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EQUALITY ACT NEEDS TO BE STRUCK DOWN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene) for 5 minutes.
Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of women, girls, and children.
I would like to talk about the Equality Act. It is a bill that we will be voting on this week. It is a bill that was passed before, but it is a bill that needs to be struck down. This is a bill that will add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the Federal 1964 Civil Rights Act.
We live in a nation--thank God--that declares all of us equal. There should not be discrimination of anyone in the United States of America, and I fully believe that. But I ask everyone to take pause and truly consider what the Equality Act will do, because it has very serious consequences.
You see, women have come very far in America and our rights are extremely important. The work of our grandmothers and mothers to declare women as equal and push our way into the workplace and into sports has been a remarkable achievement.
Voting, being able to own businesses, achieve education the same as men in America is a gift that I feel so honored and blessed by. I know that every American woman treasures this.
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You see, the Equality Act will change all of that, because it will put trans rights above women's rights, above the rights of our daughters, our sisters, our friends, our grandmothers, our aunts. It is too much.
Mr. Speaker, you see, as a woman, I have competed in sports, and I am so thrilled that I was able to do that, but I competed against biological women. It is a wonderful thing to be able to compete and prove yourself. Competition is a great, great thing. Little girls all over the country play sports. They play their hearts out, they practice, they enjoy time with their friends, then they compete at higher levels where they can earn scholarships, where they can go to college and achieve and receive an education through playing a sport for their university or college.
There are women that move on into professional sports fields and do remarkable things, incredible things for women. For example, Florence Griffith Joyner became the fastest woman in the world in 1988 when she ran the 100-meter dash in 10.49 seconds. I could only dream of being that fast. But in 2019, Matthew Boling caught the fastest high school 100-meter time ever in 9.98 seconds, an entire half-second quicker than the fastest woman in the world.
Biological women cannot compete against biological men. Biological little girls cannot compete against biological little boys. And they shouldn't have to.
I have a daughter that is a D-1 athlete. We traveled the country for 10 years where she competed at the highest level. She earned her scholarship, and now she plays fast-pitch softball. And I can't tell you how much fun I had watching her play this weekend, and she had a home run. But if she has to compete against boys in her sport, not only will they be on her playing field and she has to compete against them; they will be in her locker room; they will be in her showers; they will be in her bathroom; they will be in her hotel room when she travels with her team--all under the Equality Act. This is wrong.
Mr. Speaker, this isn't about political parties. It is not about Democrat, Republican. This is about right and wrong. This is about girls' and women's rights.
Furthermore, it affects women in prison. Trans men, biological men that identify as women, will be put with women in prison.
Battered women's shelters, women that have been beaten and abused by men will have men in their battered women's shelters.
Drug rehab centers--and the list goes on and on.
Mr. Speaker, it is one thing to stop discrimination of a class of people, but it is another thing to completely violate and destroy the rights of girls and women in order to achieve this. This bill must be struck down. It is completely wrong.
Furthermore, we are in an institution where it says, ``In God we trust.'' Well, it says in Genesis: God created us male and female. In his image, he created us. Science has two sets of chromosomes that prove male and female.
Mr. Speaker, 80 to 95 percent of children with gender dysphoria completely outgrow it after puberty. The Equality Act will force doctors and nurses to perform mastectomies on girls that want to have their breasts removed. It will force doctors also to perform abortions, because according to the Equality Act, a doctor cannot say no.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that everyone please pause and consider, and vote
``no'' for the Equality Act. We can't do this in America, and it needs to stop with political parties.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 35
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