my colleague senator hawley showed is just

outrageous, deplorable and unacceptable for you talking to your truth. ms. walker, what stuns me about what we are seeing right now is a lot of americans don't understand how widespread the bullying and the threats and the violence are. .. >> ms. walker, i just want to end with you because i don't think most americans understand what it's like to try to just live your truth for the average american that is lgbtq or

trans. could you just tell one more time as you've listened to the testimony today, how it feels just to be a teenager living your life as you do? >> yeah, it definitely is a struggle. growing up in a conservative state where there is a lot of misinformation spread about what trans people are, what we do, and how we're just like everybody else. it's definitely been hard for me. like i said in my testimony, i was severely bullied in the middle school i had to drop out of public school because there was so much hate in the hallways, being misgendered and dead named and violence at a certain point and i had to drop out for public school in that year and the school wasn't nothing anything about it. >> mr. sherman, thank you for the latitude. again if it's about protecting our children, the story of ms. walker and other trans

children just needs to be heard what you're enduring. thank you. >> thank you, senator booker, senator cruz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. title nine was a landmark civil rights law helped to create the incredible breadth of women's sports and girl's sports that we see across the country. i believe in girl's sports, i believe in women's sports. the proud father of two daughters who are both athletes. i think participating in competitive sports is a wonderful thing for a young girl. i think it's a wonderful thing for a woman. and i think unfortunately today's democrat party has decided that women's sports and girls sports no longer matters and they're willing to push radical legislation designed to destroy girls sports and women's sports. ms. gaines, i want to thank you for your courage. you're relatively young, but you have demonstrated

incredible courage and because you have dared to speak up, you have been demonized, you have been vilified. i saw when you were attacked by a leftist mob at san francisco state university for daring to speak up. you had an incredible record as a swimmer at university of kentucky. you were a two-time ncaa all-american. five time sec champion, you're a sec record holder, and a two-time olympic trial qualifier. but yet, on march 27th, 2022, something changed. what happened on march-- on march 17th, 2022. >> that's when thomas and i raced in the 200 free style and again resulted in a tie. >> and so you tied. what was the consequence of tieing? >> we went behind the awards podium and handed your trophy, marched out and named all

american and the official looks at both of us, great job, you guys tied and only one trophy and there for, we're giving the trophy to lia and i questioned it, why. and i shortened it on he stumbled on his words and didn't know how to answer it and first, well, we're just doing this in chronological order to which i further pressed. what are you being chronological about because we tied and if we're doing this off al alphabetical order, t comes after g and appreciate his honesty, he said we have to give the trophy for lia because lia has to have it for pictures and they've made it clear, you can pose with this trophy about you you have to give yours back, you have 0 to go home emptyhanded, lia thomas takes the trophiy home, end of story. >> let me ask you, someone who

has competed at the elite level. in your experience, is there a difference between women and men? >> of course. i think we learned this at a very young age watching even 12 and under play. >> no matter the diet, alterable change you can make will overcome male advantage, especially in a sport like swimming, lung capacity and throat size, men have 40% larger throat and sounds like nothing, but when you're grasping for air, 40% larger throat makes a huge difference, not to mention height. you guys know the differences. >> ms. robinson, do you agree with ms. gaines that there's a difference between women and men? >> if the question is about trans women-- . i'm asking is there a difference between women and men. >> what i can say the ncaa has rules in place. they're had rules in place for

the last decade-- >> i'm going to try again. >> the rules were clear. >> do you believe there's a difference between women and men, is there a difference? >> i think we're talking with the case with the ncaa. >> no, i'm asking a question, do you believe there's a difference between women and men, most people could answer simply, i'm curious if you're willing to do so. >> oh, absolutely, i'm putting in the context-- >> is that a yes. >> of the conversation that we're having. i think there are definitions relate today sex that-- >> i'm trying to get a yes or no. not trying to get a speech. is there a difference between women and men? >> i think that there are definitions for biological sex. >> so you're not answering that, let me ask you this question then. why do women sports exist? if you can't define the difference between a women and men why not abolish women's sports and tell little girls to swim with little boys and see who women. >> my question. >> do women sports-- >> senator, ill tell you right now. >> ms. robinson, please answer

