Democrats seem to want to deconstruct society in a very Orwellian way. Up is down, right is wrong, men are women, and who can define what women are anyway? And if you question the narrative that seems to erase biology, women, and sense, you are the bigot.
But it was hard to deny the power of the testimony of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan as she described to the members of Congress in a hearing what it was like being forced to change in front of biological male Lia Thomas. We’ve written about Scanlan’s efforts to advance the movement to protect women in sports. On Thursday, Scanlan spoke at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing on “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care.'” We also reported on Rep. Wesley Hunt going full “girl dad” during the hearing, saying that his young daughters would not be changing in a locker room with men.
Scanlan pointed out how women aren’t even allowed to object – that their free speech is squashed and labeled “transphobic, bigoted, and hateful.” Women are just told to put up and shut up about the biological male in the women’s locker room.
“What’s bigoted and hateful is the discrimination against women and the efforts to erase women,” Scanlan declared. Scanlan described how she had been sexually assaulted as a 16-year-old, and these policies being pushed ignore women and their experiences. She asked the politicians to put aside their politics and listen to the impact this issue was having on women, to listen to what she had to say.
It was hard to get around what she was saying, even for Democrats who normally try to avoid such sense like the plague, like Rep. Steven Cohen (D-TN). Cohen had to acknowledge Scanlan. But in doing so, he accidentally admitted the reality and the power of both walls and women.
Cohen said transgender people had “been around a long time,” and they had “rights” that “need to be respected. How about women’s rights, Steve?
“I read Ms. Scanlan’s testimony; I wasn’t here to hear it,” Cohen said. “And I think Penn didn’t deal with your situation like they could have and should have, in putting up some type of different barriers in the, in the women’s area of the locker room. But that’s another issue. Things should be dealt with in a different way.” Then he went right on to claim that people were picking on a “minority group” without even realizing what he just admitted.
Um, Steve? It’s called a wall and a different locker room. He didn’t seem to understand that he just acknowledged that women are women and different from biological men. Not to mention the validity of the “barrier” or wall to provide women their own space to change in private. Congratulations, Steve, you just “invented” separate locker rooms. What a concept. Sounds like Steve’s the “bigot” now. Why is he picking on trans people?
But the very fact that Cohen has to acknowledge reality shows how flawed and damaging the Democrats’ argument here is – they can’t even hold it up themselves.