>> it has been devastating mentally and physically. i was already in a mentally compromised position and they took away my physical health, too. i only started being suicide all once i was on the treatments. a bunch of people are hurting and the way we're handling it now is not appropriate. >> bill: potential dangers of transgender medical procedures for children is the focus of the house hearing just about to get underway. republicans sound the alarm on life-altering therapies and surgeries causing irreversible harm to kids as well as government efforts to cut parents out of the lives of their children. that's the focus. see how it goes. good morning. dana has the day off today. i'm bill hemmer reporting for duty with our colleague from washington, d.c. >> jacque: that's for having me. i'm jacque heinrich. transgender activist are pushing

the growing use of puberty blockers, cross section hormones and permanent surgeries for minors who want to change their sexual identity. >> bill: senior congressional correspondent chad pergram live on the hill. >> this is a public policy issue to republicans and why they are having a hearing today and they also want to address this in the spending bills. >> we shouldn't be spending money for puberty blockers and transgender surgery and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. >> they say they're rare for people under 18. medicare only offers gender affirming care on a case-by-case basis. democrats say it is another battleground in the culture wars. >> the republicans have chosen to try and jam their extreme right wing thoughts down the

throats of the american people and take us toward a nationwide ban on abortion care, bully the transgender community. >> republicans want to curb what they believe are left wing policies. democrats also believe this is a gop distraction. >> the american people are not interested in this issue. they are not interested. they aren't interested in trans kids or interested in hunter biden. they are interested in bringing their costs down and creating opportunities for all americans to be lifted up and people to take care of their families. republicans are legislating in every way against that. >> republicans want to use it as a wedge issue in 2024. focus on what they say are radical policies. bill. >> bill: chad, thank you. watching that hearing on the hill. two minutes past the hour. hunter biden pleading not guilty to federal tax and gun charges

yesterday after his sweetheart deal with prosecutors fell apart. the dramatic reversal coming after the feds admitted hunter is still under investigation. the whole thing crumbling when the judge expressed concerns over the constitutionality of a plea deal and questions arising about how the d.o.j. could still be investigating hunter while granting him immunity for anything they discover in the future. how did we get here, right? let's go back to october of 2019. that's when the f.b.i. learns about hunter's laptop. two months later the f.b.i. takes possession of it, right? informs the i.r.s. of evidence of tax crimes. a year later you have the 51 intel officials declare the laptop was all russian disinformation. that was also three weeks before a national election. november of 2022 james comer vows to carry out wide-ranging hunter biden probe. april of 2023 now, the

whistleblower claims about mishandling in the investigation. we talked about that. the same month hunter's attorney meets with federal prosecutors and then yesterday that plea deal falls apart in court when the judge said i will not rubber stamp this case. we heard from senator grassley last hour. here is what he had to say about where we are now. >> my job is not to determine whether hunter biden or president biden is guilty of anything, whether they've done anything wrong. that's up to the executive branch and judicial branch. my job is to make sure is the f.b.i. doing their job of investigating properly everything dealing with the bidens. >> bill: that was last hour. jonathan turley law professor back this hour. you have been on tv every hour of the day. it is an extraordinary moment. one thing that strikes me looking back at today, the judge gave him a number of things he

had to do to make sure he avoids going to jail. one was to actively seek employment. he lives at the white house, professor. >> that's right, you know. he is going to have some bills to cover and he is walking out to the car he must have been thinking i better do more paintings. the fact is that this 30 days is a critical period for him. on the other side he is totally without protection. but the question is what do they do now? usually the justice department has an almost universal response to a defendant who walks away from a plea bargain in court. that is to bring it all in. you get charged with everything. they seek the maximum jail time, they just bring everything to the game. we'll see if that's their sponsor whether they will try to resuscitate this sweetheart deal. but bill, what is really fascinating about the collapse

of the deal is that the judge effectively just cleared her throat and the thing collapsed. the reason is that she asked this deadly and simple question, what does this mean? what exactly does this mean? she found out that the defendant and government attorneys had a different account of what it means. so they could try to clean that up over the next 30 days. but there are major flaws in this plea agreement because it is not like any plea agreement that any of us have ever seen before. >> jacque: i would like you to break down how it is not the usual thing to happen. it appears that, you know, the d.o.j. is attempting through this deal to shield hunter from future prosecution while also keeping that out of view. can you explain how that happened? >> well jacque, that's the