the question i'm asking you. >> why do women's sports exist. >> i think there are positive berths for sports. >> why have a category for women. why there's no difference between men and women, why have different sports? >> i'm saying there's a difference between sex and genders and ncaa has rules in place for the lads. >> mr. chairman, i would like to enter an article from duke law, comparing athletic performances for the best elite women to boys and men and it goes through examining in 2017 the top records for women in the world, in various track and field events. so, for example, in the 100 meter, the top record for women in the world was 10.71 seconds. now, that record for the number one woman in the world in 2017 was in the year 2017 broken by 124 boys under 18 in that same year the record for the number one competing woman in the 100 yard, 100 meter dash in the world was broken by a total of

2,474 men. if the radical democrat agenda to destroy girls sports and women's sports succeeds little girls will not have a chance to compete so i ask unanimous consent that this article be entered into the record. >> without objection. senator padilla. >> thank you mr. chair. colleagues, a recent trevor project poll found that 56% of lgbtq plus youth respondent dents could not access the mental health services that they needed and this committee and others have discussed the state of mental health in america and it was in a crisis before the pandemic, it's been exacerbated by the pandemic and most acutely within the lgbtq plus community and most acutely amongst its youth. and couple these statistics

with the country's lack of protections for the lgbtq plus community and it's clear to me that we need to do more to address these mental health disparities. the questions for dr. lopez. can you discuss the factors that contribute to these higher rates of mental health challenges and what would be the impact of tailoring and providing more mental health services and sprt for lgbtq plus youth? >> it is very well-known in the literature that discrimination is a main determinant of poor mental health outcomes in lgbtq youth. there is no question that discrimination has been discussed against lgbtq youth has increased over the last few years and that it is-- there's research to show that that is a driver of worsening

mental health in lgbtq youth. so mental health is needed in lgbtq youth for sure, but also, we also need to work on the social aspects that drives that mental health issue, which is discrimination. >> thank you. and it seems that unfortunately, as we should be providing more and stronger protections and support to many jurisdictions across the country backwards in putting lgbtq plus youth in more vulnerable and dangerous circumstances. you know, the next question i6 is not a technical one, not a deep policy question, but i want to talk to you for a minute, harleigh. appreciate you being here today and your courage to speak up and to share, you've shared a lot with the committee and i'm glad you're sacrificing a

little bit of what should be your summer vacation to be here. you've talked about the love and support you receive from your parents and doctors, and friends. for any of your peers who may be watching today thinking about maybe how to talk to their parents, how to talk to their friends, maybe not being as welcoming or comforting of the circumstances you were blessed to have. what words of encouragement would you offer to them given your experience and given your advocacy? >> the main thing i would want to convey to them is they are not alone. whenever i started my journey, i had just entered middle school and moved to online school because of bullying, and i was in a very dark place and i felt very alone. i had no friends. i just had my parents who were luckily supportive, but you know, as a child, you feel so

isolated. and so, one of the things that help me was getting involved in my community. my parents took me to our local p-flag, what's parents and friends of lesbians and gays and they come around to share experiences and have a good time and i was scared going to that meeting, but as soon as i got there, i felt so welcomed and it was the first time i did not feel alone and so that's why i'm here today. to tell the trans kids that they're not alone, that i accept them and so many other people accept them for who they are, because it's not a choice. and that regardless of what people say to you, just remember who you are and stick to that. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chair. >> thank you, senator padilla.

