Equality Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today representing a district in which school sports are at the heart of community gatherings.
In Kentucky, basketball is a way of life. In my district, students practice their whole life to have the chance to attain athletic scholarship opportunities from universities they would otherwise be unable to attend. These students go on to accomplish great things and give back to their communities because of the scholarships they gain from athletic competition.
This legislation would essentially subvert the purpose of gender divisions in these competitions by allowing biological males who identify as female to compete against girls in the same division. We have already seen instances where young women were denied scholarship opportunities because biological males competed in the same category with them and placed higher on the podium in track competitions.
A bill with a name like the Equality Act sounds like a bill that in some way advocates for all people. That is what we strive for in this country: equality before the law. That is why, over the more than two centuries this country has existed, we have, thankfully, updated our laws to right wrongs and bring us closer to treating all people with the dignity they deserve.
But as I look at H.R. 5, I am deeply troubled, and I believe most Americans would be deeply troubled by what is really there.
I serve as ranking member for the Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee for the Committee on Education and Labor. In our subcommittee, we held a hearing on the Equality Act, and what became abundantly clear was that this legislation would alter Federal nondiscrimination law in ways that would have unintended effects we cannot know today.
This bill is following in the tradition of others we have seen so far throughout this Congress: a clever name, an allegedly noble purpose, but a vehicle for serious, harmful consequences.
Equality and freedom must coexist. H.R. 5 totally redefines one and delivers a serious blow to the other.
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