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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
How this Democrat fights Marjorie Taylor Greene's transphobia in Congress with smart preparation
New Mexico Democratic U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury wasn't planning to go viral. But when she spoke up during a congressional hearing last month and calmly held aloft an uncropped photo that debunked a Republican smear — while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican and subcommittee chairwoman, slammed her gavel in exasperation — the moment captured something larger than one procedural dispute. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. In a single act of preparation and truth-telling, Stansbury had exposed the hearing as political theater. The doctored image, which Greene's team presented in an effort to humiliate USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt, appeared to show him flipping off the committee. But as Stansbury revealed, he was actually flashing a peace sign. 'The document you have up behind you is a misrepresentation of the actual post,' she said as Greene tried to continue speaking. Greene responded with a furious, uncontrolled banging of the gavel — a scene that quickly became the viral centerpiece of the May 8 Department of Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing and a late-night comedy segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live! But Stansbury wasn't trying to be funny. She was trying to expose a lie. In a Tuesday interview with The Advocate, Stansbury explained that the viral moment was the result of weeks of planning — and a decision to reject silence. 'When we saw that the chairwoman was going to call a hearing on transgender athletes, actually my initial response was, we're not participating in that at all,' she said. 'Because clearly, it really is wholly outside of the scope of anything that the Oversight Committee has anything to do with. And it's just a blatant political attack on the trans community.' Related: Jasmine Crockett shreds GOP's obsession with trans people over American problems with 'Trump or trans' game Ultimately, she and her fellow Democrats chose to engage strategically. 'We were prepared to shut them down,' she said. 'We were ready to use every procedural motion we could. We were ready for any shenanigans they would pull.' The plan worked. Early in the hearing, Stansbury called a motion to adjourn, and when Republicans didn't have enough members in the room to stop her, the delay bought critical time. 'They had to sit there for about 10 or 15 minutes,' she recalled. 'And so during that time, some of our staff saw the poster they were planning on presenting.' That gave Stansbury the upper hand. When Greene unveiled the image, Stansbury called it out immediately. The gavel slammed. Greene shouted. The internet noticed. For Stansbury, who has been representing New Mexico's First District since 2021, the hearing was just the latest installment in what she calls a disturbing trend. 'In my personal opinion, I think that the Republican fixation on trans lives is weird,' she said. 'It's just weird. I almost cannot explain it.' Related: Nancy Mace sits silently as Robert Garcia roasts her anti-trans record in House Oversight hearing She singled out GOP members like South Carolina U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, saying, 'Who once purported to stand with [the] LGBTQ+ community and now are just so obsessed in a way that is unhealthy — even personally.' Stansbury made the same point even more bluntly during the hearing itself: 'It's just weird. Your obsession with this is weird.' Greene's retort — 'We'll let the American people decide who the weirdos are' — backfired spectacularly, becoming meme fodder within hours. 'I could tell that it got under the skin of the chairwoman when I said that,' Stansbury told The Advocate. Stansbury made clear that the GOP's culture war is not organic. 'This was a completely manufactured issue,' she said. 'You know, the Republicans are obsessed with less than 1 percent of the population.' And she knows exactly where it's coming from. 'If you rewind the tape and look at where it originated from, the same groups that have Heritage Foundation affiliation are the same as those who brought before the Supreme Court for the Dobbs case," she said, referring to the case that led the court to strike down Roe v. Wade, which protected abortion rights nationally. "They are all being funded by dark money behind the scenes. And it is a Christian nationalist agenda that is very explicitly going after the trans community.' That targeting, she warned, has real consequences. 'I have trans kids in my life, and people are scared. People are afraid just to be themselves. I have a veteran in my district who has shared her story, and she's afraid to leave her house.' Despite Republicans' fixation, Stansbury said the issue around taking away trans rights is nowhere near the top of mind for her constituents. 'It doesn't come up. It has never once come up. Ever. Once. Never,' she said. 'I don't get asked about it in town halls. I don't get asked about it when I'm on the campaign trail. I don't get asked about it at the doors.' Instead, she said, New Mexicans take pride in their state's record, which includes gender-affirming care protections, legal safeguards for providers, and some of the most progressive LGBTQ+ rights laws in the country. As the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico outlines, those seeking gender-affirming care in the state are protected by confidentiality laws and can assert their rights through legal channels if they face discrimination. The law explicitly shields the privacy of patients from out of state, and conversion therapy remains banned. 