senator lee. >> ms. gaines, i'd like to start with you if i could and thanks for sharing your story. i've been touched and saddened to hear about the misogynistic and treatment that you received from the ncaa which i regard as nothing short of shameful. you've handled it with grace and courage and i appreciate the example that you're setting for so many women and girls across america. your story reminded me of a letter that i received from a constituent a couple of years ago. a constituent who explained to me her own story with girls and women's athletics. she explained that she would never have been able to go to college, never would have had a chance at a college education had she not done so under an athletic scholarship. and while she was in college,

she became the most dominant female track athlete in the state of utah and she was a two-time all american sprinter who held the 100 meter record byu for 22 years. she told me that even at the height of her collegiate year as one of the top female sprinters in the country, she would sometimes go to help her dad, who coached high school track, and she would go to those events with her dad and she said even then, the high school boys could beat her because of biological differences between people who are born male and people who are born female. so, what would you say to all the high school female athletes who worry about losing potential college scholarships, to say nothing of the world in which we now face, name, image, likeness endorsement, things like that, all the things they

might forego as a result of having to compete for scholarships, endorsements and notoriety with people who were born male? >> my message would be that it's not trans phobic to acknowledge how women deserve respect, how we deserve safety, fairness, we deserve keeping our dignity. it's not trans phobic to say that. it's not transphobic to say you can't change your sex. sex is down to a chromosomal level and that can't be changed and that matters in sports. sports is one area that your sexual chromosomes matter. and again, i will echo harleigh's message is you're not alone. the overwhelming majority of people regarding this issue of fairness in women's sport agree that having men and women's sports is wrong and that it's unfair and violation, to, again, our privacy and rights to safety as women. so that would be my message to be bold, be empowered and before anything, stand firm in

the truth, biological truth. >> are you transphobic, riley. >> that is simply not true. >> do you hold anything against transgender persons? >> absolutely not. i agree lia thomas was following the rules set in place with the ncaa. i have no problem with lia thomas, i believe there's selfishness, and narcissist, and utter disregard that thomas displayed for us in this situation, but i have no animosity towards thomas, the problem is the ncaa and biden administration pushing the rewrite of title nine and become political. legislation is the way you curb these things. i can't believe it come to this, but i have no hate in my heart forward anyone, even the protesters who mobbed me. the first thing that i did was prayed for them. i saw the soullessness, vengeance, the violence in their eyes and do it in the same of love, inclusion, and

acceptance and welcoming and embracing diversity. they did not embrace my diverse spot. that's what hate looks like. nothing in my heart is hateful. >> how about the ncaa, did the ncaa embrace your diversity? tell me what attempts that the ncaa made to accommodate you and other female swimmers who felt uncomfortable sharing an open locker room with a biological male? >> nothing. they actually made us feel guilty for feeling as if we were uncomfortable. time and time again, that's what we saw. there was even a group of girls who undressed in the janitor's closet. they changed clothes in the janitor's closet because they felt more comfortable undressing in that environment than undressing from someone with male. >> and did they feel violated. >> how did they feel violated.

two, three, four years ago, if a man claims identity of a woman and in women's locker room, but this was celebrated and nominated for female swimmer of the year. and i was nominated for. and i saw, that ncaa was not exclusive just to women the award was immediately devalued and meaningless to me. that's how they were honoring this, rather than making us feel reassured in our feelings that this is was wrong. >> when you accommodate men time and time again, and refusing to accommodate women, we call that misogynistic. thank you, mr. chairman. >> next up is senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. robinson, your testimony is really powerful on the issue

not only of anti-lgbtq plus legislation, but also the threats of violence and hate crimes and you describe this entire emergency as a result of a coordinated, moral panic. reference to this emergency is unprecedented, 50 years to the human rights campaign which itself is noteworthy. i wonder if you could describe the links here that make it coordinated, that create the threat of violence, the feeling that this community is, to quote you, constantly under threat and what relation it is to gun violence in particular at pulse and club q, you refer to both of those.

if you could just expound on your testimony a little bit in that regard. >> absolutely. and he think that, you know, those real life examples of pulse and club q show this violent political relevant equality death and violence to my community. while we're talking about issues talking about issues with children and health and safety and number one thing we should be talking about is gun violence, the number one killer of america's youth. instead we're putting the target on the back of trans kid. when it comes to where this is coming from, we don't have to guess. themen principles project director said they're targeting kids to score political points and every time we see the waives of anti-lgbtq plus move through states, and we see it accompanied by hate and bias online. in in florida when the don't say gay or trans bill was

moving through, the language of groomers online targeting the lgbtq plus community. let's be clear that this is instilling fear in people. this is perpetuating trans phobia and homophobia that has real-life impacts on harm in my community. would you say a lot of the rhetoric and the legislation in the sense gives license to the violence or encourages it implicitly without maybe directly intending it, but nonetheless, creates an atmosphere where the violence is more likely to flourish? >> absolutely. you know, there is a speaker at cpac that called for the quote, unquote, eradication of transgender. that sort of violent language takes away the humanity of people that look like me, people that experience the world like me, lgbtq plus people crass cross this country.