interesting thing about it. usually the two sides reach a very clear agreement about this choreographed hearing and what an agreement means. instead, there was an open fight between the two sides in front of the judge. but also they put in this provision that you discussed that seemed to forgive everything from original sin to the end of the earth. it was a sense where the court just threw a flag down and said what does it mean? it suggests future crimes could be forgiven that we don't know about. and the government was left there sort of dumbfounded that she would even ask. she had an obligation to ask. she has to confirm that the defendant and the government know quite precisely what an agreement means. she is also there to protect the interests of the public. none of that could be done in that hearing. >> bill: here is james comer and

when we play this bear in mind that devon archer will testify behind closed doors on monday. long-time business partner with the bidens. watch. >> hopefully the witnesses like devon archer and others we're bringing before the committee this summer, hopefully they saw what happened in the court today and the lawyers won't continue to get away with the shenanigans when they lied and said they were part of ways and means staff to get something removed. i believe if these witnesses tell the truth the american people will be in for a big eye opener. >> bill: i imagine we'll get some leaks from that testimony on monday. see what they have to say. but you write in the messenger today saying biden's break the glass option pardon hunter and withdraw from the 2024 election. you are either a tremendous soothsayer or you have one heck of an imagination, professor.

>> well, the reason i was raising that is a year ago i was looking at different scenarios for the biden administration. they were trying to fix the case. these whistleblowers that they suggest the case was fixed and suggest tips were given to the biden team that they were prevented from interviewing hunter biden effectively. they were effectively prevented from searching storage rooms. crimes were allowed to lapse under the statute of limitations. that came to a screeching halt yesterday when the one person who wasn't part of that began to object. that is the federal judge. well, the ultimate break the glass option would be for joe biden to pardon his son and then say that i recognize this is an abuse of my pardon power even though other presidents have committed that abuse. and my penalty is i won't run for re-election. it would still be an abuse of

power. so was bill clinton pardoning his half brother. so it would also give joe biden, frankly, a way out. doesn't seem like he is aggressively pursuing this re-election. i can't speak to that. that may ultimately be an option that some democrats push. it's the way to minimize the harm. right now the president is looking at the possibility of his son being prosecuted for real jail time and looking at an impeachment inquiry. >> bill: that's a lot. a lot. thank you, sir. jonathan turley, professor, nice to have you back on. >> jacque: hunter biden's crumpled plea deal has become a talking point. some gop candidates calling for a special counsel in this case. alexis mcadams has more on this. >> after that plea deal crumb belt in front of hunter biden's

eyes yesterday gop and republicans are slamming his dad, president joe biden. this will be a hot topic on the campaign trail. listen. >> get this out of the hands of the biden justice department. put it in the hands of a special counsel. that's what should have happened right from the beginning in my opinion and absolutely needs to happen now. >> so this comes after hunter biden appeared in a delaware federal court on wednesday where the president's son was planning to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failure to pay taxes back in 2017 and 2018. supposed to be a quick hearing. it ended up going on for quite a few hours and hunter could face up to a year in prison on each of the tax charges. and another case with a gun charge. the judge asked if the plea deal would make hunter immune to any other crimes. officials say he is under investigation. the judge said i can't sign off on that. nikki haley says there are more

questions than answers. >> yes, there has been a double standard. now there are enough questions and whistleblowers to say okay, should there be a congressional inquiry looking into this? >> presidential candidate ramaswamy said they can't be a two-tier justice system. there needs to be one for the biden cases. the white house responding saying hunter biden is a private citizen and a personal matter for him. from the podium they said the president and the first lady love their son and support him as he rebuilds his life. back out here in washington we can tell you what happens next. both sides have two weeks to file brief and you could see hunter biden back in court. >> jacque: we'll be watching it. >> bill: we mentioned this hearing a moment ago, house judiciary. drop in and pick up a little bit of what we're talking about regarding the dangers of gender-affirming care.

