[Page S1513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Protecting Women and Girls in Sports

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, this body knows from just my 
conversations in the hallways that I am a proud dad of two amazing 
daughters. They are remarkable young ladies that I am terribly proud 
of.
  I was also one of those dads that was up way before dawn when they 
were in middle school and high school because they were cross-country 
runners. Cross-country runners in high school have a long-term saying 
that their sport is other sports' punishment.
  They are there at 6 a.m., stretching out and running a mile so they 
then can prepare to go run 5 or 6 more just to be able to get ready for 
cross-country meets in the fall. They were remarkable athletes in high 
school and enjoyed that.
  They ran with guys and ladies when they were training, in all of 
their time in the training time, because the team was a team of guys 
and girls. But when they actually got to the competition day, my 
daughters competed against other girls in that competition because what 
we all know to be a fact, to be true, is that boys in cross-country 
that are training for cross-country and girls that are training in 
cross-country--both great athletes--have different times to the finish 
line. That is just a reality. It is not one negative on another. It is 
not diminishing one to another. It is a reality.
  In the last Summer Olympics, the woman who was a remarkable athlete 
that won the women's marathon as the greatest runner of our time, when 
she came in as the Gold Medal winner, her time would have been beaten 
by 67 of the men who ran in the Olympics in the same sport, same 
distance, same track--gold medalist for the women. The top 67 men 
running in the marathon would have beaten her.
  Where am I going with this? This is common sense that we all know and 
that we have all seen in our own families and in communities. It is the 
reason that we have protected women's' sports for years to be able to 
make sure that women and girls have the ability to be able to have 
great competition, to enjoy the joy of sports and all the lessons that 
you learn from sports, and to be able to have equal competition levels.
  But in the past few years--really, very, very recently in our 
country--there is a movement to be able to say if a biological male, 
transgender individual, wants to be able to compete in the women's 
sports area, they should be allowed to do that.
  The question is, Whom is that fair to? Is that fair to this 
transgender individual or is that fair to the other female athletes? 
Because culturally, there seems to be a push to say I don't care if it 
is unfair to the female athletes. I picked this one transgender 
individual, and I want to be fair to them.
  I look at a whole team of other folks to say: Whom is this fair to? 
This seems like basic common sense that 15 years ago wouldn't even have 
been a dialogue in our country. Fifty years ago, it wouldn't even have 
been in discussion in our country, but now we are having this dialogue. 
This is not about disrespect for any individual or the rights of 
individuals to be able to make choices in their own life. It is about 
respecting the rights of women and girls in their sport to be able to 
compete on a level playing field to make sure they are able to thrive 
in their sport the same as men are able to thrive in their sport and to 
enjoy the thrill of competition without the intimidation of someone 
crossing over into their sport to be able to take it away from them. It 
doesn't seem reasonable.
  For some reason, in this room, contrary to the rest of the country, 
this is some kind of irrational conversation. It is not. It is 
basically common sense. But in this room, we just had a vote this week 
to be able to say women should compete in women's sports, and men 
should compete in men's sports.
  In that vote, just to begin the debate on the bill to say let's open 
it up for amendment, let's talk about this as a concept, every single 
Republican for just that simple of a bill said: Let's start debate on 
this and figure out where we are going to go.
  Every single Democrat said: I don't want to even debate this. This is 
not up for discussion.
  Well, it is up for discussion, but where it is up for discussion is 
in homes and families and communities all over the country because in 
homes and families and communities all over the country, there are lots 
of dads like me of amazing daughters that are saying: I don't want my 
daughter to compete against a biological male because there are 
inherent advantages in some sports and in some speeds just based on 
bone density and muscle structure.
  Again, it is not negative toward female or male on that. It is 
reality and basic biology.
  Families across the country are talking about this, and for some 
reason this room is allergic to talk about it. Well, we are going to 
continue to be able to bring this up because Americans have an 
expectation that this is going to be resolved. I am grateful to 
President Trump that he has rescinded the Biden administration's 
Executive order allowing transgender individuals to compete in girls' 
sports. That is a good thing. That sets ladies across the country at 
ease to say: Let's go play soccer; let's go run in cross-country; let's 
go do the sports we want to be able to do and not have to worry about 
somebody hitting me in the face at high speed in a volleyball game but 
to go compete on a level playing field.
  That is a good thing. But it is an Executive order. That means it 
doesn't last from President to President to President. I don't know 
what the next President is going to do, but I think I know where 
Americans are still going to be.
  They are going to want to say: Let's compete. We may all train 
together; we may be all friends together; we may all hang out with each 
other at school, but when the competition comes, give me a fair, level 
playing field for competition and watch people compete and enjoy the 
sport. That is what sports have been about, at least that is what they 
used to be about. Now, they seem to be about political messaging 
instead.
  So we are going to continue to be able to bring this up. I am 
grateful to Coach Tuberville for the work he has done on this and 
grateful to President Trump for the work he has done on it. But it is 
unfinished business at this point, to the great frustration of a lot of 
families around the country, including in my own State of Oklahoma.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.