Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., repeatedly questioned secretary of education nominee Miguel Cardona on allowing boys who identify as girls to compete in female athletics at his committee confirmation hearing Wednesday, eventually asking “What planet are you from?”
Cardona, who has served as education commissioner in Connecticut – where three girls have filed a Title IX discrimination suit against the state for allowing two transgender students to compete in girls track and field competition, said it was their “right.”
“I think it is appropriate,” Cardona said. “It is the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities and this includes students who are transgender.”
Paul was apoplectic about Cardona’s comment, saying it would “destroy girls’ athletics” by allowing boys to compete against them.
“I think most people in the country think that’s bizarre, you know, that is just completely bizarre and unfair that people – and you’re going to run the Department of Education – you’ve got no problem with it,” Paul said. “That concerns me, and I think it’s this kind of thing is going lead to really just the vast majority of America just wondering who are these people that think it’s OK.
“What planet are you from? I mean to think it’s OK for boys to compete with girls in a track meet, that that somehow would be fair.”
President Joe Biden called “transgender equality…the civil rights issue of our time. There is no room for compromise when it comes to basic human rights,” in a Jan. 25 Twitter post.
The Supreme Court in June extended the definition of “sex discrimination” to gay and transgender individuals as it referred to employment.
Three girls in Connecticut sued the state a year ago for allowing the boys who identify as girls to compete, saying it essentially denied them equal opportunity.
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