00:00from South Carolina, Ms. Mace, and a member opposed. Each will control five minutes.
00:06The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from South Carolina.
00:09Thank you, Mr. Chair. My amendment is straightforward. It would ensure the use
00:12of sex-specific spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms on military
00:16installations, is based on biological sex, not ideology. Women in uniform deserve dignity,
00:24privacy, and absolute safety. Protecting women's spaces shouldn't be partisan. It should be
00:30common sense. But under the Biden administration, the federal government decided to abandon common
00:35sense that allowed men to enter women's spaces and violate their privacy and violate their dignity.
00:42Under President Trump, the government has restored basic biological truth. Men are men and women are
00:48women. I applaud the president for his commitment to protecting women, but a future administration
00:53could bring us right back to this insanity. The Biden administration sacrificed the dignity and
01:00safety of women to appease radical, gender, lunatic ideology. Our women in uniform shouldn't be forced
01:07to suffer indignities to appease the insane policies of the other side of the aisle, all the Democrats
01:15who support this nonsense. Allowing delusional men to use women's restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms
01:20as an affront to women, and it's reckless. In Virginia, a registered sex offender with more than a
01:26dozen convictions was allowed to use the women's changing room by claiming he was a woman. For six
01:32months, he exposed himself to women and kids. This is who the left is defending today. Pedophiles and
01:40men that want to go in women's spaces and rape them, assault them, and expose themselves to little girls
01:45and our daughters. In California, a 17-year-old girl was terrorized by the presence of a man in her locker
01:50room while she showered. In Georgia, a 51-year-old man pretending to be a woman undressed in the
01:57women's restroom and exposed himself to shoppers. In Virginia, a girl was sexually assaulted by a
02:03biological male in a woman's bathroom. In Oklahoma, a young woman was beaten for daring to say she was
02:11uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with a man. This is not theoretical. These aren't just random
02:19incidents. This is an epidemic. They are the natural, predictable consequence of policies which
02:26pretend biology doesn't matter. These are the policies of the left, the policies of Democrats
02:31that say follow the science. Except for women, we don't care about you. We hate you. We want to take
02:36everything away from you. We won't follow the science on this one. We've opened the door for
02:42predators to abuse women and girls. Our daughters. Our daughters are growing up with something we never
02:49had to distinguish when our generation was growing up. We're putting our daughters in imminent danger,
02:58in harm's way, and this has to stop. Women shouldn't be forced to share their private spaces with men. This
03:04amendment says we're going back to reality. Privacy and safety matters. Dignity matters. Women matter.
03:11And I encourage my colleagues to protect all women. And I urge all members to support this
03:17amendment. I reserve the balance of my time. Gentlewoman from South Carolina reserves. For
03:21what purpose does the gentlewoman from California seek to be recognized? Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim
03:27the time in opposition to the amendment. Gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. Thank you,
03:33Mr. Chairman. I yield to myself such time as I may consume. Trans people, including trans service
03:39members, deserve basic human dignity and common decency of safely using the restroom. But besides
03:45that, let's take the gentlelady's point at face value. She wants to protect women. Great. So do I.
03:52Bathroom bans do not protect women. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law even did a
03:58study on it. And there is zero evidence that allowing trans people to use the correct bathroom increases the
04:04risk to others. In fact, it's actually opposite. We have seen that cis women are harassed when people
04:10try and enforce or decree bathroom bans. Earlier this year, at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Minnesota,
04:17a server followed a teenage girl into the women's restroom and demanded she prove she was a girl.
04:23When the server didn't believe her, she unzipped her hoodie to show she had breasts. That is the actual
04:30reality of bathroom bans and even the idea of bathroom bans. Harassment, discrimination, and body
04:36exams. We don't need service members acting like vigilantes to enforce this policy either by
04:42surveillance, profiling, or physical inspections. Are service women go through enough? We shouldn't be
04:47inviting even more harassment. And we don't need this amendment opening up the Pentagon and the entire
04:53U.S. government to a massive lawsuit. This isn't good policy. This doesn't protect women.
