Pat Fallon Asks USA Fencing Chair: Do Men Have Physical Attributes That Gives Advantage Over Women?

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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.

Transcript

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.

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