'One of the biggest applause lines that I get when I do town halls is when I list all of the things that New Mexico did under progressive leadership, including protecting LGBTQ civil rights and transgender care,' she said. But on taking rights away from trans people in the state? 'It is not a motivating issue for any constituent that I have ever talked to,' Stansbury said. Amid whispers from some Democrats that the party should tone down its public support for transgender rights to avoid alienating moderate voters, Stansbury offered a sharp rebuttal. 'What I make of the kind of political retreat that I see some people making around this issue is, like, the American people right now — no matter what their ideological affiliation is — they want to see strong leadership,' she said. 'Trump is trying to take us back a half-century, whether that's civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women's rights, whatever it is,' she continued. 'And so we have to be as bold and as fierce in our fight as Democrats in standing up and saying no — and punching back — as they are in attacking people.' Asked how Democrats should respond to the tidal wave of false narratives, Stansbury was unequivocal: 'Allyship doesn't mean anything if it doesn't come with action.' 'To me, that means saying something when you see something, fighting back in a full-throttled way, speaking up, speaking out, reaching out to the communities that we work with and partnering with them.' And when it comes to Trump's broader agenda? 'They're trying to rewrite the Civil Rights Act. They're trying to undo all of these things that are not the result of policy and politics — they're the result of culture changing, of people's movements for generations,' she said. 'They think they can just go and write a few executive orders and undo generations of social struggles. They're crazy. That's not going to happen.' Stansbury finds hope in younger generations. 'I look at people in my life who are Gen Z and Alpha ... this younger generation doesn't even think about these issues the same way the older generation does,' she said. 'There's not only going not to be a demand for this, there's not going to be any tolerance for this.' But until that future arrives, Stansbury isn't waiting for permission to lead. 'We see you. We're fighting for you,' she said of her message to transgender Americans. 'You're loved, you're cared for, and we see what's happening — and we're going to continue to fight back.'
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
National sports governing bodies must be held accountable for failing to protect women
Just over a year ago, I argued in Fox News that national governing bodies like USA Volleyball and USA Fencing were corruptibly operating outside of accountability. Now they are saying the quiet part out loud, admitting in Congressional testimony and written policy that they won't comply with female-safety/opportunity standards unless "required by oversight bodies." Female athletes like me have suffered the devastating consequence of the lack of NGB oversight, and it is time Congress and the White House finally call them out. USA Fencing released a "Revised Transgender & Non-Binary Athlete Eligibility Policy" earlier this month with the added note "it will only be implemented if required by oversight bodies." This follows their humiliating spotlight when female fencer Stephanie Turner had to bow out of her own competition when the rule makers allowed a male opponent to jeopardize her safety. The USA Fencing-sanctioned event issued her a disqualifying black card as a "direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent." Their "inclusive" message was exposed in the light—it's nothing but discriminatory exclusion. The story doesn't end with Stephanie. Reduxx continues to uncover more men masquerading as women in USA Fencing competitions, some of which hold leadership positions within the organization. Their elevated platforms affirms the ideologically captured state of the board who voted against playing the national anthem at championships earlier this year and openly admits to factoring ratings from and healthcare access (abortion laws) into fencing site selection. Congress certifies these sports' national governing bodies (NGBs) through the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. Doing this largely yields oversight responsibilities to the USOPC, which generally allows for regulatory autonomy. But this yielded authority is not just about general rules of sport; it directs eligibility standards, informs university rulemaking, dictates how our country is represented in the Olympics, and more. It's hard to ignore the politically charged nature of athletics in today's climate, from covering USA jerseys in sexual pride to recognizing DEI as a core tenant of sports governance (see: USOPC "Diversity Scorecards"). It is clear; the USOPC's passivity has enabled the NGB's to operate as extended political arms with Congressional approval and very little accountability. But their politically-charged discrimination has now made its way to the national stage. Last month, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) penned a letter to USA Fencing requiring they "must comply with United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee rules and