it makes us seem less human. when you try to censor or remove our stories from schools and from affirming identity. this is creating a culture of fear and harm directly targeted at some of our most vulnerable. the lgbtq community and trans youth. we should see what's happening for the moral crisis that it is, and know because the attack is coming to trans youth today doesn't mean it can't be placed on someone else's back next week. this is a threat not only for the trans community, but for us all. >> i think it's an important point that we are all at risk of this violence if the lgbtq plus community can be targeted in in way, anyone can be targeted, anyone who is different is at risk and this community right now is the most vulnerable, but others can be targeted as well. senator hirono and i helped to

lead hate crimes legislation which actually has taken as one of its principle causes to stop exactly this kind of violence and so, i want to thank you for your leadership and look forward to working with you in the future, thank you very much. thanks, mr. chairman. >> senator kennedy. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thanks to all of our witnesses here today. ms. robinson, i want to follow up by trying to understand your answer to one of senator cruz's question and this is a question not a suggestion. do i understand your position to be that there are two sexes, but there can be more than two

genders? >> i wouldn't even say two, you know, we've got dr. lopez here as well, but there's also the definition of inner sex and often these conversations we are a conflating sex and gender and i want to affirm that trans women are women. that is their gender. >> okay, but i'm trying to understand, do you make distinction between sex and gender? >> yes, sir. >> explain that. do you think there are more than two sexes? >> i believe that there's a definition for intersex as well that i want to acknowledge, but sex is-- >> okay, so there are three, i'm just trying to understand. i'm thoroughly confused. so you're born-- i'm talking about biology, male, female and what else? >> i believe that intersex is also acknowledged again i'm not a doctor here. >> and what is intersex? >> there's a difference between sex and gender and i think in

these conversations we are conflating the two. >>, but i want to start with sex, okay? there's male, there's female, when a baby is born before the baby has had time to even have a sense of self, there's male, female and intersex? there's a third sex? >> i believe that's true, but i would defer to dr. lopez as i'm not a physician. >> okay. and how many genders are there? >> i think the gender is expansive and the definitions are always growing. you know, today i can tell you-- >> more than five? >> more than-- >> talk about nonbinary. >> more than five? >> i think that gender is not a binary. >> are there more than five genders? i'm just trying to understand, are there more than five genders? >> well, i mean, i think there was a time where women wearing pants didn't feel appropriate for their gender and yet i'm wearing pants today. i think there are-- >> are there more than five genders? >> are there more than five.

>> i wouldn't subject myself to naming how many genders there are, but i can say-- >> there an infinite number? >> excuse me? >> there's an infinite number of genders? >> i think depending on your culture, that exist, it's evolving. look at the youth of today they don't lean into women or man. it's not incumbent on us for us to create, but explore what their gender identities are. >> let's get back to athletics. i think i understand what you're saying, there are three sexes, male, female, and intersex. >> i believe that would be true, but again, i'm not a physician. >> and infinite genders because gender is a mental state. >> gender is about expression and i think there are a variety of ways to express your gender. >> so there's infinite number. all right, let's go back to the

biology. male, female, boy, girl. okay? biologically do males have advantage over females by biologically in sports? >> i'm not a physician and i can't speak to that. >> what's your real world experience? >> it depends. there are some people born male i'm faster against if i were to sprint against or some not. >> you don't believe that a biological male has a physical advantage in sports over a biological female? >> not as a definitive statement. >> give me an example-- well, no, i don't think -- how many female members of the nba do you see? >> well, i can say that there's been this news article that men who think they could beat serena williams in tennis and

