Fellow "Squad"-mate, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., called Gaines 'transphobic'
Riley Gaines: Unsafe, discriminatory behavior against female athletes must end
Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines delivers opening remarks on Capitol Hill about protecting women's sports.
"Squad" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed that "all" underage women will face "genital examinations" if biological men are barred from women's sports.
Ocasio-Cortez made her claim during the Tuesday House Oversight Subcommittee on Health hearing featuring NCAA swimming legend and women's sports advocate Riley Gaines.
The New York Democrat said there were several proposals looking to "marginalize" transgender Americans before claiming during her questioning that women would have to get their pants checked if someone disbelieves their stated gender.
RILEY GAINES HITS BACK AT ‘SQUAD’ DEM CALLING HER TESTIMONY ‘TRANSPHOBIC’: YOU'RE A ‘MISOGYNIST’
"Squad" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed that women will face "genital examinations" if biological men are barred from women's sports. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
"We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, I don’t think you are a girl," she claimed.
"And we're saying this in an environment of a post-Dobbs America, where states are criminalizing access to abortion and want nothing more than data on women to figure out when, who's getting a menstrual cycle, who doesn't have one, and we're supposed to believe this is going to make us better and safer?"
"I think not, and, per usual, I don't believe we're sitting here on a panel of men that has actually thought about the biology and privacy consequences of all women, trans or cisgendered," the "Squad" Democrat added.
NCAA women's sports advocate Riley Gaines (MCKENZIE LANGE/ Staff / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Ocasio-Cortez's claim comes almost a year after the Ohio state Senate removed a controversial provision from a state House proposal barring biological men from competing against women, which would have required "internal and external" exams to confirm a student-athlete's gender.
Ohio Senate Republicans replaced the provision with a requirement for student-athletes whose gender is in question to "present a copy of the participant's original birth certificate" to compete.
"I’m not sure why that’s in the bill, it’s unnecessary," State Senate President Matt Huffman said about the genital inspection provision in June 2022.
"All of these tests can be done with a simple DNA swab," Huffman added.
Lia Thomas looks on from the podium after finishing fifth in the 200 Yard Freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology on March 18, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Tuesday's hearing saw fireworks from the get-go as Gaines, an outspoken advocate of keeping women's sports limited to biological women, fired back at Ocasio-Cortez's fellow "Squad"-mate, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa.
Lee called Gaines' testimony, as well as the testimonies of the other women leaders looking to restrict women's sports to biological women, "transphobic" in her opening remarks.
Gaines blasted Lee, the ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health, after the Squad member took her shot at the witnesses' testimony.
"There's a place for everybody to play sports in this country," Gaines said, noting transgender Americans were included in her view. "But unsafe, unfair and discriminatory practices must stop."
"Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness," the former NCAA swimmer concluded in her opening remarks. "And ranking member Lee, if my testimony makes me ‘transphobic,’ then I believe your opening monologue makes you a misogynist."
Fox News Digital's Ronn Blitzer contributed reporting.
Houston Keene is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
