[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 23, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H569-H573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DANGER OF GENDER IDENTITY POLITICS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) is
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the
minority leader.
General Leave
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from
Louisiana, for that very heartfelt time recognizing Mr. Letlow and his
family. Our hearts are with them.
I now move on to another topic that is also very, very important to
all of us and to America, and it deals with a bill that will be on the
floor this week.
It is shamefully called the Equality Act, but it shreds the
principles of protecting our children. In fact, under this
[[Page H570]]
bill, children, beginning with the womb, will be targeted and
victimized.
Under this bill, children in the classroom will be bombarded with
unscientific, confusing materials questioning the reality of their
biological sex.
Under this bill, children struggling with gender dysphoria will be
pushed toward medical treatments and even surgical procedures, which
will disrupt their natural development and may leave them sterile and
physically altered for life.
Under this bill, children's privacy will be violated when locker
rooms, restrooms, and homeless shelters will no longer be single sex.
Under this bill, parents may face custody battles for making healthy,
wholesome choices for their children's health.
This scenario was not hypothetical for the Ohio couple who lost
custody of their daughter for not affirming hormonal treatments.
Under this bill, foster care and adoption agencies will be forced to
shutter. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The so-called Equality Act jeopardizes the well-being of our
children. It jeopardizes the role of parents, the privacy and safety of
vulnerable women, the competitive edge of female athletes, the
livelihood of charities and businesses, and the integrity of our
healthcare system.
We demand better for our children and their futures, and we will not
be silent. We are here tonight to expose the Equality Act for what it
is, a far-reaching policy that will upend all aspects of life, and turn
basic decency and common sense into discrimination.
I appreciate my colleagues who have joined me tonight to let America
know why this bill must be defeated.
Madam Speaker, first, I would like to yield to the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Harris), my friend and colleague who is a practicing
anesthesiologist.
Mr. HARRIS. Madam Speaker, this bill, the Equality Act, is nothing
more than an identity politic sellout, a thinly veiled attempt to
attack and coerce individuals who hold serious and legitimate concerns
or objections to things like parental rights to make healthcare
decisions for their children; the ability of women to compete on an
equal athletic playing field; and even medical procedures like
sterilization and abortion.
I am a physician and I have been practicing medicine for over 35
years. This bill, if enacted, would mandate that healthcare
practitioners and even facilities like Catholic hospitals would be
forced to provide and participate in procedures like abortion, which
ends a human life.
We should all be able to agree that a Catholic hospital should never
be compelled by the government to offer procedures like abortion that
they morally object to in the strongest possible terms.
Furthermore, if society continues to support politically correct
gender identity politics, the science is becoming clearer that gender
dysphoria, especially in children, is a psychiatric condition that in
most cases will resolve itself with time.
Instead, however, this bill would require parents to allow
irreversible medical interventions for their children, children who may
even be prepubescent, resulting in sterilization, and oftentimes later
regret.
{time} 2015
Scientific data confirms that many who undergo gender transition
continue to deal with serious depression, even after full transition.
And the poorly named ``Equality Act'' would mandate that medical
professionals accept and support the desire of their patients to
undergo these invasive procedures, even if they have professional or
conscience objections.
Madam Speaker, in response, I will be reintroducing the Conscience
Protection Act this week. My bill will protect healthcare providers
from being required to perform abortions or sterilizations and allow
them to continue practicing medicine without duress or coercion from
their employer or perhaps even their patients.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor my bill, and I
oppose the so-called Equality Act on the floor this week.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Harris, and I appreciate
his firsthand experience and thoughts on this very, very, serious
matter.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn),
cochair of the Values Action Team.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri for
her courage and backbone in supporting these vital social issues.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on the dangers of H.R. 5, the
so-called Equality Act. This bill would have disastrous effects on our
culture. H.R. 5 will not only turn the Civil Rights Act on its head, it
would harass individuals and entities who are merely seeking to
exercise their sincerely held religious beliefs.
