All Episodes
Previous Next
Dec. 6, 2022 - Tulsi Gabbard Show
01:09:47
The War on Women - Part 1 w/ Taylor Silverman | The Tulsi Gabbard Show
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Then it happened in 2020, and I placed second to a trans athlete.
And I posted about that event, which was an event that actually was raising money for an LGBTQ organization.
And people were saying, well, why were you there if you hate trans people?
I said, the whole reason I was there is because I thought this is a positive thing.
I didn't think that meant that, you know, female and males should compete together.
I thought maybe this could be a way to create another space that would maintain fairness.
Today, we're going to talk about women.
The Democratic Party is a party that has always claimed to be the champions of women.
Proud of Title IX, leveling the playing field for women and girls, creating unprecedented opportunity.
Title IX was passed intentionally to ban sex-based discrimination in schools, stating that, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
As you can imagine, this opened the door wide open to women and girls in school and sports and in professional opportunities.
Perhaps the most immediate and widely felt impact involves sports.
One year before Title IX was passed, female athletes comprised just 7% of participants in high school sports.
Today that number is about 43%.
So knowing this just highlights how insane the Democratic Party has become because now they are rejecting the objective truth that women exist, that there is such a thing as a woman.
When asked directly, they can no longer define what a woman is, and they demand in some of the most powerful places in Washington that we replace words like mother with birthing person.
Health equity for black birthing people is attainable.
Protect black birthing people and to save lives.
New York City's City Council last month replaces all references to mothers with birthing persons.
I don't know if he is familiar with a menstruating person's body.
In fact, I do know that he's not familiar with a woman, with a female or menstruating person's body.
Now by denying that there are biological differences between men and women, boys and girls, they are erasing women and denying the existence of truth.
If one denies the existence of truth, then there are no boundaries in our society and the truth becomes whatever those in power want it to be.
There's no greater expression of hatred and hostility towards women than to erase the existence of women, of us, as a category of people.
Anyone who's taken an introductory high school biology class understands that there are very real anatomical differences between men and women.
Things like bone density, muscle mass, body fat, testosterone.
All these things provide males with undeniable advantages in strength, speed and endurance.
This is a fact.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study last year that showed even two years following hormone therapy, men who had transitioned into transgender women still had an advantage in strength and speed.
Competitive athletes understand the margins for victory are often very small, so even a 1% advantage can spell the difference between a win or a loss, let alone an advantage of double digits.
Shortly after President Biden took office, he signed an executive order telling schools all across the country to allow biological men and boys, who now identify as transgender women and girls, that they must be allowed to compete in women's sports.
Turning this into a high-stakes hostage situation, the Biden Department of Agriculture announced it would take away meal funding for low-income kids at schools if those schools refused to allow this continued assault on women's sports.
So, let's be clear.
The Democrats who claim to be the party of empathy and care and compassion, they are willing to let innocent children go hungry if they can't force their agenda down the throats of you and your family in public schools.
President Biden and his administration have chosen to mark this 50th anniversary that we are observing this year of Title IX's passage by taking away the rights of women, redefining Title IX to include so-called gender identity, and banning women's sports redefining Title IX to include so-called gender identity, and banning women's sports programs that insist only biological females can compete in every federally funded school in America, from kindergarten all the way
In today's Democrat Party that is anti-woman and anti-truth, this woke Biden administration and its elite allies, they will harass and intimidate anyone who dares to disagree with them and their agenda, bully people into compliance.
For example, in Washington State, an 80-year-old grandmother named Julie complained to her local YMCA about a biological man being in the girl's locker room.
After she heard a man's voice, Julie says, quote, I saw a man in a woman's bathing suit watching maybe four or five little girls pulling down their suits in order to use the toilet.
I told that man to get out right now.
End of quote.
How did the YMCA officials react?
Julie, not this man, Julie was banned from her YMCA. Things are so crazy and insane right now.
