Equality Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. STEUBE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5.

To begin, I would like to echo the comments of my colleagues and express my deep concern for the grave consequences this bill would have for religious freedom. This bill would deny religious organizations their religious liberty rights guaranteed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and force many religious institutions to go against their beliefs or risk being in violation of the law. As a nation we cannot turn our back on our religious liberties.

Now, while the religious freedom aspects of this legislation are by far the most egregious, there is also another area of serious concern-- the effects of the legislation on female athletes at all levels of sporting competition across our country.

Twice during the consideration of this bill, I have offered an amendment to ensure that our daughters are provided an equal playing field in sports for generations to come and that female athletes are not competing against male athletes for athletic scholarships and title IX funding. And twice partisan politics have stopped this commonsense proposal from being added to this bill.

This provision would have simply guaranteed that biological women are not forced to compete against biological men at all levels of athletic competition. Science has proven time and time again that there is a significant performance difference between biological males and females from puberty onward.

From percentage of lean muscle, to heart size, to body fat, to joint angles, the bodies of men and women are distinctly unique and produce a vast difference in performance ability when it comes to certain activities. In fact, there is an average 10- to 12-percent performance gap between elite biological male and female athletes.

These differences are largely due to the large influx of testosterone males receive during puberty. Science is very clear here--there is no doubt that testosterone is the reason that biological men, as a group, perform better than women in sports. That is why both men and women dope with androgens that are high in testosterone.

On average, in elite biological male athletes, there is 30 times more testosterone present, leading to physical characteristics that almost guarantee a higher rate of success in sporting events. But don't take my word for it.

Here are examples: CeCe Telfer, a biological male, won three titles in the Northeast-10 Championships for women's track and received the Most Outstanding Track Athlete award.

Fallon Fox, a biological male, shattered female fighter Tamikka Brents' eye socket and gave her a concussion. Brents said she never felt so overpowered in her life.

Gabrielle Ludwig, a 50-year-old, 6-foot-8-inch, 230-pound biological male led the Mission College women's basketball team to a national championship with the most rebounds.

The list goes on and on. I, for one, don't think it is fair or equal to make young, biological women compete against biological males. This bill claims to fight for equality, but it seems to be far from equal for the young, female athletes across our country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source