At Wednesday's House DOGE Committee hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) questioned the head of USA Fencing about the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports, and the contents of his blog and the USA Fencing website.
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00:00Kentucky. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to start with a quick round of yes or no questions for each of our four witnesses, so please keep your answers from our first two questions to yes or no for time's sake. First question, do you believe biological men should compete in women's sports? Ms. Turner? No. Ms. McNabb? No. Mr. Leifelt? If they comply with the requirements, sir.
00:23So is that a yes or no? It's if they comply with the requirements that have been set by our policy. They deserve to compete. By the President's policy? By the policy of USA fencing. Ms. Graves, I'm going to take that as a yes. Ms. Graves? I agree with Mr. Leifelt that trans women should be able to compete in the sport in accordance with their gender identity. So two no's and two yes's. Second and last
00:53question for yes or no. Should biological men be able to get scholarships to college in women's sports? Ms. Turner? No. Ms. McNabb? No. Mr. Leifelt? They can't get them anymore, sir. They can't get them anymore. So do you believe yes or no they should? Do you have a personal opinion on that? I don't really have an opinion on that, sir. Ms. Graves? I'm actually concerned about the tens of thousands
01:21of women in this country who play college sports who have fewer scholarship opportunities than men. This would actually be a really important issue. So you are concerned that a man would get a college scholarship that should go to a woman? It's my understanding that there's less than 10 transgender women playing sports, but I know that there are tens of thousands of women who have fewer scholarship opportunities. Mr. Leifelt, on the website, I know my colleague Mr. Timmons talked about it, there are some troubling
01:51statements. There's a page titled, and I think he referenced it, Power and Privilege. This page promotes woke content stating that people who are white, Christian, middle class, English speaking are all privileged, and we should be asking if they're, quote, the right person to take up space or speak on certain issues. Your blog and social media posts consistently express similar views, so I assume you support the ideas on that webpage?
02:18Mr. Sir, I'm not, I'm not sure about the specific area of the webpage that you're referring to. As a board member, I focus primarily on governance, and you know, if there's something that's operational, I stay very far away from that.
02:32So you disavow your website?
02:36Is it, I'm just not sure of the specific area of the website, is it my website, is it the USA fencing website, sir?
02:43It's the USA fencing website.
02:45Okay, okay, I just am not familiar with the area that you're referring to, sir.
02:49Okay, the reason we, the reason that's odd is because your blog that we looked at expresses similar views, so, because I, you know, you appear to be white, English speaking male, like me, so I didn't know, you know, that was just an odd, odd opinion.
03:07You don't have any comment on that?
03:10You don't know anything about it?
03:11I'm just, sir, in all honesty, I'm not, not following the question.
03:14You're not following the question about the USA fencing website that has just a lot of, you know, concerning content on there that some would consider racist, discriminatory, or you don't have any, that's not a concern or anything?
03:33I just, if you link me to the specific part of the website, I could get back to you with an opinion, but I'm just not following where it is.
03:38Okay, we'll get you, we'll get you a copy of your website that Mr. Timmons just, just referenced.
03:44So, Mr. Leifelt, let me ask a simple question.
03:50Do you support transgender women, which are biological men, competing in women's events?
03:57If they comply with the policy, sir.
03:59Which policy, what, what, whose policy are you going by?
04:05What, what, is that your, should that be the policy?
04:08Should men be allowed?
04:10You're, you're a leader in this.
04:12Show some leadership.
04:13Should, should men be able to compete in women's fencing?
04:18Sir, our policy was passed in 2022 prior to my joining the board, but right now, anybody who goes through one year.
04:24So, so you're okay with it, you're okay with it, you don't have a problem in the world with it, you knew this hearing was coming up, you knew this was the topic of the conversation, you don't have an opinion on the policy, are you going to change the policy?
04:40Sir, we, we've passed a contingency policy at this time, due to the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act, our council has advised us that we cannot have a policy that's more restricted than our international federation.
04:52I want to be clear that if Congress, or the IOC, or the FIE, or International Federation, changes the policy to ban transgender participation, we will of course follow suit.
05:02Well, look, I think the people, the majority of this Congress is committed to protecting women and women's sports.
05:11NBC News poll asked, when asked if they agree or disagree with transgender women competing in women's sports, 75% disagreed.
05:19This is one of those 80-20 issues that my colleagues on the other side want to, the hill they want to down.
05:26So, we're going to try to protect women's sports.
05:27Thank you for having this hearing, Madam Chair, and I yield back.
05:31Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
05:33Madam Chair, I'd like to ask for unanimous consent.