Watch Kennedy's comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today warned his colleagues that transgender activists are threatening the future of women’s sports in the United States. Kennedy called on Congress to protect women’s sports by ensuring that biological women and girls do not have to compete against biological men and boys.

 Key excerpts from Kennedy’s speech are below:

“Men and women don’t take the field against one another for the same reasons: It’s fundamentally unfair, and women could get hurt. Yet there are activists in our country today and—I wish I didn’t have to say this—there’s a president in our White House who think the laws of physics and biology don’t apply to transgender athletes. And these activists and President Biden are happy to destroy athletic opportunities for every woman in America to prove their point.”

. . .

“This is America. You're entitled to say what you want, and some say that a biological man doesn't have any advantage physically over a biological female. But that doesn't change the laws of nature. That doesn't change the law of science. It doesn't change the law of anatomy. The truth is that a woman's bone doesn't care that the person who snapped it identifies as a woman or man or whatever. They just know their bone's broken. 

“America’s female athletes are not lab rats. They are not lab rats we can subject to a social experiment. They have goals and dreams, too. And they’ve worked hard, too, to develop their skills, to earn scholarships, to win championships.

“No girl, no woman, no female in America should end up on the bench with her arm in a sling because the Biden administration wanted a biological man wanted to feel included.”

. . .

“How discouraging it must be to dedicate your life to a goal, only to have these activists and President Biden rip them away because institutions are unwilling to accept the immutable facts of anatomy?

“I reject the proposition. I do. I reject the proposition that it’s okay that some young athlete in Louisiana who spends hours in the pool or in the gym each night has to have her college championship taken away by a biological boy because the Biden administration says so.”

. . .

“I do not think that we need to sacrifice the physical safety of women. I do not think that we need to or should sacrifice women’s athletic, educational or professional opportunities just because some activists and President Biden claim that injecting biological men into women’s sports is the only way to make transgender Americans feel included.”

. . .

“Louisiana has already put a stop to this. In 2022, the Louisiana state legislature passed a bill . . . called the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. It prohibits biological boys from competing against girls in elementary or high school sports. . . . We need a whole lot more of Louisiana’s common sense in Washington, D.C.”

. . .

“Let me give you the bottom line: Activists and President Biden want to force young female athletes to change clothes in front of biological boys in their locker rooms. They [want girls] to accept a biological man’s slide tackle on the [soccer] field with a smile. That’s what they want women to do: Just grin and bear it. And President Biden and activists want young women to hide their tears when a biological male walks away with a trophy that those women have spent their whole lives working for, and it is wrong.”

Background:

• Transgender activists throughout the country have pushed athletic institutions to allow biological men and boys to compete against biological women and girls. Activists routinely deny that biological men have any athletic advantages over women. The ACLU, for example, says it is a “fact” that “trans girls are girls” and a “myth” that transgender female athletes have a physical advantage over biological girls. 

• In reality, the physical athletic advantages of biological men begin in the womb. Baby boys experience a surge of testosterone that improves their motor skills and increases their aggression.

• During puberty, boys develop larger hearts and lungs that allow them to take in more oxygen and pump blood more efficiently than girls. Girls develop a wider pelvis, which can decrease the force their legs can exert. Boys develop broader shoulders to carry additional upper-body muscle mass. The average man is five inches taller and has higher levels of bone density even when controlled for height.

• These developmental differences give biological men a significant athletic advantage that is even more prominent at the elite levels. High school boys, for example, routinely log faster sprint times than female Olympians, according to a study from Duke University. In many Olympic track or swimming events, the female world record holder wouldn’t qualify to compete against men. In strength-based sports such as weightlifting, men outperform elite women in the same weight class by as much as 30%.

• The use of cross-sex hormones by transgender athletes does not eliminate the athletic advantages of biological males. A study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine revealed that men who have been taking cross-sex hormone treatments for two years can still run 12% faster and complete 10% more push-ups than women.

• In March, several collegiate female athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. They allege that the NCAA violated their 14^th Amendment right to bodily privacy by allowing biological males to share a locker room with them during competitions.

• The Louisiana State Legislature passed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2022. The law forbids biological boys from competing against biological girls in most elementary or high school sports.

Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.