that's the topic. let's listen for a moment. >> sex change procedures. what's more alarming is that the central tenet of the transgender movement and its all islets is to exclude parents as much as possible making decisions about the health of their own children. medical professionals and schools increasingly see parents as trans phobic bullies prevented from standing in the way of sexual transition of their own kids. we saw it in louisiana recently. children's hospital of new orleans laughed in the face of a young girl's parents when they attempted to intervene as doctors sought to transition their daughter without their consent. the left these aren't your children, see. they are the state's children. and the state should be making the parenting decisions. let's be clear about something else. even a parent has no right to sexually transition a young child. our american legal system wreck nylex either the important public interest in protecting

children from abuse and physical harm. no matter how liberated you may be, you still don't have the legal right to ignore seat belt safety laws or minimum driving age laws or drinking and smoking laws for your kids. no parent has a constitutional right to injure their children. of course, the reach of radical sexual identity politics isn't limited to young children alone. we see it extended to young adults at the university level now. the modern left applauds men competing in women's college athletics. universities captured by academics advancing this ideology to students across the country whether be scalp el, social -- it is an attempt to transition is young people of our country. they are doing this psychologically and now they are doing it even physically. something has gone terribly wrong. deep down everybody in this

country knows it. today we want to shed light on what this problem is and hopefully how we can address the problem. contrary to what some of my democrat colleagues believe the scourge of radical gender ideology is real. the efforts to cover up what's being done to our children are extreme. the science is on the side of we all know deep down is morally and ethically right. look forward to the testimony of our witnesses as we look at ginneder-affirming care. recognize ms. scanlon for her opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let's be clear. congress has no business interfering in parents' freedom to make decisions about appropriate medical care for their children. the idea that politicians are more qualified to judge the medical value or necessity of gender-affirming care than every major medical organization is

absurd. holding a hearing to substitute far right ideologies for parental judgment exposes the rank hypocrisy of a party claiming to value individual freedom and small government. here we are before the subcommittee on the constitution and limited government. make no mistake, today's hearing is not about protecting children or parents' rights. it is a cynical and frankly dangerous political attack on transgender children and their families driven not by science or facts, but by polling and political strategists determined to mobilize conservative voters through fear. let's start by -- >> bill: an issue that may play out in the election based on the last comment there. the name of this hearing is called the dangers in due process violations in gender-affirming care for children. several witnesses will appear. we'll see what they have to say coming up. 16 past the hour. check this out in texas, the

governor. >> the only lawsuit that i'm aware of that they have brought against anybody concerning the border is against a state that is trying to impede illegal immigration. >> bill: texas republicans taking a stand over defending the southern border. the justice department suing the state to get that floating barrier out of the river. >> jacque: not the only stand-off. dhs secretary mayokas taking heat on fentanyl smuggling at the southern border. he claims biden's policies are working. colorado republican ken buck disagrees. he is next. >> the cartel heads are all in charge. they are all in the same places. they've been there for a long time. everybody is fat and happy in the cartels because they are making money we've never seen before. veteran homeowners, credit card debt piling up? great news. you can use your va benefit to pay off your high rate credit card debt with a lower rate va home loan from newday.

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>> secretary mayokas, it is your responsibility to secure our border against fentanyl trafficking. killing thousands of americans every year is a direct result of your dereliction. when people die of fentanyl poisoning, it is your fault. >> this is a scourge that all of us have to work together to combat. we in the department of homeland security, with our federal partners, are taking it to the traffickers to an unprecedented degree through innovative operations targeting criminals. >> jacque: house republicans grilling mayokas in capitol hill yesterday. he dodged questions about the biden administration's border policies. he faces allegations of dereliction of duty over the cartel threat and fentanyl crisis as some republicans now call for his impeachment.

republican colorado congressmen ken buck joins me now. he was at the hearing. thank you for being here. i want to pull up the numbers quick so our audience can see what we're talking about. fentanyl numbers fiscal year 2022, more than 14,000 pounds brought across the border and seized. fiscal year 2023, 21,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border. you say and some of your colleagues say that alone would be enough for impeachment. but can you convict him on that basis? >> i don't think we can convict him on the basis of the fentanyl that was seized at the border. i think the real harm that has been done to this country is the fentanyl that wasn't seized and ended up killing tens of thousands. we have between 60 and 70,000 americans dying every year. after i made the statement yesterday in that hearing, i received several texts from friends of mine who had a relative die of an overdose of fentanyl and it is just