procedures, its statutory obligations to protect women, and President Trump's recent Executive Order (EO) on Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" to keep their NGB certification. While the NGBs already hold a specific obligation to ensure fairness and safety, President Trump's executive order specifically clarifies the secretary of state must "use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sports to promote fairness, safety, and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women's sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction." Sen. Cruz's letter brought the weight of the Upper Chamber in his demands for documentation, clarity on how many men were competing in their women's categories, answers for their compliance in accordance with the executive order, and more. In the House of Representatives, the DOGE subcommittee invited Stephanie Turner and USA Fencing Board Chair Damien Lehfeldt to testify in a hearing on May 7th. After refusing the invitation, the Committee required Mr. Lehfeldt's appearance by issuing a subpoena. Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said USA Fencing "should not be recognized as the National Governing Body for fencing if it continues to defy the law." USA Fencing is facing heat from all angles. Good. During the hearing, Mr. Lehfeldt said he is "prepared to pivot" if the Ted Stevens Act is amended or the IOC directs them. But it begs a greater question; why must the federal government force them to protect female athletes? Why hasn't the USOPC stood up for female athletes? Without the accountability of the people and their elected representatives, NGBs have pursued policy goals that hurt women and undermine our country's values. Congress and the White House must continue to strengthen enforcement through the USOPC and remind NGBs that our country is a place for opportunity, not politically charged discrimination.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ted Cruz thinks trans athletes make fencing unfair, dangerous. Two Olympians disagree
Lee Kiefer is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. At 30, she is still in her prime and widely considered the best at her sport. So, I had to ask the question burning inside the heart of every American: Are trans women holding you back? Kiefer may have been chatting with me on the phone, but if the top-ranked foil fencer in the world followed me to Capitol Hill and gave me a quick shank to my arteries, I wouldn't blame her. Fencing may be a niche sport, the kind that even its ardent American followers pay closest attention to every four years at the Summer Games. But since an unranked fencer named Stephanie Turner knelt in protest during a scheduled bout with Red Sullivan, her also-unranked transgender opponent in a low-stakes regional competition, Republicans have recast USA Fencing's gender inclusivity as the latest example of an existential threat to women athletes. But female athletes such as Kiefer, who, unlike the unranked and D-rated Turner, arguably have something to lose if a supposed onslaught of men blocked their title chances. And they have a wildly different narrative about their sport. 'It's just, like, crazy,' Kiefer said. 'All these politicians, they don't care about sports, and they specifically don't care about fencing.' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has made this a wedge issue, accusing USA Fencing, the sport's governing body, of 'demeaning women and denying them a chance to succeed.' 'I do not think she gives a [expletive] about fencing,' Kiefer told me. 'And I do not agree with her statement whatsoever.' She says the same of the others, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who called for a federal investigation into USA Fencing. Cruz told me that trans fencers made it 'fundamentally unfair to force a girl to compete against a boy or to force a woman to compete against a man in sports.' The GOP has made USA Fencing into a political priority, with Greene leading the charge over the future of the sport. Greene, chair of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, or DOGE, subpoenaed USA Fencing board chair Damien Lehfeldt to testify. During the hearing, Greene and other Republicans accused Lehfeldt of endangering the women in USA Fencing's purview, demanding he resign from his role. Rep. Nancy Mace — the South Carolina Republican who once tweeted 326 times in 72 hours about trans women using women's bathrooms — accused Lehfeldt of being a 'groomer,' a term referring to those who manipulate children into falsely consenting to sexual abuse. Flower Mound's Brandon Gill cut multiple videos of his exchange with Lehfeldt, saying the board chair was 'hell-bent on destroying women's sports.' Though Ken Paxton was not present at the hearing, Turner's match with Sullivan was in Maryland, and neither fencer resides in Texas, the Texas attorney general inserted himself in the national crusade by launching a state investigation into USA Fencing, vowing to 'never back down from defending the integrity of women's sports.' If men (or 'men') were destroying women's sports, fencing is the worst possible example. Lehfeldt told Congress that through USA Fencing's mixed bouts, men competing with women comprise a 'plurality' of its supervised competition. Lehfeldt also noted that one week before Turner's protest, she competed in a mixed gender tournament, defeating four opponents bearing the dreaded and deadly XY chromosome. The absolute normalcy of women and men — err, 'biological males' — fencing each other was one of