score a point on her. and it's just not the case, she is stronger than them. >> what's your experience been? male, demail? >> both serena and venus loss to-- they're phenomes. >> and my husband swam at university of kentucky as well. in terms of rankings, i was a much better swimming than him. he could kick my butt any day of the week without trying. >> okay. i just think, ms. robinson, i'm trying to understand where you're coming from. i think you lose a lot of credibility when you don't concede that a biological male has physical advantages over biological female. i mean, i just think that's a proven fact and you really hurt your credibility. i understand you want the world to be a better place, i do, too. and i don't think people ought

to be discriminated against because of an immutable characteristic, i don't. and i think that -- i think that everybody ought to be free to be themselves and what you do in your bedroom or what i do in my bedroom with a consenting adult is nobody's business, but if what i do in my bedroom with a consenting adult, if i decide i want to tell somebody's child about it, then other people have rights, too. and i think parents have rights. and i think biological females have rights to be able to compete fairly in sports. so, i really, i really think you hurt your credibility when you refuse to acknowledge that biological males have an advantage over biological

females. it kind of makes me wonder about all of your testimony. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> what i'm trying to say is that there's not a definitive advantage in all cases, sir, i don't know if you believe that you could beat serena williams in tennis, but i probably think that that's not the case. there are not all cases where all men are physically superior to all women. in this conversation we're not talking about that, we're talking about trans women who are in fact women who deserve to play in a gender that matches their sports, who deserves the benefits that ms. gaines is talking about. as a cisgender black woman my gender is not threatened by a-- as well. >> thank you for testifying today. for ms. robinson, do you know

which women's sports consists of transgender participants? >> it's a small number. the williams institute about 300,000 trans youth total in the united states, but less than a percentage of a percent and when some of these laws pass in places like utah, they are putting into place broad sports bans that ban kids from playing as early as five years old. in utah specifically when the governor explored more about that piece of legislation, he last year called it cruel, but it only impacted four trans students in the state and only one trans girl so we know there's a small percentage of trans women that are actually playing in sports that these bills are targeting. >> so i hardly know what to say because i would think that a human rights belong to everyone and that trans rights are human

rights and we must do more to assure that the trans community and the lgbtq plus community more broadly can live as their authentic selves, free from the threat of real threats of violence or discrimination. ms. walker, thank you very much for being here. do you play in sports? do you participate or compete in sports? >> i do not. >> so, would you say that most-- i would think that most transgender girls are not treating in sports, but just want to be able to be free from these kinds of totally discriminatory laws that does not allow you to be yourself. >> yeah, that's definitely the case whereas i don't personally compete in sports so i can't speak to the trans kids who do compete in sports, i will say that it's even more scary for us in a situation like that.

can you imagine somebody like me having to compete in a men's sports team? that would be detrimental to my mental health and i would have-- i would feel unsafe. and so i think things like the equality act are necessary to protect these trans people from discrimination because we have the right-- i have the right as a woman just as ms. gaines has a right as a woman to compete in women's sports just because i wasn't born in a female body doesn't mean i don't have that same right. >> thank you. and as long as we're focusing on sports, of course, we know that there are huge, huge differences in so-called male sports and the support given to male sports or so-called male sources and female sports and data about discrimination in these-- in males so-called male and female sports. one of my colleagues who is

very much opposed to transgender persons competing in female sports said if we allow transgender persons to compete against females that we are going to see coaches encouraging boys to become transgender to compete against girls. >> ms. robinson, is this what's happening in sports? >> no, it is not and there is an incredible process that people have to go through to come out, that can be painful. that's about exposing yourself to your family, to your friends, in different ways, i can't imagine someone enduring all of that simply to play a sport. these are people that are only trying to live, as harleigh has told us, to play sports and max their gender identities so they can get the positive benefits that we talked about, self-esteem building, self-confidence, ability to work in a team and i can't see why we would deny that opportunity to children as