Under the current text, countless faith-based businesses and
nonprofits across the country would simply cease to exist. I am not
convinced that my colleagues across the aisle understand the far-
reaching consequences of the so-called Equality Act. The reality is
that churches could be forced to violate their beliefs simply to stay
open if it were enforced as written.
This awful legislation also creates fundamental inequalities for many
Americans. Parents sending their kids to public schools would live in
fear that their young daughter would have to use the same locker room
or restroom as a man because the Equality Act would open the door to
biological males self-identifying as females.
I have introduced an amendment to the Equality Act protecting
accommodations choosing to designate private, single-sex spaces, such
as restrooms or locker rooms. I hope the Democrat majority allows a
vote on this commonsense amendment that tens of millions of American
parents want.
In addition, the so-called Equality Act would significantly
disadvantage women participating in sex-specific sports leagues. That
is why I have also introduced an amendment, originally filed as a bill
last Congress by Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard, protecting
equal opportunities for women and girls in high school and college
sports. This amendment of mine seeks to protect women and girls simply
wanting to compete against other biological women and girls on a level
playing field.
Women and children suffer when Democrat policies are enacted. Women's
sports, and the girls and young women who just simply want to compete
with other females on an equal basis, will be the victims of Democrat
policies.
Madam Speaker, I adamantly oppose the radical Equality Act, and I
hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take a stand and
oppose it as well.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Lamborn, such great remarks, so much common sense
there.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Green),
my friend, and an emergency room physician.
Mr. GREEN of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished
gentlewoman from Missouri for her leadership on this very important
issue.
Madam Speaker, as a physician, I know firsthand that this bill, H.R.
5, will force medical providers to surrender sound medical judgment and
their sincerely held convictions to politically fashionable dogmas.
According to the radical activists who seek to enshrine gender
identity in the Federal civil rights law, the only appropriate
treatment for a child struggling from gender dysphoria is gender
reassignment. That is it. Such procedures often lead to irreversible
damage, especially in adolescents. But under the Equality Act, medical
providers who object to performing these procedures will face crushing
legal liability if they refuse to comply. Every medical facility
receiving any Federal money will be given an ultimatum: Comply or shut
down.
Madam Speaker, if H.R. 5 becomes law, a doctor who refuses to perform
a mastectomy or a hysterectomy on an otherwise healthy teenage girl
seeking gender reassignment surgery, will be held liable for violating
the Federal law.
H.R. 5 even goes so far as to exempt itself from longstanding,
bipartisan Federal religious liberty protections--protections both
Congress and the Supreme Court have consistently upheld. A Catholic
hospital, following the commands of Scripture to serve the frail and
the poor will be forced to violate
[[Page H571]]
their very faith to comply and perform abortions or face financial
ruin.
Madam Speaker, as a physician, I took a sacred oath to do no harm and
to preserve the health of those in my care. If this bill becomes law,
many doctors will be forced to go against both their conscience and
their medical judgment.
Make no mistake, this is a death sentence for medicine and for the
sacred rights of conscience. Biology is not bigotry, and medicine is
not discrimination.
All Americans who do not wish to see medicine sacrificed to the
politically correct orthodoxy should stand up and oppose this bill.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Thank you, Dr. Green. That is excellent. ``Biology is
not bigotry.'' It seems like common sense, but we are not talking about
common sense with the Equality Act. And that is why we are here
tonight, to let the American people know about the ramifications, the
very serious, permanent ramifications of this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin),
another doctor, who I am proud to be joined by, who is a dentist from
Texas.
Please share your thoughts about this bill and what it is going to
mean to Americans.
Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from
Missouri for this opportunity.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in objection to the so-called Equality
Act. Once again, under the guise of equality, the left is prioritizing
its radical agenda over religious freedom, the well-being of children,
and the safety of women and girls.
As the father of three daughters and the grandfather of nine
granddaughters, I am outraged at the assault that this bill launches on
women in sports. And furthermore, as a healthcare practitioner, I am
infuriated at its blatant attack on the conscience rights and religious
freedoms of those in the healthcare industry.
