On the recordJanuary 14, 2025
I stand here today in support of H.R. 28, and I urge the House to pass this bill. There is no reason we should even be having this conversation right now. H.R. 28 is a women's rights bill to protect Title IX, which was constructed to protect women's rights. This first came on my radar while I was a member of the Ohio Senate. I had a lesbian couple shopping in my store, and they asked me to step aside to talk to me for a minute. They said that I needed to protect women's sports. We had Title IX. Since we had Stonewall 50 years ago, this couple told me, they have worked their entire life for women's rights. What my opposition party is doing is blurring the lines of what is a woman and what is a man. My daughter has played soccer her entire life. She is scared to death to play right now. She has seen the videos of what trans athletes have been doing to women athletes, as far as breaking their faces in volleyball, basketball, and baseball. We do not have a clear, level playing field when we have the trans community participating in women's sports. We need to protect the concept of the woman, and women must be protected. H.R. 28 is the only path forward. It is shameful that the opposition party does not support the protection of women. We have to define what a woman is again, and H.R. 28 is the only vehicle that could actually protect women in America, whether it is in high school or whether it is in college, for them to pursue their dreams.