embarrassing that this secretary of homeland security thinks that leaving the border open is somehow humanitarian. it is a good thing to do and what our obligation is to the rest of the world. americans are dying and this secretary is responsible for it. >> jacque: secretary mayokas defended the administration saying the border policies are working. you look at the numbers, southwest border encounters pull up call for number three, fiscal years. 2023 year-to-date 1.78. we aren't through it yet. do you say that his defenses of the administration to you in congress constitute a lie? >> well, i don't think -- we have a difference of opinion and he is putting his opinion in the best light possible. that is not necessarily a lie. do i think there are misleading

statistics he is offering? absolutely. do i think when he says we're doing the best we can, we know that these precursors are produced at a particular factory or several factories in china, shipped to the mexican cartels, put together in mexico and shipped into the u.s. this administration has done nothing, no sanctions against china, no trade sanctions against china, nothing to stop the production of the present cursors and also hasn't done anything to deal with the mexican cartels. that is an embarrassment that will cost president biden in the election. >> jacque: do you think your republican majority should pursue impeachment of secretary mayokas? >> i certainly think in any query in the opportunity to look more. the judiciary committee is looking into it. the oversight committee is looking into it. so is it impeachment ready right now? i want to stay away from

impeachment. we have the holman rule that allows us to defund the secretary's position and make sure that this secretary isn't serving down the road. that is to me is a much better option. we don't have to rely on a 2/3 vote in the senate to impeach. through appropriations we can get rid of this secretary. >> jacque: your position on an impeachment inquiry for the president. you said that the threat is basically dangling a shiny object to distract from the fight over spending right now. so are you saying that you don't think an inquiry is the right approach for any member of the administration at all? >> no, i am not saying that at all. i have think that right now we're dealing with the appropriations process. speaker mccarthy has promised conservatives in the house a low appropriations number. he has promised president biden

a high appropriations number. he is doing everything he can to avoid the real issues which are how do we deal with spending? we have six different committees looking into president biden and hunter biden at this point. we don't need to start floating the term impeachment when we have such a serious investigation process going on right now. >> jacque: what is your concern about the inquiry? some of your colleagues defended it saying it's the only way to get the documents that we need when we need them. >> we have many witnesses, i.r.s. agents, f.b.i. agents, others who are coming in to testify. these whistleblowers are giving us the kind of information that we need to put together. this isn't the point in time. if there is an inquiry, impeachment inquiry it is something that will happen late this year or early next year.

this is the period of time when we continue the investigations and we need to focus on spending at the same time. we have $4 trillion of debt. the deal speaker mccarthy made with president biden. that's a crisis for this country. we need to stay focused on cutting every dime we can out of the federal budget. >> jacque:. that will be a big fight. we'll watch it. thank you for being with us congressman ken buck. >> bill: we were watching this hearing now. we told you about the witnesses on the stand there. right now a swimmer, a college swimmer from the university of pennsylvania, her name is paula scanlon. she was just sworn in and set to deliver her opening statement. she comes from the school that had lia thomas on the swim team also. >> 400 yard freestyle relay. a record stood since march of 2017. in september of 2021, lia thomas

began participating as a member of the penn women's team. leah, formerly will had personal best times that were faster than the women's world records. once the season began thomas was leading the country in multiple events while only placing in the top 500 in those events on the men's team. thomas later became an this, yaa champion. the first ncaa champion in our women's history program. while many of you already know this. what you don't know is the experiences of the women on the university of pennsylvania swim team. my teammates and i were forced to undress in the presence of lia, a six foot four biological male with male again tailian 18 times per week. some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls and others used the family bathroom to avoid this. when we tried to voice our

concerns to the athletic department we were told that lia swimming and being in the locker room was non-negotiable and offered psychological service to attempt to reeducate us to become comfortable with the idea of us undressing in front of a male. the university's response, we the women were the problem, not the victims. we were expected to conform, to move over and shut up. our feelings didn't matter. university was gas lighting and fear mongering women to validate the feelings and identity of a male. as an attempt to voice my concern about the situation revealing the unjust and unfair treatment, i wrote an op-ed for the daily pennsylvaniaian, the student-run newspaper. i approached this from a scientific statistical perspective using my engineering background to discuss how y chromosomes can't be changed by any procedure or therapy.