my first observations upon encountering the sport. While profiling 2021 Olympian Curtis McDowald for GQ, I watched the tall, lanky epeéist mow down Northwestern University's Pauline Hamilton, treating a late-night sparring match with the same intensity as a gold medal match in Tokyo. Some studies indicate differences in physical capacity between cisgender and transgender women — even after undergoing hormone therapy. But until Cruz, Gill, Greene and other Republicans campaigned against trans inclusion, and Turner successfully got them to pivot their gaze in her direction, this culture war was not USA Fencing's problem. But Turner twisted her anxieties and mediocrities into a pogrom, a charge she resents. In her opening statement to Congress, she dismissed the notion she should seek to improve instead of complain, calling the suggestion 'unbelievably demeaning to female fencers.' She failed to mention that some of those 'female fencers' are not only adamant about transgender inclusion, but they also credit their careers to fencing against anybody who wanted that smoke. 'When I was coaching and fencing there, typically I'd beat [Turner] significantly,' said Ambika Singh, a former Division I champ at Princeton University who told me she used to coach at the same Philadelphia gym where Turner trained. According to Singh, Turner inquired how to get to her level. 'I fenced mainly with men growing up, and that's how I got faster and stronger,' she recalled telling Turner, then advised her to 'fence guys [and] fence girls.' (Turner did not respond to my request for comment in time for publication.) 'I truly, from the bottom of my heart, don't think that I would have ever made an Olympic team had I not been training with men,' said Monica Aksamit, a 2016 bronze medalist in saber fencing. Aksamit said she started training with grown men at 15 and attributes much of her growth to Olympians like Keeth Smart and Ivan Lee 'teaching me all the things that I know.' She says the only injuries she's ever sustained from fencing were, believe it or not, from other cisgender women. 'When I was younger, I would fence a lot of regional mixed tournaments,' Kiefer said. 'I thought that was a great environment for me to become a better competitor.' Though Kiefer is a lithe 5'4' — visually imposing on the fencing strip and perhaps nowhere else — she told me that she has never been injured competing against men. Kiefer and Aksamit have proved, definitively, that they are among the best Americans to ever fence. But instead of turning to experts, congressional Republicans demand we treat Turner like the Rosa Parks of a sport they don't understand. If Republicans approached fencing with enough curiosity to survey women who actually accomplished something, we could have had an interesting and nuanced discussion about fairness. Maybe we could have heard Congress discuss how to protect Title IX — the landmark civil-rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education (including sports) — a policy that Cruz told me he valued for expanding 'opportunity for millions of girls and women.' The Republicans on the DOGE subcommittee failed to mention that the Trump administration has defunded the federal agency tasked with ensuring girls are treated fairly in sports. For now, Kiefer's message to Cruz, Greene and the rest of the party is simple: 'I don't need their help,' Kiefer said. 'They should put their energy elsewhere.' So, I ask again — if not trans people, who is holding women's sports back? 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Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stansbury weighs in on heated DOGE committee hearing and Jimmy Kimmel reference
May 12—In a video that was played for comedic effect on late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene banged her gavel over and over, trying to silence New Mexico congresswoman Melanie Stansbury as she showed a photo Greene displayed was misleadingly cropped. "I've literally, over the last 72 hours, heard from people, not only all over the country, but all over the world, who are grateful for me holding their feet to the fire. And people needed a moment of comic relief," Stansbury said. The clip from the May 7 Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) committee meeting, which focused on transgender athletes, marks Stansbury's second viral moment of the year. During President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress in March, Stansbury was captured on camera behind the president with a sign reading "This is not normal." The DOGE committee is a House Oversight subcommittee created to work with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. Greene, R-Ga., is DOGE committee chair, while Democrat Stansbury is ranking member, the top Democrat on the committee. The committee was holding a hearing titled "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports." The Trump administration has focused on transgender people, with executive orders focused on banning transgender athletes from organizations that receive federal dollars and transgender military members. "I don't want any more women missing out on medal opportunity, avoiding athletic competitions, or missing out on college scholarships," Greene said in her opening statement. During the hearing, Stansbury repeatedly questioned how the topic fit within the purview of the committee. "All of this is a distraction from the real things that the Republicans are doing, which is they're marking up a reconciliation bill right now that completely guts Medicaid