This bill is not about preventing discrimination in medical
treatment, it is about forcing medical professionals to abandon their
conscience rights and medical judgment to comply with the left's
extreme views on gender.
The Equality Act would prohibit physicians from counseling children
with gender dysphoria. Instead, they would be required to administer
dangerous medical treatments, including puberty blockers, cross-sex
hormones, and surgeries.
This mandate contradicts science. Increasingly, we are finding that
these treatments compound these children's confusion rather than
solving it. The catastrophic effects leave children physically and
psychological scarred and often render them sterile. It is nothing
short of child abuse.
The left will not tolerate disagreement with its view on gender. They
provide no conscience protections and explicitly state that the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not apply to this new definition
of sex. Physicians refusing to perform these harmful treatments would
be punished, even if they object because of religious or moral
convictions.
The Equality Act is another attempt by the left to promote its
radical agenda and suppress everyone else who disagrees. We must fight
for the conscience rights and religious freedoms of our medical
professionals, and we must stop our children from being used as pawns
in the game of political correctness.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Well said, and I thank the gentleman so much.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs.
Fischbach), the first female president of the Minnesota Senate. She is
a mother of two and grandmother of five.
Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Hartzler for
putting this together. I appreciate the opportunity in making sure the
people in the country understand what is in this bill.
Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 5, the so-called Equality
Act. The reality of this bill is anything but equal. It is nothing more
than a thinly veiled attempt to force unreasonable mandates on our
institutions and restrict the liberties of the American people.
If this becomes law, Americans can expect government-imposed limits
on the free exercise of religious liberty, businesses forced to cover
the costs of abortions, and medical providers required to perform
abortions, even if it conflicts with their deeply held beliefs.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. So today, I rise
to speak on behalf of pro-life Americans in my district and across the
country who fear this legislation will be manipulated by the radical
left to impose its will and create a right to abortion right up to the
moment of birth.
Madam Speaker, a majority of Americans support at least some
restrictions on abortion, including making sure taxpayer funds are not
used to fund abortions. Instead of respecting the rights of all
Americans, this bill will impose a top-down abortion mandate that
interferes with the State and Federal laws that protect the right to
life and will force doctors, nurses, and other medical providers to
participate in abortion procedures, even if it goes against their own
sincerely held beliefs.
The previous administration made great strides in protecting
religious freedom and the liberties of all Americans. Unfortunately,
the new administration does not seem to value those cherished beliefs.
This bill will relegate the pro-life view to discrimination, redefine
gender, and require faith-based employers to pay for abortion in their
insurance offerings.
Madam Speaker, I oppose this legislation on behalf of the unborn who
do not have a voice. I oppose this legislation on behalf of my
constituents, many of whom hold beliefs that are in conflict with this
bill's radical ideology. And I oppose this bill on behalf of the
millions of Americans who know that life is a God-given gift worth
fighting for.
Madam Speaker, I oppose this bill and ask Members to do the same.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Thank you, Representative Fischbach. Life is precious,
and it is jeopardized under this very poor bill, and so thank you for
raising those points.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs.
Boebert), a volunteer counselor to incarcerated women.
Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding
time.
The Equality Act.
Madam Speaker, equality for who?
Where is the equality in this legislation for the young girls across
America who have to look behind their backs as they change in their
school locker rooms just to make sure there isn't a confused man trying
to catch a peek?
Where is the equality for women who have been sexually assaulted?
Under this legislation, their crisis counselor may be ``Alexis'' who
was actually born ``Alex.'' And they will have to talk to him about
their assault.
Where is the equality for parents who want and deserve the right to
raise their children, free from government overreach?
Under this proposal, Congress seeks to replace mom and dad with
bureaucrats. This isn't hyperbole. In Ohio, a mom and dad had their
child removed from their custody because they didn't allow their
daughter to undergo gender transition. Removed from their custody.