this biological fact lends itself to athletic advantages that cannot be mitigated by lowering testosterone levels. the daily pennsylvaniaian published my article on the evening of february 10, 2022. my piece was retracted a few hours later and given no notice or reasoning. again, i was silenced for my dissenting viewpoint and felt my first amendment rights were denied by my university. this is representative of a greater issue. the destruction of free speech. today any dugs maintaining the sanctity of women's spaces is labeled hateful and trans phobic. what is bigoted and hateful is the discrimination against women and to erase women and our equal opportunities, dignity and safe spaces. one might ask why do i speak so passionately about issues that seem hypothetical or some may

perceive at only impacting a small number of women? this is not hypothetical. this is real. i know women who have lost roster spots and spots on the podium. i know of women with sexual trauma adversely impacted by having biological males in their locker room without their consent. i know this because i am one of these women. i was sexually assaulted on june 3rd of 2016. i was only 16 years old. i was able to forgive my attacker, violence against women still exists. let us not forget the viral #metoo movement that empowered female victims to speak up. it cast a spotlight on the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and abuse including in educational institutions. individuals on this committee have stated violence against women is all too common. i am grateful for those members who have brought awareness to the violence against women in the past but unfortunately there

is still much to be done. as a sexual assault survivor many poll seals ignore my experiences and many women like me. i ask the members of this committee please consider this issue outside the lens of political affiliations and understand the true impact of ignoring the realities of womanhood. future generations depend on us. thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. >> thank you for being here and for your courage. ms. cole, you are next and you can begin. >> my name is cole and i'm a detransitionner. i used to think i was born in the wrong body and caused me irverseible arm. i am a victim of one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the united states of america. i speak to you in the hope that you will have the courage to bring this scandal to an end and insure that other vulnerable

teenagers, children and young adults don't go through what i went through. at the age of 12 i began to experience what my medical team would later diagnose as gender disinformation yeah. i was well into an early puberty and i was very uncomfortable with the changes that were happening to my body. i was intimidated by male attention and when i told my parents i felt like a boy in retrospect all i meant was i hated puberty. i wanted this new found sexual tension to go away. i looked up to my brothers more than i did to my sisters. i came out as transgender and a letter i sat on the dining room table. my parents were immediately concerned and felt like they needed to get outside help from medical professionals. it proved to be a mistake. it set our entire family down a path of ideologically deceit and coerce. the gender specialist i was taken to see told my parents i

needed to be put on puber tee blocking drugs right away. would you rather have a dead daughter or a living transgender son? the choice was enough for my parents to let their guard down and in retrospect i can't blame them. this was the moment we all became victims of gender-affirming care. the resulting menopause like hot flashes made focusing on school impossible. i still get joint pains and weird pops in my back. they were worse on the blockers. when i was 13 i had my first testosterone injection. it caused permanent changes to my body. my voice will forever be deeper, my jaw line sharper, nose langer, bone structure permanently masculineized. fertility unknown. i look in the mirror sometimes and i feel like a monster. i had a double mastectomy at 15.

they tested my amputated breasts for cancer. there was nothing wrong with my still developing body or my breasts other than as an insecure teenage girl i felt awkward. the tissue was incinerated. before i was legally able to drive i had a huge part of my womanhood taken from me. i will never be able to breast feed. i struggle to look at myself in the mirror at times. i still struggle to this day with sexual dysfunction and i have massive scars across my chest. skin grafts they used and took of my nipples are weeping fluid today and grafted into a more masculine position, they said. after surgery, my grades in school plummeted. everything that i went through did nothing to address my under lying mental health issues

i had. my doctors thought all my problems would go away. their theories were wrong. drugs and surgeries changed my body but could not change the basic reality that i am and forever will be a female. when my specialist first told my parents they could have a dead daughter or a live transgender son i wasn't suicidal. i was a happy child who struggled because she was different. however, at 16 after my surgery i did become suicidal. i'm doing better now but my parents almost thought the dead daughter promised to them by my doctors. they almost created the nightmare they said they were trying to avoid. so what message do i want to bring to american teenagers and their families? i didn't need to be lied to. i needed compassion. i needed to be loved. i needed to be given therapy to help me work through my issues not by transform into a boy would solve all my problems.

we need to stop telling 12-year-old they were born wrong. that they are right to reject their own bodies and feel uncomfortable in their own skin and stop telling children that puberty is an option. that they can choose what kind of puberty they will go through to choose what clothes to wear or music to listen to. puberty is a right of passage to adulthood not a disease to be mitigated. today i should be at home with my family celebrating my 19th birthday. instead i make a desperate plea to my elected representatives, learn the lessons from other medical scandals like the opioid crisis to recognize that doctors are human, too and sometimes they are wrong. my childhood was ruined along with thousands of detransitioners i know through the networks. this needs to stop. you alone can stop it. enough children have already been victimized. please let me be your final warning. thank you. >> today is your birthday?

