The Breitbart News reported Feb. 4 that the Senate committee responsible for Education oversight held a confirmation hearing Wednesday (Feb. 3) in which Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a U.S. senator from Kentucky, asked Miguel Cardona (R-Ky.) whether allowing men who identify themselves as transgender to participate in women’s sports is “fair” and how this policy would affect women’s various sports and sporting events.
Rand Paul (R-KY) is a Kentucky physician and political figure; elected to the U.S. Senate in 2011 representing the Republican Party to date. Previously, Rand Paul was an ophthalmologist by profession and his father, Ron Paul, is a former Texas U.S. Representative and physician.
Miguel Cardona, who has served as Connecticut’s Secretary of Education since 2019, was nominated by Biden to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education.
Cardona replied, “I think it’s appropriate.” “It is the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities, which includes transgender students.”
Paul asked if he would enforce the rule issued by the Trump administration’s Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education that boys cannot play with girls at athletic events. Cardona replied, “If confirmed, it is my responsibility to ensure the civil rights of all students, and that includes the possibility of them [transgender people] playing high school sports or athletics.”
Paul went on to ask, “What is your overall opinion of men participating in women’s track and field? Like they did in Connecticut (Connecticut)?”
“I think it is critical that the …… education system and educators respect the rights of all students, including transgender students, and provide them with opportunities for other extracurricular activities that all students are required to participate in,” Cardona said in response to Senator Paul’s question.
Senator Paul went on to ask, “Don’t you have any idea that the top 20 percent in women’s athletics are all men, beating all the women in the state? That …… would …… completely destroy the women’s athletic ability, and wouldn’t that drive the girls out of the race? In this case, girls would not make the finals at the state level and would have no chance of winning a college scholarship, which is really harmful to women’s sports. Do you really have no concerns about men competing in girls’ track and field? “
Cardona replied, “I acknowledge and appreciate your concern and the frustration you express. There are families that feel the same way you just described and there are families of transgender students that I have talked to as commissioner of education. So I know it’s a challenge and I look forward to working with you and others ……”
Paul interjected and asked, “Do you think it is fair to allow boys to compete in girls’ track and field?”
Cardona insisted, “I think it’s appropriate …… I think it’s the school’s legal responsibility to provide opportunities for students to participate in events, and that includes transgender students.”
Paul further asked, “So you don’t have a problem with boys competing in girls’ track and field, swimming competitions? Is it okay for boys to compete with girls?”
Cardona said, “Honorable Senator, I think I answered the question,” “I believe schools should provide opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities, even if they are transgender. I think that’s their right.”
What Cardona actually declared was that it was appropriate to have a policy that would end girls’ sports, and Paul then responded to Cardona’s statement by saying, “It’s strange …… we have a lot of girls in our Family who have played college sports and some have won state titles. Frankly a 6’2 boy competing against my 5’4 niece doesn’t sound like it’s very fair. “
“I think most of the American public would think that’s odd, that’s totally weird and unfair to people, and the fact that you’re going to be in charge of the Department of Education soon, yet you have absolutely no problem with this policy, that concerns me. I think this kind of thing really leads the vast majority of Americans to wonder, you guys think there’s nothing wrong with men and women playing together, what are you all, what planet are you from? I mean, the people who make the policy think that it’s OK and somehow fair for men and women to compete together in track and field.”
Paul asked, “I want to know what feminists have to say about this.” “I want to know where the people who support women’s sports are. I mean, do we feel okay seeing 6-foot-plus men and women on the same stage?
Paul then commented on the evasive manner in which Cardona answered the question, Paul said, “That answer just doesn’t make sense. So it seems to me that you are afraid to answer the question, or you are basically affirming the policy but not saying explicitly that you agree with it. That kind of answer is a problem. This policy is completely out of touch with what the average middle-class American and the majority of Americans think. I don’t even think most Democrats believe, either, that girls should be on the same stage as boys or that boys should be involved in girls’ athletic programs.
Paul asserted, “So I’m disappointed in your answer, and I just can’t imagine that we’re going to have a policy like this across America.”
U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), from Massachusetts, also expressed concern about Cardona’s response. Romney said, “I think I would agree with some of the issues that Senator Paul raised.” He added, “I rarely do. But he raises very, very good points.”
“I have a picture of eight granddaughters behind me, and a couple of grandchildren. They shouldn’t have to compete with someone who is physically completely different. And I think in sports, boys should just compete with boys and girls should compete with girls. “
Cardona was spotted by Biden after serving as superintendent of schools in Connecticut. In Connecticut, three high school girls filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the state on the grounds that Connecticut forced them to compete with several boys who claimed to be transgender. The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” said Alliance Defending Freedom representative Christiana Holcomb. Women have fought and fought long and hard for the equal athletic opportunities provided by Title IX of the Education Law Amendments (ELA). Allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports would reverse the progress women have gained in the last 50 years. We should not force these young women to be spectators on the playing field.”
The Trump Administration said last May that Connecticut’s policy of allowing boys to compete as women violated women’s civil rights. The following month, the Trump administration’s Department of health and Human Services reinstated the biological definition of sex discrimination in federal health care regulations.
However, on his first day in office, Biden said he would issue an executive order removing legal recognition of both genders and granting transgender people broad rights, including the ability for transgender people to participate in single-gender sports.
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