USA Fencing transgender controversy escalates at DOGE hearing with social media regrets, calls for resignation

Fox News

09-05-2025

Just six weeks after women's fencer Stephanie Turner was disqualified and escorted out of a tournament for kneeling in protest of a trans opponent, she watched the man in charge of her punishment get grilled for it in a federal hearing.
USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt was grilled by Republican lawmakers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee's "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" hearing on Wednesday.
After the hearing, Turner told Fox News Digital that she would devote herself and her platform to pushing for resignations among key leadership figures in USA Fencing.
"I'm going to be pushing for people to resign, to be honest. I'd like to see some people resign for the comments that they've made, especially publicly, ones that are harassing and meant to humiliate concerned women, mothers and daughters," Turner said.
USA Fencing has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing Turner's calls for leadership change.
"We respect Ms. Turner's right to share her views. The volunteer members of USA Fencing's Board, elected by our membership, remain focused on serving athletes and meeting our obligations under the Ted Stevens Act and other governing-body rules. No leadership changes are under consideration," the statement read.
Lehfeldt, who was subpoenaed and did not come voluntarily, made things harder on himself ahead of the hearing with a series of Instagram stories that were later blown up and used against him on the committee floor. In one post, which went viral before the hearing, he responded to a question that asked if he was "okay" with putting female fencers at a disadvantage with a simple, brash answer: "yeah."
Then, during the hearing, Lehfeld admitted multiple times he regretted answering that way and admitted the question required a "more-nuanced" response.
"He was under oath, but I was surprised that he admitted having written a fake response that he posted on his Instagram," Turner said. "So the simple admission that he knows what he's doing, and the intimidation tactics that he's been employing online, and he knows that they're wrong, and he hadn't redacted them until that point, it took a hearing, a subpoenaed hearing for him to do that, it was surprising."
USA Fencing provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing its chair's social media posts on Wednesday.
"Mr. Lehfeldt's pre-hearing social posts were made in a personal capacity. Before and during the hearing, he clarified that the comments do not reflect USA Fencing policy and expressed regret for any confusion they caused," the statement read.
However, that was just the start of things for Lehfeldt. Throughout the afternoon, he faced his fair share of insults and personal comments from Republican committee members.
Rep. Tim Burhcett, R-Tenn, asked Lehfeldt whether he would let his daughter fence against "a man." Lehfeldt suggested he would allow it while boasting about his organization's safety precautions.
"As long as the competitor has met all the hormonal requirements and complies with the policy, I would be okay with it," Lehfeldt said.
Later in the hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., suggested that Lehfeldt was "not" a man for his organization's gender eligibility policy.
"Real men protect women, you're not one," Mace said.
Mace even asked Lehfeldt to simply apologize to Turner for punishing the fencer, to which the chair declined and pointed out that Turner received a black card for her refusal.
However, Turner was not looking for an apology.
"I want more than an apology. I want a change in policy and I want people to start speaking the truth again. And an apology is just empty words without actions to me, so I don't know how far it would go for me," Turner said.
The organization first enacted its current trans-inclusion policy in 2023. It allows transgender athletes to compete in the women's category at both the junior and senior level after completing one calendar year of testosterone-suppression treatment. Proof of compliant hormone therapy must be provided prior to competition, but the organization has taken even further steps to prioritize its trans competitors.
USA Fencing announced in late April that it is preparing to change its gender-eligibility policy in the aftermath of the controversy with Turner.
"In the event that USA Fencing is forced to change its current stance in accordance with oversight bodies or federal legislation, the new policy states athletes competing in USA Fencing-sanctioned tournaments must compete according to their biological sex," the announcement read.
The proposed updated policy ensures that the women's category "will be open exclusively to athletes of the female sex." The men's category "will be open to all other athletes who are otherwise eligible for competition."
Education Secretary Linda McMahon previously announced that the newly formed Title IX investigations team will be probing the incident involving Turner and trans competitor Redmond Sullivan.
Meanwhile, Turner is on a hiatus from fencing in the aftermath of the controversy.
"I don't see how I can spend the money to go to a tournament and have their be multiple officials that I know who are deeply against me," Turner said. "That's just not a fight that I want to be in the middle of right now, I'd rather take this fight elsewhere."
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