At today's House DOGE Committee hearing, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) questioned USA Fencing Chairman Damien Lehfeldt about the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports.
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00:00Alan from Texas.
00:01Madam Chair, thank you.
00:02For the next five minutes, we're going to live within the bounds of reality
00:05and actually use real science.
00:09Human beings with an XY chromosome will be referred to as male or men.
00:13Human beings with an XX chromosome will be referred to as female or woman.
00:19Mr. Layfeld, what is your current position within USA Fencing?
00:23I'm the chair of the board of the directors, sir.
00:25Okay, and in that role, is it fair to say that you celebrate transparency and promote fairness?
00:32I would certainly hope so, sir.
00:33All right, great.
00:34Congress has oversight over USA Fencing.
00:37Are you here today to testify of your own volition?
00:40I'm here to testify on behalf of USA Fencing.
00:43Of your own volition.
00:44Did you come voluntarily?
00:45No, sir, I was subpoenaed.
00:46You did not.
00:46You had to be subpoenaed.
00:47Is that correct?
00:48Yes, sir.
00:49I have to give you an F on that count right here for transparency.
00:53Let's go.
00:54So did you recently change your social media profile from public to private?
01:00I did, sir.
01:01Okay.
01:01Was that before or after you got wind that you might end up being here today?
01:06That was around the time that I was receiving death threats and anti-Semitic messages.
01:09Also happened to be right after you found out that you might be here, correct?
01:14I can't recall, sir, specifically when I went private.
01:16Yes, that is April 14th, and you did it after.
01:19So I'm going to give you another F, two counts for transparency.
01:22Let's talk about fairness, because you said you wanted to be fair.
01:26There are two competitive classes in USA Fencing, yes?
01:29Two divisions, man and woman?
01:31That's correct, sir.
01:31Why is that?
01:32There's also a mixed event, I should add.
01:34A mixed event is a plurality of our events.
01:37But you have, but to be specific, because we have limited time, you have a male division
01:40and a female division.
01:41Is that correct?
01:42We also have a mixed division, sir.
01:43Do you have a male division and a female division, yes?
01:46We have a male division, we have a female division, we also have mixed events, which
01:49represent a plurality of our events.
01:51Do you allow men to compete against women?
01:54In mixed events, sir.
01:56Okay, but not again.
01:57There is a distinct class for just women, yes?
02:01Yes, there is a women's division, yes, sir.
02:03Thank you, thank you.
02:03We're getting somewhere.
02:04Now, that is because I think you would agree that in general, maybe not because Ms. Graves
02:08doesn't, that men inherently have some physical attributes that give them an advantage.
02:15Would you agree with that?
02:16I would agree to an extent, sir.
02:18Okay, so let's talk about, no, I'm going to reclaim my time, because, for instance, there
02:24is increased muscle mass, generally speaking, with men, which makes them faster and stronger.
02:29They're better adapted with cardiorespiratory capacity, lungs, perhaps with endurance.
02:34Men are generally taller, have stronger bones, and they have different skeletal structures.
02:38You've got to know this.
02:39The pelvis in men are more narrow in the small Q angle that attaches the hip to the knee
02:45joint.
02:46That's important, because the more narrow that Q angle is, the more force that you can project.
02:52Now, that's only important in sports that require standing, squatting, kicking, or pedaling.
02:57And then you also have a sex difference in the angle of the humerus and the ulna at the
03:03elbow.
03:04And the more narrow and the smaller that angle is, that projects more force upon extension
03:09in only sports that involve throwing, thrusting like in fencing, hitting a bat, racket, or stick.
03:16So, like, for instance, what my colleague said, Will Thomas was 462nd best male swimmer for
03:23three years.
03:24And then he was winning events when he competed with women.
03:28Female gold medalists in the 100, 400, and 800 would not even qualify to compete for the
03:33gold in the men's division.
03:35Marathon, the best marathon female would be 90th against the men.
03:39Best triathlete female would be 50th against men.
03:42And Major League Baseball has had exactly zero women play on an opening day roster.
03:47NFL, NHL, NBA, again, zero.
03:50So, let me ask you this question.
03:52I'm very curious to hear your answer.
03:53Yes, sir.
03:53Would you allow, do you think it's fair for a man that identifies as a man to directly
04:00compete against a woman?
04:02In a mixed event, sir.
04:04Okay.
04:05So, you think that's fine?
04:06A man can compete against a woman in the women's division?
04:12In the women's division, sir, they must go through one year.
04:16Right, right.
04:17So, a man that's identifying as a man cannot, you're not cool with them fencing against women?
04:24Men compete against women in mixed events all the time, sir.
04:27They're a plurality of our events.
04:28And who generally wins those?
04:31The recent data that we polled showed that cisgender men prevailed in 64%.
04:37So, cisgender men are men.
04:38Okay.
04:38Let's just call it for what it is.
04:41Yeah, right.
04:41So, the bottom line is this.
04:43Even when you go through hormone treatments, you know this.
04:47It doesn't reduce your height.
04:48It doesn't shrink your bones.
04:49It doesn't decrease your lung capacity.
04:51It doesn't alter your skeletal structure.
04:52There's exactly zero studies in the world that show that any amount of hormone therapy
04:57will ultimately result in parity between men and women.
05:00It doesn't exist.
05:01The IOC just did a study with 800 men.
05:04And even after a year, they retained 83% advantage.
05:07This is absolute lunacy.
05:08It's crazy.
05:09But you crazies, you keep being crazy.
05:11And we'll see you November of 26th.
05:12I yield back.
05:13I'd like to ask for unanimous consent.