young as five years old. >> we have laws, don't say gay and other kind of laws, maybe this is a question for dr. lopez. as you work with transgender community, lgbtq persons. what do these kinds of bans on books, what kind of impact do they have on the persons that you treat? >> well, these are-- one has to remember that transgender children are already a vulnerable population. they have to be-- make an extra effort, compared to nontransgender children to socialize, to feel like they belong, to participate in sports, which they have the right to, as harleigh said, and if there's already a climate of, you can be targeted, you will be treated differently, these kids tend to isolate

themselves. i have patients who have no friends, like zero friends. i have patients who are online or home school because they're terrified about going to school. and to participate in sports, that can be terrifying for them. and i have one patient that i saw last week that the mom told me is 12-year-old who plays soccer and it's not competitive, it's just with the school and she told me that this bill is going to be devastating for my child ill have to move out of state if the bill that bans sports participating passes because that is what has-- that has kept my child alive. that was the thing that helped engage and feel accepted with peers. so, yes, all of this climate is really harming the social lives and the growth of these-- of my patients, of these kids. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senators. senator whitehouse.

thank you very much, appreciate this hearing, chairman and appreciate the panel being here. dr. lopez, i don't know if i had a-- my own hearing in another committee that i chair so i'm coming late to this one. i apologize if this is a repeat question. but i wonder if there is an age or a phase of life when young people begin to experience some uncertainty about their gender identity? >> there is no specific age. people can experience that flair gender is different as young as two when they start talking, but by adolescence, most people mo identify as transgender do realize that their gender is different and

puberty is often a trigger to realize this is not by gender because they're experiencing physical changes that do not feel consistent with them and their gender. >> yeah. so, i think a lot of people's experience is that puberty is a rather hard time of life for kids entirely apart from gender identity. is that supported by any evidence and that being a teenager is a hard time of life irrespective of gender identity that adolescence is a difficult, awkward time of life. is there any evidence to support those propositions or is that just my anecdotal experience? >> so, i'm not a mental health provider, so, i am not sure what specific data exists to show that adolescence is a

difficult time, but as a pediatrician i do-- i mean, see that adolescence. children, adolescents need a lot of support from their parents, their community to find who they are in different ways. social connection is very important and parental connection is very important in adolescence, that's just a general concept. >> yeah. and i doubt that many of us in this room would like to go back and relive our teenage years. so, if you accept the proposition that that period of adolescence and the onset of puberty and being a teenager and all that is a difficult challenging and awkward time of

life, presumably it gets a lot worse when you add to all of the questions that kids experience in that phase of their lives, the additional question, concern, uncertainty awareness that you've got a different gender identity? >> yeah, so, actually, one of the benefits of gender affirming care is to not have to worry about their gender. so, it allows children to go on with their lives, go to school, do the normal kids or social activities that we want to do we have to worry about their gender because if they're going through a puberty that feels wrong with them, they will not be comfortable in their skin to engage with peers, to go to school, to do the normal things that kids want to do because they're thinking about their gender all the time and thinking that they're not comfortable in their skin.

>> so this is at least initially mostly happening with kids, right? awareness of uncertainty or about their gender or awareness that they've-- are in the wrong gender, that's a-- >> well, it happens to transgender adults as well. >> but mostly it's kids. >> and transgender adults. >> yeah. and it just seems to me that when we're dealing with a population that includes so many children that coming at this from a perspective of kind ness and love and support is the thing that just we ought to be doing as fellow human beings. and at least that's the message

i take away from this hearing. there's just no point being mean to these kids, they've got enough going on already. >> if i could just. >> please. >> these are the bravest kids, just like harleigh here, you can see how brave she is. these are the bravest kids they are, because they have to fight every day to be themselves, and when they feel like they're losing their-- the fight, that's when they get depressed and commit suicide and it takes a lot of courage for these patients to go against the world, really, to advocate for their kids, these parents, and these are loving parents who want their kids to be happy and just do the things that normal kids do. >> and other grown-ups trying to score points off of this, strikes me as very unfortunate behavior. >> certainly unfair. >> thank you, senator whitehouse.