People are so afraid, so much so that they're willing to sacrifice the safety of vulnerable young kids because they're absolutely terrified that they'll be bullied on Twitter or that they might be fired for being transphobic.
This is dangerous.
We're approaching a point of no return.
Once a society no longer values and recognizes truth, that there is such a thing, there are no boundaries or limits to their insanity, how far they're willing to go, and it'll soon collapse.
So it's up to us, every single one of us, to peaceably resist this descent into madness, exercise our right to free speech and speak the truth, and prevent that disastrous outcome from happening.
Now, as we look at this topic of Title IX, we're gonna do things a little different this week.
We're gonna have a two-part episode because I had two great conversations with incredible female athletes who've shared their powerful stories about the impact that Title IX has had on their lives, as well as the serious consequences of allowing biological males to compete in women's sports.
Now, Taylor Silverman is a professional skateboarder who made headlines last year when she competed in a Red Bull women's skating competition.
She placed second, losing to a biological male.
This wasn't the only time this happened to her.
She found her voice.
She spoke out.
She made a post on social media about how she was sick of being bullied into silence.
Her post went viral and she is continuing to use her voice.
To stand up for others and to defend the integrity of Title IX and women's sports.
So do you live over there now?
Yeah, I live out here.
I've been out here for just like a week or so that I just got back from Israel again.
I was out in Israel staying with my boyfriend and his family for like five weeks.
But I'm here for a while and then hopefully next year or the year after I will get citizenship and I will move.
Move where?
Where would you move?
I'm making Alia to Israel.
Oh wow, okay.
What a big change.
But it's something I thought about for a long time, and now I feel like it especially makes sense.
Given what?
Tell me why.
Why does it make more sense now?
I can guess, but I want to hear you say it.
So at first, even my family, the way they would talk about it would be like, okay, yeah, we'll see when that happens.
But now they're like, yeah, it probably is a good idea for you to move because just even safety reasons.
Yeah.
It's really sad that that's a thing.
And it hasn't actually...
Like, nothing's happened.
In fact, every time I've been out in public and someone has recognized me, it's been really positive.
But there's been some stuff that's happened that I'm like, I'm not willing to risk my life for this.
Yeah.
Where'd you grow up?
I grew up in Michigan.
Oh, wow.
I saw you were just in Michigan.
Yeah, yeah.
Your mom was in Michigan?
Yeah, no, my mom grew up there.
And so she grew up in East Grand Rapids and then went to University of Michigan, met my dad.
My dad was going to college in California.
They had summer jobs at Yosemite and met.
And long story short, they got married in Grand Rapids and then my dad swooped her off her feet and took her to the small islands of American Samoa and then to Hawaii.
And the joke is, I was born in American Samoa, actually.
I'm the fourth of five and my younger sister was born in Hawaii.
But my mom jokes around that, you know, once he took her to the islands and she threw all of her shoes and jackets away, she's like, yeah, I'm not going back to the Midwest.
She was sold?
I can understand that.
Yeah.
So you and I were last together.
We actually met at an event that was put on by the Independent Women's Forum.
And it was centered around Title IX. This is the 50th anniversary of Title IX. And I had heard about you before then.
I had seen you on some, I think, some of Tim's videos.
And so it was great to actually get a chance both to meet you.
But that dinner that we went to...
I just left feeling really hopeful after that, just to be there with, I don't know, there were probably like 30 women sitting around this table.
A couple of men were there, but there were just such incredible voices of parents, of athletes like yourselves, of advocates and activists and journalists.
And people who are all gathered together, not because, you know, we're all part of the same political party or this or that, really just a diverse group of Americans who came together out of concern about how Title IX is being undermined and that the bigger issue, the bigger foundational issue with that is...
In doing so, women are being erased.
I mean, that's really what it comes down to.
And so I've heard, I think we can just kick this off.
I've heard from people who are not paying attention very much to this issue, but maybe they've heard news stories here and there about it.
Or even those who support the changes in Title IX that the Biden administration is making, they say, well, why is this even a big deal?