And so here we are. The left will lay down the rights and security of
millions of Americans, particularly young women, at the altar of gender
ideology.
Following the lead of liberal indoctrination camps, also called
colleges and universities, my colleagues on the left are committed to
advancing this radical ideology, the rights and sovereignty of
individual States be darned. So much for Federalism.
The power-hungry left will not slow down until every school, every
church, every workplace, every State, and every community adheres to
the left's definition of gender.
You disagree?
They will find you. They will imprison you. Or as we have seen, they
will even take your children. And let's make sure the American people
know this is only the beginning.
The Equality Act requires doctors to perform abortions, and they are
going to use your tax dollars to pay for them.
Once the left codifies their ideology, they will come for your
speech. It is already happening in Canada, where you can be fined and
imprisoned for misgendering someone.
[[Page H572]]
{time} 2030
Madam Speaker, they won't stop there. Nothing will ever satisfy the
left until there is complete and total compliance.
Madam Speaker, Scripture says, when speaking of those who have turned
their back on God, who have traded the truth for a lie: Professing to
be wise, they became fools.
I can think of no better description of the so-called Equality Act,
or inequality act, than this. The utter foolishness is astounding. Up
is down. Wrong is right. Left is right. Boys are girls and vice versa.
Madam Speaker, for the sake of our sons and daughters, for the sake
of parental rights, privacy, decency, and so much more, I urge my
colleagues to vote ``no'' on this horrendous legislation.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, so well said. Up is down, and right is
wrong.
Our last speaker is the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), a
doctor of education.
I want to thank the other colleagues who are here. We are running out
of time, but I want to thank Representative Rick Allen, who objects to
this bill, for being here as well.
Dr. Foxx, will you share, in closing, why we should oppose this bill
this week? I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina.
Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, our First Amendment is a powerful instrument
that has protected our most sacred freedoms for hundreds of years. Few
other countries provide the same protections and freedoms that our
First Amendment guarantees. Yet, today, these essential rights are
under attack.
H.R. 5 is the latest example of Democrats' misleading and partisan
manner of legislating. As a former educator and the Republican leader
of the Education and Labor Committee, I can tell you the bill may have
``equality'' in the title, but it certainly does not serve all
Americans.
The Equality Act would empower the government to interfere in how
regular Americans think, speak, and act. Specifically, it would amend
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make sexual orientation and gender
identity protected classes.
According to the National Review, this extreme legislation redefines
sex to include gender identity, undermines religious freedom, gives
males who identify as females the right to women's spaces, and sets a
dangerous political precedent for the medicalization of gender-confused
youth.
Under H.R. 5, our Nation's K-12 schools would be forced to treat
gender as being fluid, subjective, and not tied to biological reality.
Government intervention often causes more harm than good. I've spent
my time in Congress working to protect individual freedoms from
unnecessary bureaucratic burdens. I recognize that a strong family is
vital to our nation's progress and prosperity, which is why I've worked
to advance legislation that allows families to flourish and protects
life at all stages. It is unconscionable that in America, where we
fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we tolerate this
systematic extermination of on entire generation. The right to life
demands that we protect our Nation's most vulnerable, including the
unborn.
Our First Amendment is a powerful instrument that has protected our
most sacred freedoms for hundreds of years. Few other countries provide
the same protections and freedoms that our First Amendment guarantees.
We are the `land of the free' because of it. Our individual liberties
are the envy of people around the world and they are the cornerstone of
the world's oldest democracy.
Yet today, these essential rights are under attack.
H.R. 5 is the latest example of Democrats' misleading and partisan
manner of legislating.
As a former educator and the Republican Leader of the Education and
Labor Committee, I can tell you that the bill may have ``equality'' in
the title, but it certainly does not serve ALL Americans.
This legislation has a clever name and an allegedly noble purpose,
but it is a vehicle for serious, harmful consequences.