>> it is. >> you are a beautiful. brave woman thank you for being here. miss reynolds, you may begin. >> good morning. my name is mary anne reynolds, a counselor and descended from a long line of conservative christians and a mother of a transgender son. i am honored to be here today to give my testimony and tell you the story of my incredible child. he became an adult. his name is cameron, 18 years old. he recently graduated from high school and is embarking on adulthood with a gap year before college. cameron told us he was trends gender when he was 11 years old and dealing with something that we didn't know what it was or how to help him. my husband and i had the instinct to tell mime we love him no matter what. we knew we needed to affirm him from our years in working with foster youth. we had no idea what to do next.

we were scared. we didn't know anyone with a trans child. i prayed it was a phase. already knew it wasn't. the science had been there all along. we thought he was the tom boy. refused to wearing any pink or girlie, the only girl on the boys football team for many years. his best friends were always boys. there were a lot of signs looking back. we want our children to be happy and healthy. before socially transitioning my child was not happy and not able to be his true self. i didn't want him to have to face the struggles of being transgender but i wanted him to be happy and himself. i grieved my little girl and felt as if she were gone. it was hard at first. i was able to put my child's needs before my feelings and find him the care he needed. i could see my child was happier and felt more and more comfortable the more he was affirmed.

we were living in colorado at the time. we found a program at a local hospital that provided healthcare to trans kids. we found him a counselor immediately began trying to provide him with the best healthcare we could find. we felt very fortunate to have access to a multi-discipline tear team of professionals to figure out what options we had. i could not having to manage legal restrictions of medical care in addition to talking to our extended family and learning about treatment options and caring for our child. later that year we decided to move to texas and began researching leading programs in the field of trans healthcare and able to find a similar program. we chose to move to a town based on proximity to the clinic. we needed the support of experts. we had an appointment scheduled before we arrived in texas or had any idea of the health insurance coverage. our multi-disciplinary team consisted of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, medical students, my son's

counselor, school counselor, my husband and i as parent decision makers and my son as a patient. we filled out many surveys and questionnaires. myself, cameron and his dad were required to do so. extensive interviews with social workers and psychologist who wanted a letter from his previous provider. the intake process was lengthy and meticulous. daunting but grateful the team was so thorough. i wanted to make it clear the care he received was slow, very thoughtful, provided with the utmost care and consideration. no rush, no coercion, lots and lots of double-checking and making sure we were all on the same page. at the time cameron felt it was moving too slowly. it was the best thing for us to move so slowly on medical intervention to properly weigh the pros and cons, my son was asked at every appointment if he wanted to stop treatment or had

any concerns about treatment whatsoever. counseling was taking place the entire time. cameron's counselor would also meet with the doctor and my husband and i before medical interventions were decided upon. the interventions my son has had with extreme consideration, consent and discussion have been counseling first and formost. pu puberty blockers. we didn't think of surgery. we would have said no thank you and immediately gotten a second or third opinion. with the benefit of hindsight i have no doubt the healthcare my son accessed was lifesaving. i am grateful we have had access to this incredibly crucial medically necessary healthcare for our son without the interference of our government. cameron is thriving now doing better than he ever has. he has wonderful friends, dating a little, spoken out publicly

and has the love and support of his whole family including two grand parents who are staunch christian republicans. grand parents don't understand it but they love and accept him. i ask you to please allow parents the right to access and consent for healthcare for their children. assistance should be made with parent, child, the child's medical providers without government interference. thank you. >> next, you may begin. >> i'm may, senior fellow with the independent women's law center. legal advocacy arm of independent women's forum and voice and also a mother to my 8-month-old daughter. i am testifying here today in support of her future, her freedom and her equal opportunity. my fellow panelists have covered the effects of gender ideology.