You know, there are so few trans athletes.
This is affecting just like a very fraction of a percent of women and athletes.
And so like, honestly, why are you guys making a big deal out of such a small thing?
And I've actually heard members of Congress saying this on the House floor.
As they're giving their speeches, almost like it's a joke.
Like, come on, guys.
Give us a break.
Stop whining and complain.
This isn't affecting hardly any people.
So what is the big deal, Taylor Silverman?
Oh, it's a huge deal.
And actually, that dinner and the rally that we had for the 50th anniversary of Title IX was my first experience being surrounded with other women who had gone through a similar experience as I did.
So that actually was...
Really eye-opening to me, even someone who's experienced it and spent years thinking, well, this keeps happening to me, but it seems to be this non-issue.
It was really eye-opening to me to see that it had been happening and it had been affecting other women.
It wasn't just a crazy coincidence that it had happened to me a few times.
And also...
Realizing the impact that this is going to have if this affects schools.
I went through this as an adult and is a very...
Very difficult thing to go through and know how to handle and speak up about and face the backlash for.
But when I was growing up, I had the luxury of experiencing the benefits of Title IX. I played sports in schools.
I didn't start skateboarding until I was a teenager.
And I started skateboarding because I switched to homeschool and I would no longer play school sports because at that time that wasn't an option.
And I just feel really lucky that I got to have fairness in sports because I think that many women, many girls, gain a lot of the life skills that they grow to use in their day-to-day life, in their jobs, with their families, from sports.
They learn how to work on a team.
They build their confidence.
They learn how to win well and how to lose well because that's part of it.
It's really empowering for women.
And if girls do not have a fair place to experience that and to gain those skills, what is our next generation of women going to be like if they don't even want to go to tryouts, if they don't even want to go to the starting line because they know that it's unfair already?
Mm-hmm.
It's really scary to think about and I know that a lot of people don't realize how impactful that is and what it's really like to go through because for me, it took me months to even speak up about it because I knew based on Just my peers in the skateboarding community that it would not be popular to say something.
That this was a protected group, that there was no criticism allowed.
And it also felt like I felt kind of betrayed by this community that I had supported always.
Because once it got to a point that it did seem kind of extreme and did seem nonsensical and I said something about it, that was all forgotten.
And I was free game to be harassed and attacked online.
And luckily I've received a lot more support than I have hate, but I understand why women are scared to speak up.
But there's so much being lost.
And, you know, even aside from just the things that girls get out of sports, there's scholarships, there's prize money.
A lot of people do sports professionally, so this could cost you your career.
But I think that there's a lot to be lost, and I hope we don't have to find out.
After it's already gone.
We really do have a lot of stories of examples of this, aside from mine.
There's Riley Gaines, there's Selena Sol, and Alana Smith, and there's all these girls.
There's high schoolers, there's college students now, and then it's impacted more independent sports like mine.
I know disc golf has been heavily impacted.
Skateboarding has been impacted.
This is now impacting combat sports, which is terrifying.
And even sports that aren't contact sports, this can still be a major safety issue.
Like the high school volleyball video that came out of the girl getting spiked in the face and the coaches saying that was the hardest I've ever seen anybody hit the ball in my decades of coaching.
Like...
It's really common sense to me why this is a problem.
And I understand that if you've never experienced it, you don't know someone who's gone through it, it can be something to easily look over.
But when you actually take a look at how it's playing out, because we do have examples of it now.
This isn't just a let's try this and see how it happens.
We tried it.
It doesn't work.
You really have to ignore the facts about this issue to be on board with saying it's fair or wanting it to happen.
You know, you talk about the opportunities that Title IX has presented for women and girls really for the last 50 years.
50 years!
And we've seen how that has impacted people in their post, you know, high school and collegiate lives if they're competing as athletes.