The Equality Act would empower the government to interfere in how
regular Americans think, speak, and act. Specifically, it would amend
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make sexual orientation and gender
identity protected classes. According to the National Review, this
extreme legislation ``redefines sex to include gender identity,
undermines religious freedom, gives males who identify as females the
right to women's spaces, and sets a dangerous political precedent for
the medicalization of gender-confused youth.''
Under H.R. 5, our nation's K-12 schools would be forced to treat
gender as being fluid, subjective, and not tied to biological reality.
The bill would undermine Title IX protections for girls by outlawing
sex-based athletic competitions.
Even more troubling is the bill's meticulous and intentional
destruction of religious freedom protections.
Religiously affiliated colleges and universities that maintain
student codes of conduct, hiring practices, or housing rules reflecting
sincerely held beliefs about marriage and sexuality risk losing federal
funding under the Equality Act, as such policies would be deemed
discriminatory.
Beloved secular private colleges that maintain single sex admissions
policies, like Smith College and Morehouse College, could be forced to
change their policies or forego federal funding.
In Virginia, we've already seen the displeasure amongst parents
regarding such policy implementation. In an opinion piece published by
the Washington Post in 2019, a former middle and high school teacher
whose children attend Arlington Public Schools said, ``It would erode
parents' rights over their children's education, corrode Title IX
protections for girls and risk convincing healthy, normally developing
boys and girls that their bodies are wrong and must be altered with
hormones and be vandalized by surgical instruments.''
The bill also lacks any pro-life protections, which is why I am
submitting my amendment that will protect religiously affiliated groups
and individuals from participating in or funding abortions.
This bill is a brazen attempt to replace longstanding constitutional
rights with the identity politics of the moment.
We've entered treacherous waters by considering legislation that
stifles proven, bipartisan solutions and, more seriously, our Bill of
Rights. It's outrageous that Democrats would advertise these proposals
as guaranteeing fundamental civil and legal rights.
Madam Speaker, as elected Representatives, we all strive for equality
before the law, but H.R. 5 is another classic example of Democrats
passing a bill now and figuring out what it means later.
This is no way to legislate.
Mrs. HARTZLER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, the Equality Act's supporters claim it
will protect students from discrimination, but in reality it makes
schools more dangerous and unfair for everyone.
By expanding the definition of ``sex'' to include self-declared
gender identity, it requires schools to allow biological males into
girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and sport events usually
reserved for women.
And by incorporating sexual orientation and gender identity into
Title IV of the Civil Rights Act, which appropriately mandates the
desegregation of public education, this bill could order the
incorporation of radical gender ideology in sex education or other
aspects of curriculum, far outside the original law's scope. Activists
are already pushing graphic, age-inappropriate content on these topics
on students in places like Arlington, Virginia.
This bill puts teachers and administrators at risk too. Those who
``misgender'' a student or fail to use the individual's preferred
pronouns could be accused of harassment and subject to discipline or
even lose their jobs.
Girls would also face unfair competition in sports. The Equality Act
would force schools to allow biological males to compete on female-only
teams.
We have already seen consequences of this. One transgender MMA
fighter has broken the skulls of two female opponents (and counting),
and transgender runners and basketball players are dominating female
competitors, leaving many females' long ambitioned goals of trophies
and scholarships dashed.
For years, supporters of Title IX have fought to encourage and
empower girls through athletic competition. Democrats would like to
erase those gains, shattering countless girls' dreams and dignity, to
appease the woke mob.
Americans of faith would suffer too. Religiously affiliated colleges
and universities that maintain student codes of conduct, hiring
practices, or housing rules reflecting their faith's sincerely held
belies about marriage and sexuality would lose federal funding under
the Equality Act, as such policies would be deemed discriminatory and
open them to countless lawsuits to threaten their very existence.
All-female universities, whether religious or secular, would be
required to accept male students identifying as female students, and
male students identifying as males, since this bill provides no
exemptions for female-only institutions. Is that a policy Americans
want?
The misnamed Equality Act erases opportunities for girls and women
and harms all students and teachers. It must be opposed.
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