A feminine fencer who was disqualified from a event after refusing to compete in opposition to a transgender opponent advised members of Congress Wednesday she “felt betrayed” by the game’s governing physique, who she mentioned had “defrauded” her and “offered a lie.”
Stephanie Turner, 31, took a knee as a substitute of fencing in opposition to Redmond Sullivan, a 20-year-old who was born biologically male, at USA Fencing’s Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland on March 30.
Along with forfeiting the match, Turner was hit with a 12-month probation interval, inflicting her to step away from the game.
The evening earlier than the scheduled match in opposition to Sullivan, Turner recalled to the Home DOGE subcommittee, “I cried the entire evening and once more felt betrayed by USA Fencing.”
“I had already spent the cash on competitors charges and new tools, and spent hours coaching and refurbishing my tools,” she defined. “I felt trapped. I had been defrauded of a girls’s event and offered a lie by USA Fencing.”
“I had felt so remoted and strangled by USA Fencing for arguing with this transgender coverage that I felt scared to talk brazenly, on-line, or with mates within the fencing group.”
USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt, who claimed in an August 2023 weblog publish that “transgender girls are girls and gender is just not intercourse” mentioned that he hopes Turner reconsiders her time away from fencing — however declined to apologize when prompted by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
“Miss Turner … stays free to enter tournaments and free to compete,” he mentioned.
Lehfeldt additionally argued that considerations over transgender athletes in fencing are moot as a result of USA Fencing additionally places on blended gender competitions — despite the fact that the occasion by which Turner and Sullivan had been matched was particularly for ladies and never mixed-gender.
Turner accused USA Fencing of being “unbelievably demeaning” by attributing feminine losses to transgender rivals to a “ability situation.”
“Throughout the USA Fencing authoritative physique, there’s a tradition of intimidation in the direction of girls which calls for that we be silent when males enter our tournaments,” she added. “A tradition that features public humiliation, doxxing, social ostracization, dismissal and even threats.”
GOP lawmakers on the panel took turns showering reward on Turner and her fellow witness, former volleyball participant Payton McNabb, for his or her “bravery,” whereas delivering stern rebukes of Lehfeldt.
“Feminine athletes ought to by no means be compelled to compete in opposition to mentally ailing, organic males who parade round in girls’s garments,” subcommittee chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pressured through the listening to.
“Nobody is right here at present to hurt transgenders,” she added. “We’re right here to defend women and girls, and we’re right here to defend Title IV and to uphold President Trump’s govt order that every one organic males keep out of women and girls’s sports activities.”
McNabb was knocked out throughout a highschool volleyball recreation three years in the past after a transgender rival spiked a ball in her face — and recounted feeling “helpless” when she came upon a organic male was being allowed to compete.
“Neither my workforce nor the administration agreed that we must be taking part in in opposition to a male,” she mentioned. “However the recreation went on.”
Since her preliminary damage, McNabb has suffered a concussion, imaginative and prescient issues and partial paralysis, amongst different well being illnesses.
“It’s fully aggravating as a result of the damage I suffered was 100% avoidable if solely my rights as a feminine athlete had been extra vital than a person’s emotions,” mentioned McNabb, who’s now an envoy for the Impartial Girls’s Discussion board.
In the meantime Democrats repeatedly tried to undercut the listening to and needle Republicans for have the DOGE panel look into transgenderism.
“We’re not even gonna name it the DOGE subcommittee anymore. That is known as the Fencing Oversight Committee,” Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), the highest Democrat on the panel, chided at one level after unsuccessfully making an attempt to adjourn the listening to early.
On the finish of the listening to, Stansbury acknowledged Turner’s and McNabb’s experiences, however declined to name for ladies’s sports activities to be protected.
“I’m genuinely sorry to listen to that each of our younger girl witnesses who’re right here at present had horrible experiences,” she mentioned. “And I wish to acknowledge that … however I don’t want a bunch of GOP, Republican colleagues mansplaining at me for 3 hours.”
Democrats introduced Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the Nationwide Girls’s Legislation Middle, as their chief witness.
When pressed in regards to the bodily variations between women and men by Home Republican Convention Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Goss Graves downplayed the distinctions.
“I feel the place you’re making an attempt to go is, is there an inherent … distinction between women and men in all contexts? And the reply is not any,” she mentioned throughout a tense trade.
Mace, who like McClain was granted permission to hitch the listening to regardless of not being on the panel, additionally grilled Goss Graves.
“Mrs. Goss Graves, do girls have penises,” a stern-looking Mace requested, along with her glasses perched midway down her nostril. “Ought to younger ladies simply get used to penises of their locker rooms and showers?”
After getting reduce off from answering, Goss Graces shot again, “You don’t even know what you’re speaking about.”
Mace later chided, “That’s what you all are — groomers.”
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