and food assistance and environmental programs," Stansbury told the Journal. In the viral clip, Greene showed a photo of USA Fencing board chair Damien Lehfeldt in a suit where he appeared to be flipping off the camera. The caption "game day" was paired with the photo, which Greene said Lehfeldt had posted on social media ahead of the congressional hearing. "It appears that you're trying to misrepresent a witness here, who you used subpoena powers against," Stansbury said, as she displayed what appeared to be an uncropped version of the photo, where Lehfeldt held up two fingers. Lehfeltd was ordered to come to the hearing to answer questions about USA Fencing's policy allowing transgender women to compete in the women's division. Lehfeltd referenced the sport's long tradition of mixed gender competition and said the organization is statutorily not allowed to make more restrictive requirements than its governing organizations. Fencer Stephanie Turner, who recently protested competing against a transgender woman by taking a knee ahead of their scheduled fencing match, was another of the witnesses called. "It's not uncommon for a quicker, more athletic opponent to overcome the technique of another fencer. Athleticism is powerful in fencing. ... It's unbelievably demeaning to female fencers to put down the difference between men and women and any woman's loss to a man as a skill issue," Turner said in her opening statement. USA Fencing does have a new policy prepared in case it is required by changes to the law or governing athletic organizations not to allow transgender women to compete in the women's category. "New Mexico in particular, we stand with the trans and the LGBTQ plus community," Stansbury said. "We've passed really protective legislation in New Mexico."
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stansbury weighs in on heated DOGE committee hearing and Jimmy Kimmel reference
May 12—In a video that was played for comedic effect on late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene banged her gavel over and over, trying to silence New Mexico congresswoman Melanie Stansbury as she showed a photo Greene displayed was misleadingly cropped. "I've literally, over the last 72 hours, heard from people, not only all over the country, but all over the world, who are grateful for me holding their feet to the fire. And people needed a moment of comic relief," Stansbury said. The clip from the May 7 Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) committee meeting, which focused on transgender athletes, marks Stansbury's second viral moment of the year. During President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress in March, Stansbury was captured on camera behind the president with a sign reading "This is not normal." The DOGE committee is a House Oversight subcommittee created to work with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. Greene, R-Ga., is DOGE committee chair, while Democrat Stansbury is ranking member, the top Democrat on the committee. The committee was holding a hearing titled "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports." The Trump administration has focused on transgender people, with executive orders focused on banning transgender athletes from organizations that receive federal dollars and transgender military members. "I don't want any more women missing out on medal opportunity, avoiding athletic competitions, or missing out on college scholarships," Greene said in her opening statement. During the hearing, Stansbury repeatedly questioned how the topic fit within the purview of the committee. "All of this is a distraction from the real things that the Republicans are doing, which is they're marking up a reconciliation bill right now that completely guts Medicaid and food assistance and environmental programs," Stansbury told the Journal. In the viral clip, Greene showed a photo of USA Fencing board chair Damien Lehfeldt in a suit where he appeared to be flipping off the camera. The caption "game day" was paired with the photo, which Greene said Lehfeldt had posted on social media ahead of the congressional hearing. "It appears that you're trying to misrepresent a witness here, who you used subpoena powers against," Stansbury said, as she displayed what appeared to be an uncropped version of the photo, where Lehfeldt held up two fingers. Lehfeltd was ordered to come to the hearing to answer questions about USA Fencing's policy allowing transgender women to compete in the women's division. Lehfeltd referenced the sport's long tradition of mixed gender competition and said the organization is statutorily not allowed to make more restrictive requirements than its governing organizations. Fencer Stephanie Turner, who recently protested competing against a transgender woman by taking a knee ahead of their scheduled fencing match, was another of the witnesses called. "It's not uncommon for a quicker, more athletic opponent to overcome the technique of another fencer. Athleticism is powerful in fencing. ... It's unbelievably demeaning to female fencers to put down the difference between men and women and any woman's loss to a man as a skill issue," Turner said in her opening statement. USA Fencing does have a new policy prepared in case it is required by changes to the law or governing athletic organizations not to allow transgender women to compete in the women's category. "New Mexico in particular, we stand with the trans and the LGBTQ plus community," Stansbury said. "We've passed really protective legislation in New Mexico."