another way in which gender ideology destroys women's and girls by dissolving legal protections for women in athletics. until recently, female student athletes might have felt they were protected by title ix. it's simple. prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in programs run by schools that accept federal money and that's basically all of them. those programs include sports. title ix recognizes that providing equal opportunity for the sexes can mean recognizing inherent differences between the sexes. that's why the title ix statute explicitly allows schools to provide different living arrangements for the sexes. so too in sports. in introducing title ix senator bye explained it would not require sticking women on men's football teams and why congress explicitly asked that the

initial title ix regulations include reasonable provisions considering the nature of particular sports. so for 50 years the title ix athletics regulation has permitted sex-based teams where selections for such teams is based on competitive skill or involves a contact sport. the regulations also require that schools must provide equal opportunities for members of both sexes. unfortunately, in april of this year, the department of education proposed a rule if adopted would flip title ix on its head. it would modify the regulations to let schools compete on teams consistent with their gender identity unless a particular school can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department of education that this policy would be too unfair or unsafe in other words, women are no longer granted female sports teams as a

given. we have to prove that we need it. of course, we do need it. studies show that even testosterone suppression cannot eliminate the male advantage. accept schools are not going to be allowed to say that as a general matter post puberty biological males playing women's sports puts females athletes at risk of injury and losing playing time, medals and privacy. no, schools will have to prove to federal bureaucrats that allowing a biological male on a woman's team to be unfair or unsafe in this particular sport with respect to these athletes. no school will want to take on the litigation risk and schools will allow biological males to come meet in women's sports. it will harm female athletes who are far more likely to be displaced by a male athlete and

in locker rooms. even if it were a good idea to reduced indicational opportunities for women the department of education may not do so unless this body has authorized it. congress has done no such thing. the department of education says that the supreme court's decision in a case means it can pretend that title ix addresses gender identity. the department of education is wrong. in the case the supreme court said that title vii of the civil rights act prohibits employers from firing someone because they are transgender. an employee's sex is not relevant to the selection, evaluation or compensation of employees. athletics and education, however, is governed by a different law, title ix. when it comes to athletics, sex is not only relevant, it is

often december positive. as serena williams said men's and women's tennis are completely different sports. we live in a nation of laws and not bureaucratic command. that means the department of education must find its authorities in the laws this legislative body has considered and passed. it may not use gender ideology to twist a simple anti-discrimination statute into a statute that reduces opportunities for women. thank you. >> thank you. mr. mentor, you may begin. >> thank you. my name is shannon mentor. the legal director of ncla, a legal organization that represents lgbtq people. my 30 years there, 20 years as its legal director i have represented many transgender young people in cases involving discrimination and harassment in schools and the child welfare system, healthcare system, other areas. recently i've been involved in

federal challenges to state laws that ban medical care for transgender young people and completely ban them from school sports. parents should have the freedom to make healthcare decision else for their transgender children. parents want what's best for their children. americans differ about a lot of things but one point on which we strongly agree, that is that parents, not the government, are best situated to make medical decisions for their own children. there is a lot of misinformation about transgender youth and adolescents. gender dysphoria is very rare. most people in the country don't know a transgender person or met parents with transgender children. for most people and legislators it seems like a new issue. medical care for transgender adolescence has been available for more than 20 years.

the same medications being transcribed for transgender youth have been prescribed for other conditions for more than 40 years. there is a substantial body of research that shows these treatments work, improve mental health outcomes, quality of life. social relationships, family relationships. dramatically reduce suicide. one federal judge after a full trial there is extensive clinical evidence showing excellent results for these treatments. medical standards for these treatments as has been noted have been endorsed by every major medical association in this country. american medical association, american academy of pediatrics, american psychological association, many more. these standards are evidence-based. they require a rigorous, multidisciplinary assessment before diagnosing a child with gender dysphoria and take a conservative approach to treatment. they have been in place for a long time. not new. what is new is this recent

massive overreach by state lawmakers to ban medical care for transgender youth. these laws recently passed state laws prevent doctors from doing their job, they prevent parents from getting the medical their their children need and why every district court after hearing all theft have concluded these bans violate parents' rights and equal protection and the claims they put forward to justify the bans have no basis. these decisions has been noteded and issued by a wide range of judges, arkansas, alabama, florida, kentucky, tennessee. in every case the state officials supporting these bans had every opportunity to back up their false claims with actual evidence. each case they have failed. these bans pose a serious threat to the health and safety of trends gender young people across the country and urge the members of this committee to

