DOGE Subcommittee Chairwoman Greene Opens Hearing on Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports

WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) today delivered opening remarks at a hearing on “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” In her remarks, she outlined several consequences of allowing men to compete in women’s sports, including violations of federal law, unfairness to female athletes, and potential physical harm. She emphasized that a majority of Americans support keeping men out of women’s sports and pledged to continue fighting to preserve women’s sports exclusively for women.

Below are Subcommittee Chairwoman Greene’s remarks as prepared for delivery.

Good afternoon, and welcome everyone. 

Female athletes should never be forced to compete against mentally ill, biological men who parade around in women’s clothes.  

But we’ll hear from witnesses today who had to face off against biological male competitors. This led one to suffer a life-altering physical injury from a volleyball spike. The other was thrown out of a recent fencing competition for refusing to compete against a man.  

Why is this happening when we have federal laws on the books intended to foster women’s sports?

Back in 1972, Congress adopted Title IX, to create and protect equal athletic opportunity for girls and women in schools and colleges. Congress included similar language in legislation governing other amateur sports competitions. 

The law chartering the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, for instance, authorizes the Olympic Committee to recognize and empower National Governing Bodies to oversee individual sports on a national level. That includes determining how athletes are chosen to represent the U.S. in the Olympic Games and other international competitions. These NGBs, such as USA Fencing, have statutory duties and obligations — including promoting equal athletic opportunity for women. 

Specifically, NGBs are to, “provide equitable support and encouragement for participation by women where separate programs for male and female athletes are conducted on a national basis.”

Yet, USA Fencing makes a mockery out of women’s fencing by allowing biological males to compete in its women’s fencing competitions. We understand there are roughly two-hundred biological males competing in the USA Fencing women’s division. This includes males who have won national titles and represented the U.S. in international competition—in women’s fencing. 

We subpoenaed the board chair of USA Fencing, Damian Lehfeldt, to appear here today. We did so because the board is responsible for setting USA Fencing policies—and for ensuring those policies comply with federal law. At a recent board meeting where Mr. Lehfeldt presided, the board determined it would change its policy on transgender athletes if – and only if – forced to do so.  

Sound science shows that men have numerous physical advantages over women that create unfair and potentially dangerous competitions. Such physical advantages are significant in fencing, according to a letter we received from USA Fencing Board member Andrey Geva—a coach of Olympians and world champions. “Transgender women fencers have significant advantages in women’s competitions,” he writes, citing advantages in body size, reach, shoulder width, muscle development, explosive strength and recovery capacity.

And a United Nations report issued last year finds that testosterone suppression does not eliminate the advantage of biological males. “To avoid the loss of a fair opportunity,” it concludes, “males must not compete in the female categories of sport.” 

But it’s not surprising that the USA Fencing policy on trans competitors ignores the science. The board is not shy about putting politics ahead of the sport, ahead of women, and ahead of the law.

In selecting sites for its national fencing events, for instance, the board policy is to avoid states whose laws and policies on LGBTQ rights and abortion it opposes. It uses “Equality Maps” to determine which states to blacklist from its competitions, and which to favor. This ends up favoring a lot of blue states and harming a lot of red ones. So, it creates politically-determined winners and losers—but it has absolutely nothing to do with fencing. And it contradicts USA Fencing’s statutory duty as an NGB to “develop interest and participation throughout the United States” in fencing.

Recently, the board even voted against playing the national anthem at its events.  

So, we shouldn’t be surprised the board opposed the creation of an all-female task force to re-evaluate its transgender policy. And it has never surveyed its membership on the simple question, “Do you support transgender athletes competing in women’s competitions?”

Notably, Americans broadly have been polled on that question. And the response is overwhelming. A New York Times/Ipsos Poll this past January found 94 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of Democrats, and 64 percent of Independents agree: Keep men out of women’s sports.

Americans also re-elected President Trump in November. And he spoke on their behalf in February, when he issued his Executive Order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.

The United States is hosting the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028. It’s a great time for us to once again take the lead in protecting and preserving the ability of women to engage in safe, fair athletic competition, by keeping biological men out of women’s sports. 

A United Nations report issued last August noted female athletes worldwide have lost out on numerous medal opportunities. Due to policies allowing males to compete in the women’s category, more than 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports.

I don’t want any more women missing out on medal opportunities, avoiding athletic competitions, or missing out on college scholarships.

And I don’t want to see any more girls or women getting hurt. 

We cannot and should not forget the gruesome injury suffered by one of our witnesses today, Payton McNabb. It happened when she was spiked in the head by a male athlete who identified as transgender. 

This is why I look forward to fighting and winning the battle to keep men out of women’s sports, alongside President Trump and brave women like Stephanie and Payton.