And the things that you're describing, you know, working as a member of a team, as a team, experiencing leadership, how you react from loss, what do you do when you're In the face of failure, adversity, obstacles, all these different things that you're mentioning are all things that are not, these are not benefits that are exclusive to women and girls in sports.
These are just the things, because I've heard these very same things from friends of mine or public speakers, people who are giving talks and writing books about leadership.
A lot of them have this experience in high school and college sports or professional sports and they go on to play at that level.
But going back to those basics and kind of those intangible experiences and lessons learned that they get and that sense of empowerment It goes on to really impact how they live their lives and what they choose to do, how they choose to do it.
This is not something that's limited to, well, this is a special impact for women.
This is something that is a benefit for all, which is why Title IX was put in place in the first place, out of a recognition like, hey, no, there are women and girls who don't have these same opportunities as boys and men.
And out of a recognition of this biological differences between sexes and to create this level and equal playing field, literal and figurative.
So talk a little bit about, you know, you mentioned Riley Gaines.
We're going to have her on the show as well.
Carla Esparza is a UFC multi-title holding champion.
Mixed martial artist.
She started wrestling in high school on the boys team because there was no girls team available to her.
And it's gone through different experiences herself.
Talk about your own experience.
You mentioned how, you know, in this community, there were people who you stood for and supported and then something changed.
What changed for you?
Well, I... I had a similar experience where there hasn't been, you know, places for women in skateboarding always.
A lot of these contests, they didn't exist when I first started skateboarding, so I would compete with boys.
And I actually have been criticized for that now that people say, well, in this year you placed in a men's division, but people don't seem to understand the reason why girls can do that is because we're at the disadvantage.
And I've seen girls even in other countries where there's no other girl in the whole country who could compete with them, who compete with the boys.
And they're celebrated more for excelling because it's exceptional.
But most female athletes, most famous female athletes, you wouldn't know their name if there never would have been a women's division.
That's the truth.
And that's okay.
I've heard people say that To even suggest there are biological differences or more strength or athletic advantage in men is sexist or misogynistic.
But it's so ridiculous because we are different and that's a good thing.
It doesn't mean we're worse.
It means that we're different.
We're women.
It's crazy to me.
But basically skateboarding, one of the things I love about it and I think one of the reasons I even got involved in it Was because it is something anybody can do.
Anybody can go to a skate shop and buy a board and go out in their driveway or go to the local park and go skateboard.
The majority of my experience as a skater has been that if you go to the park, everyone there is just like, oh, cool.
You love the same thing I do.
Let's skate.
I love that about it.
It doesn't matter how you dress.
It doesn't matter if you're gay or trans or if you're a Jew or if you're black or if you're whatever, if you have a disability.
I know skaters who are blind.
Right.
Yeah, like skateboarding is something really anybody can do.
I think that is the coolest thing about it.
And I love that about it.
And I also...
I've never been the type of person to want somebody to feel like an outcast at the skate park because as a young girl...
Whether people are nice to me or not, it's something you're very aware of that nobody here looks like me and people stare at me and I know that I'm not your typical skater.
Growing up that was how I felt.
And even I used to run a girls meetup group that girls from Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids sometimes, we go to other cities in Michigan as well, they could come out for a few hours once a month and myself and some of the older girls in the community Would give out free lessons and we'd make ourselves available and it would be just a fun group activity.
And when people started asking me, well, is this like inclusive to everybody?
I say, yes, everybody can come.
That's the whole point.
Right.
But it quickly turned when I noticed this first happened to me in, I think, 2018. And when it first happened in 2018, it didn't seem like something that was going to continue.
And it actually wasn't in the finals of a big event.
It was just in a qualifier, and I actually placed over the person.
Yeah.
Over the trans athlete.
Yeah.
And I thought, this doesn't seem like this is going to last very long, but whatever, they're going to do what they're going to do.
People are probably a bit uncomfortable and don't know how to handle it.
Then it happened in 2020, and I placed second to a trans athlete.
And I posted about that event, which was an event that actually was raising money for an LGBTQ organization.