reject any federal attempts to replicate that harm. i have benefited from decades of access to healthcare, legal equality, support been able to marry, have a family, participate in my local church and community. it is very disheartening to see the protections given me and other transgender people to thrive and succeed being needlessly taken away from young people. healthcare bans conflict with medical expertise. rob parents of their right to make medical decision else for their children. devastating consequences for young people's lives. decisions about children's medical care should be made by the parents who love them. not by politicians who know nothing about a child's life, history, or circumstances and won't be the ones having to watch a young person they love suffer the devastating consequences of going without needed medical care. thank you.

>> thank you, mr. mentor. doctor, last but not least you may begin. >> chairman johnson, ranking member and members of the subcommittee thank you for opportunity to speak with you today. i'm dr. jennifer and i'm a licensed therapist, clinical researcher currently serving as the director of the direct for for family studies and family research council. based on over 25 years of experience providing trauma therapy to children and researcher investigating the psychological effects of traumatic express i express my concern what has been termed gender-affirming care. considered it a privilege to practice, research and train future clinicians and be part of a discipline aimed at protecting and bringing healing to the most vulnerable in our society, which are children. when it comes to gender transition procedures my field is not operating as a helping

profession. instead it is causing harm. historically children have been treated as a special and vulnerable clueless in the psychological and research fields. caution has been applied to children in light of the fact they do not have the neurological capacity to understand life long decisions. professional and research ethics tell us we should proceed cautiously when research methods are in the early phase as with this case. we should avoid interventions that pose unnecessary risks, particularly when the symptoms are known to change with maturation. risk avoidance is not what is happening with gender transition procedures. instead we have too many cases like mike. mike was 9-year-old old when he first saw a gender therapist. it was reported that mike couldn't distinguish between fantasy and reality. instead of investigating these

symptoms the therapist wrote in the treatment plan, which included puberty blockers, guidance on social transition and education for future procedures. this treatment plan was enacted without regard for this child's known diagnoses of autism, possible ocd, and possible parental diagnoses reported in the case notes. mike is just one example of how so-called gender affirming care is in direct opposition of our knowledge regarding development and our understanding of good research and treatment. there are many reasons why i have concerns but i will share a few with you. one, these interventions are being endorsed based on consensus, not evidence. in the case of gender-affirm care the term evidence-based is not standing on the merits of solid research findings. instead it refers to a vote by those who are ideological

supporters of the practice. compared to other psychological disorders found in the dsm5tr gender dysphoria is currently being treated with the most invasive interventions connected to a psychological issue with the lowest quality of evidence to support that practice. two, the success rates of non-intervention for gender dysphoria for children already exceed what most psychological interventions have. in most cases, 85% or more of those experienceings gender dysphoria with desist the left alone. the higher rate than most well established and research psychological interventions. with success rates this high it is unethical to intervene. three, the research and practice around this issue does not properly account for competing diagnoses and variables. so in one example a report from the ucla williams institute

found that 45% of transgender identifying people reported childhood sexual abuse. as a trauma clinician i can tell you that when someone experiences sexual trauma, it is not uncommon for that person to hate parts of their body or want to get rid of those aspects of themselves that made them vulnerable to abuse. four, it is often claimed that a failure to provide these interventions increases the risk for suicide. this approach is actually unethical and a clear departure from the practice. >> bill: a stunning hearing here. why, jacque, the first two witnesses take your breath away. >> jacque: her testimony was something and detailed what her parents were told when she was going through this process and they could have either a dead daughter or a transgender son. so you hear ethical arguments

being made on both sides and just who pays the price? in her case she said she did. >> bill: what paula scanlon said how the university of pennsylvania told the other female swimmers how to behave and respond. pretty stunning stuff there. we'll see how it goes. great to have you back in new york. we'll roll and harris faulkner will pick up our coverage right now. here is harris. >> harris: fox news alert and just like that hunter biden is in trouble again. next steps is to fight for a new deal. they have to fight to shield hunter from future prosecution. you saw it live this time yesterday. his plea deal crumbling like sand through your fingers. why? the case alleging bribery by hunter, president biden and other members of the biden family members, he wanted immunity from all of that. the judge wanted to take another look at those tax and gun fraud charges.