Rightwing activist snaps & calls Democratic congresswoman “misogynist” to her face in hearing

In a heated exchange at yesterday’s hearing set up by House Republicans to advocate against transgender participation in school sports, anti-trans activist Riley Gaines Barker called Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) a “misogynist” in a petulant statement about how she didn’t like her views being referred to as transphobic.

The exchange occurred at yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on “The importance of protecting female athletics and Title IX.” While the title implies that the hearing would be about various ways to help women athletes – like increasing funding for women’s sports, fighting sexist attitudes that keep girls from participating in school sports, and taking sexual harassment and assault against women athletes seriously – it was actually about how to exclude transgender girls and women from school sports.

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“It’s disappointing to me that although the title of this hearing implies a much-needed discussion we’re likely going to be forced to listen to transphobic bigotry,” Lee, who’s the vice ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, said at the start of her opening statement. The rest of her statement included several statements from transgender and nonbinary youth – Republicans had invited no trans or nonbinary people to speak at a hearing that was about their rights.

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When it came time for Gaines to read her statement, she was apparently mad that Lee referred to her views as transphobic, so she snapped at Lee.

“And Ranking Member Lee, if my testimony makes me transphobic, then I believe your opening monologue makes you misogynist,” Gaines said.

This caused some disruption at the hearing as Lee moved to have her words stricken because they were a personal attack.

“Can I just ask how it’s fair to be called transphobic-” Gaines yelled out as Subcommittee Chair Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) was working on a ruling for Lee’s point of order.

“I would say men disguising themselves as women are engaging in personalities [personal attacks],” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) chimed in, even though trans women are not men disguising themselves as women, and either way her statement had nothing to do with the point of order.

Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who rose to national notoriety using her story of tying for fifth place at a swim competition with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. She called it “heartbreaking and somber” when she found out that the competition officials gave the trophy to Thomas and would mail hers to her at a later date because they only had one fifth place trophy.

She has since appeared in numerous Republican campaign ads and has gone on speaking tours of the country, advocating against LGBTQ+ rights.