And people were saying, well, why were you there if you hate trans people?
I said, the whole reason I was there is because I thought this is a positive thing.
I didn't think that meant that, you know, female and males should compete together.
I thought maybe this could be A way to create another space that would maintain fairness.
But I didn't say anything then.
I was really not sure how to handle it.
And I hadn't actually seen all the cases yet of it happening in all the other sports, maybe one or two.
And then when it happened last year at Red Bull, this time it seemed especially wrong considering there was money involved.
And I was paid a couple thousand and something less for getting second.
And this person not only won the finals, they had traveled around state to state collecting $500 at every qualifying contest they did.
And it just didn't seem right to me.
It didn't seem fair to me.
I knew that these athletes are oftentimes encouraged to do this, so it probably is a very difficult position to be in.
I tried to speak to Red Bull about it privately after the contest through email, which we had talked through this email before, and they just ignored me.
That's when I realized this is really not okay.
The fact that they wouldn't even listen to what I had to say.
I wasn't saying anything outrageous either.
But I had seen Riley Gaines speak up about it with the Leah Thomas situation, the NCAA, and I was hearing about this happening with Fallon Fox, the fighter.
And I just thought, you know, this is going to lead to a really bad place if it continues in this direction.
And I started to feel a lot of pressure just from myself.
Like, I felt a moral obligation as somebody who had gone through this the amount of times I did and also been in second place and also lost money because of it and traveled and not been told that this was what I was traveling to go be a part of.
I felt like I had to say something because I know a lot of women who have been impacted by this, but this has happened to me quite a few times.
And there's women who went through this, you know, for four years of high school.
It's devastating.
They missed out on spots at state or records and chances to be scouted for college.
And As a skateboarder, I knew that all I had to lose was maybe some friends at the skate park who disagreed with me, but I didn't really have anything else to lose, and I knew that I would feel a lot better if I said something because it felt like the right thing to do.
And it was definitely the right decision.
It's been like six months now since I spoke up.
And my life has changed completely, but only in positive ways.
And I've gained so much more support than I ever could have imagined, which I want girls to know.
That's encouraging to hear.
If you speak up, it's not the end of the world.
It might actually be a lot of doors opening for you, which wasn't my intention.
I didn't expect that, but I'm very grateful for it.
And I'm grateful to get to use my voice on this issue.
I think one of the things that you mentioned there is something that dangerously has created this culture of fear and self-censorship where people don't even feel comfortable just actually having a conversation about what is this?
What does this actually mean?
Well, why is it happening?
Or what are the consequences of it?
Just having an open dialogue about it.
We're not seeing that happening in a lot of places, and it's largely because of what you went through, right?
It's just saying like, hey, biological men are different from biological women and shouldn't be treated as the same.
That being equated with an assumption that how dare you say such a That actually exists.
Again, which points to the bigger issue here of people who are pushing for this, actively pushing for it, denying the fact that there is such a thing as objective truth, that there is such a thing as a biological female.
I'm curious if...
And then just to finish that thought, I think the thing, the consequence of that is...
That the pushing of these policies, the pushing of these changes are actually undermining.
It's having the opposite effect.
It's actually undermining equality for women, rights for women, women's voices, because how can you...
And a lot of the people doing this are people who claim to be feminists and champions for women's rights.
And yet, this is the hypocrisy.
They are the ones themselves who are negatively affecting rights and opportunities for women and girls.
I did want to ask you about, you talked about your experience in competing against a trans athlete and how the Red Bull contest, you came in second place.
That took away from you, obviously, coming in first, but also the prize money that went with that.
Did you have a conversation either in that example or in any of the other examples that you've had with the trans athlete themselves?
I'm just curious if there was a conversation or what their reaction is.
I didn't, and I wish that I would have had the courage to at the time, but it is...
It is a very confusing and difficult situation to navigate.
I had also traveled across the country on Hanukkah on a holiday.
I had to ask my family, is it really right that I go?