senator ossoff. >> thank you, mr. chairman, thank you to our panelists for joining us today, and for all of you for your testimony and your courage in speaking publicly and speaking before the senate. i think it's worth just stepping back and acknowledging the tremendous stress and anxiety that so many across the country are dealing with for so many reasons, but that without question, as we see in survey after survey, as we see from mental health professionals, from psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, that lgbtq youth are experiencing, particularly in a political and cultural environment whereas we've discussed today these

issues are being hotted up and exploited to score cheap political points and to divide people and when we see vulnerable people targeted by powerful politicians for the purposes of dividing people and gaining power with reckless disregard for the impact that it has on particular children and young people who are struggling, who are bullied, who are marginalized, who are bravely grappling to reconcile themselves and how they feel about themselves with the expectations of family and society and then a political environment is imposed upon them in which they're made the center of attention and the focus of criticism and hatred,

children, i think it's worth just stepping back and powerful people in the u.s. senate reflecting on the impact of our words, our deeds, our statements. ms. robinson, i have some data here from georgia, would like your view on it. recent data from the trevor project. 72% of lgbtq youth in georgia experiencing serious anxiety, 59% symptoms of depression, 46% seriously considering suicide within the last year. can you comment on the impact it has on vulnerable and marginalized youth when they're made political targets in this endless partisan power struggle in the nation's capital? >> it's absolutely devastating.

it's devastating the ways that we've put a target on the back of trans youthen i think of the history of my movement when the aids epidemic game to the forefront by the '80s, and by the '90s, lost a generation of gay men. i don't want to repeat that story with the trans youth and resources and validity of their existence to ensure that they survive. and when they do, we get people that are as whole and happy as folks like harleigh at the end of this table. this is a real opportunity for us to ensure that the most vulnerable among us is protected because our rights and our civil liberties are intertwined. >> and ms. robinson, in addition to the impact on the mental health, the sense of whether or not one's community and society is welcoming and loving and kind, or whether one is being turned into a target

and a bargaining chip between political parties and a struggle for power, it's of course not just the impact on the individual's mental health, but it's the risk of being targeted by a violent act or a hate crime. additional data nationwide according to the fbi, nearly one in five hate crimes in 2021 were motivated by anti-lgbtq bias between 2017 and 2020, doj data, demonstrating extreme levels of violence against lgbtq persons across the country. again, just, i'm asking you, mroo he is-- please to remind the senate that what we do here as a powerful impact on people's

sense of well-being and on the risk they face of violence. can you comment on the risk of violence, please? >> absolutely. i talk to people every day that are living in a space of feeling isolated and feeling fearful for their very lives. i talk to black trans women who again have experienced another deadly year and they talk about going out the house to walk their dog or go to school and being fearful that will be the day that they don't get to go home again. i talk to parents of trans youth that are fleeing their state because they feel that their family and their child will not be safe or not grow into an adult. this is a crisis and the hardest part is that this is a crisis that's man made, that the people can solve for by stopping these bad pieces of legislation and stopping the violent rhetoric to take away the humanity of trans people and the lgbtq plus community. >> thank you, ms. robinson, thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator wells. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

i want to thank all of the witnesses for being here, you've been tremendous and i mean every single one of you for dealing with issues that really affect people in a very personal way, ms. walker, thank you for your courage. thank you for your coming forward and telling us your story and sharing that and i want to say, thank you to every one of you. you know, this whole challenge that we have in society and it's not unique to u.s. society, of defining people who are other as less entitled to be fully accepted has been ongoing situation that we face throughout our history. now, recently in vermont we were the first state to passively unions and our incumbent governor who signed that bill nearly lost his reelection. and many of the arguments being made here about why that would be so bad dissolved because

once the law was passed and people were together, then what before had been seen as wrong, we were allowed to see what love existed between these people who got a civil union and then a few years later vermont was the fourth state to pass marriage. and what senator ossoff is talking about is kind of a dynamic, i think, that is only cured by acceptance. none of us know what shoes each of us walks in, we just know we're just all trying to figure out life and who we are and how we can be who we are and be fully, fully engaged in being a generous, open and loving person to everyone else. so, the equality act, i think, is so important because it essentially acknowledges with the force of law that lgbtq