04:57This is based on misinformation, and I urge my colleagues to vote no. I reserve.
05:03Gentlewoman reserves. Gentlewoman from South Carolina is recognized.
05:07How much time remains?
05:09Two minutes.
05:10Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ironic that my colleague says that women are harassed going into the bathroom.
05:15Well, that might be because nobody wants a transgender, tranny person in the bathroom with
05:21them. No one wants biological men in women's spaces. And because of this wacko ideology,
05:27not based in science, is now pervasive. We're teaching it in schools. We're forcing kids
05:31to use pronouns. And we want to protect women because the left has gone so far. Not just the
05:37left. This is mainstream Democrat policy going after our girls. And you heard my colleague
05:45say there's no evidence. Literally after I read evidence of incidences of trannies in private
05:51spaces assaulting women and underage girls, our daughters, kids. They say no evidence exists.
05:59That's because Democrats will not show you or tell you or share with you the facts. But the
06:07average American, we see it every day now. It's everywhere. And people are sick and tired of it.
06:14And if they want this harassment to stop, then the trannies need to stop harassing the rest of
06:20America. This is not what the American people want. It's not what they voted for. And they say
06:25that our service members, our service women in uniform go through enough. You're right. That's why we
06:31don't want this happening. That's why we want to protect them. In their most intimate moments in the
06:37dressing room, no man should be watching them. And they talk about lawsuits. We don't want more
06:42lawsuits. I find it ironic because it's Democrats who sue states and sue Republican parties over
06:49congressional lines and apportionment and all those things that tie our U.S. elections up in
06:54lawsuits. It's their party, not ours. We're just fighting back and we're going to protect every
06:59woman and girl, every single daughter in the United States, but particularly for our service members,
07:05our women in uniform, the Republican parties, the party of common sense, we're the party of normal,
07:09we're the party of women. Thank you. And I yield back. Gentlewoman yields. The gentlewoman from
07:14California is recognized. Thank you. I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico,
07:19Ms. Leger Fernandez. Gentlewoman is recognized. Thank you. Republicans have a series of amendments
07:26targeting trans people and the ability of service member parents to make decisions about the health
07:35care for their children. All of these amendments, including this one, do not do anything to make
07:42us safer or to honor our commitment to the servicemen and women who are willing to give their lives to
07:49this country. These amendments are part of a culture war that is intended to make Americans angry,
07:56divided, and fearful. They want to rename it the Department of War because they are in a war
08:03against the idea that the American life is something that includes all of us, that we can
08:10all belong. Their proposed facilities ban is a huge violation of privacy and would make all women and girls
08:18less safe. Will Republicans require menstrual monitoring, checking reproductive organs, as has happened,
08:27as my colleague pointed out? Girls and women who are tall, strong, and gender non-conforming,
08:33are already being questioned and yelled at. Republicans seem to always want to dictate from
08:39D.C. what we can do with our bodies, and that's not freedom. I stand with all our service members,
08:47including our trans service members, who are willing to fight and die for our freedoms. I'm going to fight
08:55for their freedom to boo who they are, to fight for an America where we all belong. We should not be at war
09:05with each other. We all belong. I yield back.
09:10The gentlelady from New Mexico yields back. The gentlelady from California is recognized.
09:14May I inquire how much time is left?
09:16The gentlelady has one and a half minutes from Annie.
09:19Thank you. I would just like to point
09:22out that I think it's very interesting that my colleague from South Carolina is so obsessed with
09:28the issue of trans people, using horrible slurs to talk about them, when many people in this body
09:36have received gender-affirming care. Filler is gender-affirming care. Boob jobs is gender-affirming
09:42care. Botox is gender-affirming care. Lots of my colleagues have received gender-affirming
09:47care. Let me be clear. I think everyone should have access to the gender-affirming care that
09:52they need, and I think we should respect everybody in this country. With that, I yield back.
