2mo ago

GOP lawmaker left speechless when asked if he's trans during a hearing

www.lgbtqnation.com

GOP lawmaker left speechless when asked if he's trans during a hearing - LGBTQ Nation

He huffed about how the question wasn't "appropriate" even though his bill would result in kids being asked that same question.

A Republican state rep from Michigan testifying about his anti-trans sports bill on Monday was left speechless after an out Democratic colleague began his questioning by asking, “Representative, can you tell me: are you trans?”

A long beat staring down out gay Democratic state Rep. Mike McFall followed, before state Rep. Jason Woolford (R) managed to reply, “Are you?”

“I’m actually going somewhere with this,” he said to lawmakers in the small chamber.

“Because I want to know, how does a 14-year-old girl prove whether or not she’s trans to a 50-year-old coach?”

40 comments

I love this. This is a really good, simple, impactful strategy.
- The GOP is just a bad debater.
  My immediate thought was to say something like "That question proves my point! We have no way of knowing who is or isn't trans without careful testing!"
  
  "Okay, I'll inspect your genitals, drop 'em and we'll prove it to everyone"
I'm pretty sure he's MS13. We should deport him just in case.
- No, he’s tren de aragua. He’s part of the invasion and should be transported to CECOT post haste
- I'm pretty sure he has an invisible tattoo.
From the State House to the White House, we are saying that we will no longer allow our daughters and women to be taken advantage of by insecure men...
Yeah, we should protect them from these insecure, conservative men who constantly think about other people's genitals.
I swear to god republicans found out Penis Inspection Day wasn't real and are now making it a thing to save face.
- Hahaha.... hol' up... what do you mean not real?
  /s
  
  I just hate that it takes my pastor the whole day to do the inspection
- Penis inspection day was real though. Up until ≈1974 in the USA you had to show your dick to go swimming in public pools.
  
  For real-real? Saurce?
"Nothing To Hide, Nothing To Fear." Riiiight MAGAs?
What, you guys didn't have penis inspection day in gym class?
- That's only in the girls class.
- No for real. Penis inspection happened like.. every year?
  
  ...
  I'm sorry
What is Jason Woodford hiding?!?!?
“Because I want to know, how does a 14-year-old girl prove whether or not she’s trans to a 50-year-old coach?”
Puts on rubber glove we have teasts
This was EXTREMELY INAPPROPRIATE! Doesn't he KNOW that you're ONLY supposed to ask CHILDREN about Their Genitals? What a PERVERT!
- God damned leftist groomers at it again. Won’t anyone think of the children’s genitals?!
It's a complex issue for sure, but I'm really proud of this thread for consistently using the term "trans women" when talking about the differences between trans women compared to cis women and cis men in sports.
On Reddit, most people on this debate just say "biological males," "males," or "men" in situations where they're clearly talking about trans women, which is a clear tell that it was never about fairness in sports for them.
- even if you could theoretically tell a story that sounds somehow “unfair” depending on your storytelling skills.
  Yeah, they sure do love pulling the Riley Gaines card even though she came in fifth, making it a total nonsequitur.
  And I totally agree that this debate is too big considering it only targets a tiny handful of athletes. I say it's complicated because some arguments used feel, circumstantial? As in, "Trans women should play with women because there's only a couple of them anyway?" Would acceptance of that argument lead to tokenism? BWhat if, for whatever reason, a sports team happened to take on a lot of trans woman? I think that would be okay, but I worry it would dredge the debate up all over again.
  Or, people often say, "Trans women should be allowed to play with women because they rarely win anyway." But what if a trans woman ends up on a winning streak and then another controversy erupts? I feel uncomfortable that our condition for entry is framed as our failure to win, and that if we win, then by implication we get othered as opposed to just being a woman who won a sports game one time. This recently happened, actually. https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/ca-school-sports-authority-panders
  This is to say, I'm just thinking aboug how we come to a supporting argument that ages with grace? And what argument should that be? Not that I think any pro-trans argument would satisfy some people, with it being the wedge issue that makes TERFS out of people originally left of center. I guess I don't know the answer at this point.
- I stay out of that fight because I don't know enough about the real statistics to comment on it. Which I feel like would drastically improve the situation if all these armchair "bIoLoGiCaL aDvAnTaGe" people would do the same.
  
  I still don't understand why the government needs to be involved in sports at all. They're games, it's not that serious. Leave it to the experts within those organizations to come up with whatever rules are needed.
I guess I'm out of the loop on this subject and honestly I don't know if the information I have is factual or not.
Do trans women generally have a physical advantage over women? Are there any rules for this kind of thing? Do they need to be transitioning or taking suppression drugs? This is a serious question.
- Human beings are sexually dimorphic, but most of the advantages or disadvantages are negligible or can be overcome with training, so it makes little difference. It makes even less difference in middle and high school aged children, since everyone is at (somewhat) different points developmentally anyway.

40 comments