plus folks are entitled to the same rights and protections as everyone else. so that's my statement here, but it's a statement of appreciation about each of you being here because you know, i'm talking to you, mr. sharp and you ms. gaines as well, because these are gripping issues for everyone, but i come down on the side of just accept what people's struggles are and there's a lot of power in accepting, in acceptance. but i just want to ask you, ms. walker, if you want to say anything else about the just extraordinary issues you had to go through as you had this emerging sense of who you were, it was not quite right to fit who you thought you were and wanted to be and were entitled to be. that's not an easy decision to make to start walking down that road. >> you know, coming out, like

was side earlier by dr. lopez and ms. robinson, coming out is so difficult process for so many lgbtq people. for me i was lucky to be able to have such a supporting family and supportive friends as well. and, but that's not the case for so many other lgbtq americans and i came out at a time where, you know, this is before any of the anti-trans legislation was being introduced and it was still difficult for me, but i can't imagine trans kids that are coming out in this modern era of hate, name calling and violence by the state legislators, being called demons and groomer, everything like that. and me being called out by state legislation, alabama governor elect today represent everybody in their state, everybody in their districts and attacking those people for

being simply who they are is disgusting. and the act to protect those kids who don't have such a big support system and stop the incredibly violent rhetoric that is being introduced is incredibly important. >> dr. lopez, you deal with kids and whatever-- and we were all kids once, but is some law that tells a child or a young teen, young adult who they can or can't be going to be persuasive to that person who's going through some of the internal struggles that people go through to fully realize their own identity when the law that imposes -- prohibits them from exploring who they want to be, have any chance of working, versus acceptance? >> i'm going to try to

understand your question. do you mean if, with the laws that are being passed gender affirming care, your question is are those -- were those chances-- i'm out of time so i'm going to have to-- i didn't ask that very well, but i'm out of time and i'm going to yield back. thank you very much. >> i thank you, senator welch and i have to go vote, roll call is about to come to an end so i'm going to have to bring this to a close, but i want to say two or three things, having sat through the entire hearing and listened to all the questions. we ended up with three issues here, the first issue is violence and i hope we can all agree and nod violence is an unacceptable expression in a democracy. there are ways to express yourself through speech and press and voting and otherwise. violence is unacceptable, whether it's san francisco college or whether it's in the classrooms of high school in alabama, or whether it's the

victims of lgbtq hate crimes, which sadly are increasing. unacceptable, both sides of the table. that's one thing. second thing is, we have two issues that have emerged here. one is an issue with miss walker. i was so concerned about your coming here today, really. i didn't have to be. you're terrific. you really have poise and make a presentation that's very powerful. speaks well of you and certainly of your family that stood behind you while you made this difficult transition in life. but what we're talking about is the other harleigh walkers across the united states and whether they will have the same opportunity for medical care, good professional medical care based on science and medicine, or state legislatures will step in and say we don't want the family to make that decision, we will make it for you.

i think that's wrong. i've said at the outset, parents have the responsibility life and death decision making and it's clear, there's a basic misunderstanding about the care that's given to gender affirmation, i think that dr. lopez clarified that today, that little kids that are on the way to surgery or medicines are dispensed with abandon, doesn't bear any credence when you look at the organizations which support the current method of gender affirming care. american medical association and academy of pediatrics and finally, ms. gaines, i get it. i understand why you feel as you do. you dedicated a big part of are your life in an extraordinary way to a sport and something happened along the way which has seared your memory of that experience and leads you to speak out. but there's got to be a way for us as americans to enter into conversations that doesn't protect your rights at the expense of our witness from

alabama, there has to be a way we can find that is respectful of transgender individuals and respectful of what you have done with your life and the professionalism you've brought to it. that's up to us on this side of the table as i've said earlier. i wasn't sure about this hearing, but i am sure now, i'm glad we had it, i'm glad you all had a chance to testify and answer the questions, and we had such a fulsome cooperation and participation by all the members of the committee. we have the power to make the promise of equal justice a reall the. that's in the judiciary and the senate, and let's to do this one especially the lgbtq families and fundamental freedom of our nation's future. with that, our committee will stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

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