And they were encouraging.
They were like, yeah, go.
For me, I kind of had just accepted that second place was what I got to aim for today and that this is going to be a funny story.
But it started weighing more heavily on me when I realized how serious this is.
It's not a joke.
And it's not just impacting you, obviously.
This is about a much bigger issue.
And also seeing how many of, like, there was a few girls in that contest even who attacked me afterwards or like ran to, you know, leftist news to go badmouth me, which they didn't have much to say, anything valid.
It kind of just made them look worse.
But just seeing how many women have decided that this is okay with them.
Is scary.
Because this is like cult-like behavior.
This is brainwashing.
This is people saying, yes, I agree with this, even though you can lay out clear evidence that this actually will negatively impact you.
And your daughters, sisters, I mean, any women in your life.
Yeah, and also being older, like in the skateboarding world, I'm 27, which for a skateboarder, I'm usually one of the older ones at these contests.
So I knew that this is something that isn't going to impact me forever, but this could impact my kids one day.
And I really want to be a mom.
And I can't imagine if this did one day impact my daughter, knowing that I didn't speak up when I had the chance.
Because it was hard even speaking up like months after it happened.
I knew people would be like, well, why didn't you say something that day?
Why did you even compete?
But until you're in that position, you don't know how uncomfortable it is and how challenging it is to find the words and who would you even talk to.
I actually did talk to one of the judges at the contest who totally agreed with me.
Interesting.
But still hasn't spoken up publicly.
But if you take a look at the three judges, you could probably figure out who...
Who agrees with me?
You know, I think one of the other unfortunate things about this is that it has become such a politicized issue in this world of left versus right, progressive versus conservative, Democrat versus Republican, and which team are you on, and if you're not on my team, then you're the enemy or the opponent or whatever, and just how divisive things...
Things are.
Something as simple as biology now has become a political issue and, even worse, a political weapon.
It's scary to me that this is something political because for most of my life, although as I've gotten older, I've definitely become more conservative, which I think is...
I've considered myself to be pretty moderate, so I'd like to try to see both sides of the issue.
Yeah, I think most people do.
This is one of those clear-as-day issues that, like you said earlier about the group of us who spoke in DC on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, and we're at that dinner.
We all had different political views and many of us identify with different political parties.
And I loved seeing that happen all in one room where people agreed on one issue and decided we're going to work together despite our differences, despite not agreeing on everything, because we know how important this is.
Yes.
And there are not a lot of issues that are in politics or, you know, ones like this that kind of get sucked into politics that people do that.
And I think that speaks volumes about how important this really is to people.
What do you say to people who say, you know, Taylor, that's all fine and dandy, but the only place I've ever seen you talk about this in the media is on Fox News or Piers Morgan or on what some people call, you know, right wing media sources.
Why aren't you on CNN? I would tell them to go ask the left-wing media that has interviewed me that didn't put out the interview why they didn't put it out because I have done interviews with left-wing media but they did not air them.
No kidding.
Did they not know what you were coming to say?
There were skateboarding magazines that reached out to do interviews, and it was just being asked the same question multiple times and being very clear with my answers that at a certain point they...
Um, they, you know, threw in the flag and said, I'm not sure we're going to use this.
We're going to have to run it by someone.
And I said, all right, cool.
That's probably best for you.
But, um, I have done interviews with other media.
Also, I've turned down probably 95% of the interviews I get offered.
Um, because I, I also have like a whole life that I'm juggling and it's a lot of, it's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work, especially in the beginning, right?
Well, right now I'm just working, and I don't even think Red Bull's doing the contest this year.
Okay.
But I have been invited to multiple contests.
People think that I've been blackballed or something, but I've been invited to multiple contests, especially out in Florida.
They keep inviting me.
But I've just been busy.
I've been traveling around, and at this point in my life, I think it's more important for me to do some advocacy about Title IX because this is important in skateboarding.
But I think the priority here is children.
I am really scared that if this becomes the norm in school sports, that this is going to have detrimental consequences for the next generation of girls.
So I've been traveling around and I've been working.
I've also been going back and forth between America and Israel because my boyfriend's in Israel and I'm actually working there.
That's a long, long distance.
Yeah, and I knew this when I spoke up that, you know, I'm at the point in my career that at 27 years old and with the goals that I have right now, competing is not my number one priority.
Even when I was competing, it was something that I would do when a contest happened to come around.
And I had no plans to even go to Red Bull originally.
A friend at the skate park just said you should go to Detroit and win $500 this weekend.
And I said, all right.
And then I wasn't going to go to the finals because I was supposed to be in Israel.
The only reason I went is because the trip got postponed.
So for me, it's just something I do for fun.
And it's not fun when it's not fair.
Right.
That really took the fun out of it.
And it felt like I was in the middle of like...
Like a Twilight Zone episode, seeing everybody just so happy that this was happening.
And I understand people want to be kind, but it's at the expense of all the women, all the female athletes.
So I really don't understand that.
Yeah.
So what's your message to parents with daughters, young girls, people who are really concerned, other young athletes who are really trying to figure out in sports, especially where they've not kind of made a decision or a policy on how to handle this.
I know surfing is one of them.
There are many others.
Having been through it yourself, what is your message to them about what the way forward should look like?
What do we do?
I think that was a question I was asking myself six months ago.
And especially if this is something that you've actually experienced, just telling your story and raising awareness Really helps people understand why this is such an important issue.
But even if you haven't experienced this, especially if you're a parent and you have daughters, I know it's scary.
I know that it seems like Your world will be over and everyone will come after you.
But by not speaking up for your daughters, the message you're sending them is that they are not important enough to protect.
So you really have to prioritize these girls because Kids can't do this themselves.
Adults have to take the wheel here.
And it's honestly heartbreaking to me to see teenage girls having to speak up about this because they should not have to advocate for themselves.
Yeah.
But it's inspiring.
It's incredibly brave.
And it gives me a lot of hope seeing that.
But I also wish that it didn't have to happen.
And I get so many private messages from parents and from coaches and from someone who knows a female athlete who went through this or whatever it may be.
And they think that they shouldn't have an opinion or they're not the one to speak up.
But really...
This needs to become a topic that is not taboo to talk about.
Regardless of how you feel about it, you should be able to have a discussion about it without it turning into personal attacks or a screaming match.
Just use your voice.
Speak up.
You have the right to free speech.
Use it.
We have Title IX. We need to protect it.
It's a lot harder to get these things back than it is to sit back and watch them taken away.
But this is a fight worth fighting for.
There's too much to lose.
When we see how quickly the progress that Title IX has made over 50 years, how quickly it is unraveling and being undone, it is an incredibly dangerous thing and we'll have Really long-lasting and life-changing negative effects,
both on women and girls, but also as we look at this bigger issue and question of the fact that we have people in positions of great power in this country who can't define what a woman is, who claim to stand for women, but whose policies are actually who claim to stand for women, but whose policies are actually undermining the interests of women and girls, both in the sense of fairness, but also in the sense of safety and
Yeah, I'm happy to get to be here and speak up about this.
It was a difficult decision to make, but I haven't regretted it once.
It was a really good decision.
It was terrifying.
Also, if you do speak up and At first it seems like everyone's coming after you.
Just stay strong and don't bow down because you don't have anything to apologize for for advocating for yourself.
This is a clear issue of fairness and If I would have deleted the post or said sorry after 20 minutes of thousands of comments calling me transphobic and coming after me for being a Jew and just calling me ugly and all sorts of things, I wouldn't be here.
I would still be confused about what the heck I went through and why I didn't do anything about it.
It took a huge weight off my shoulders.
I... I definitely experienced some shock and some fear going through those initial few weeks.
But once you realize that there's no base to the claims that people make about you, you don't really take it personal.
The reason I don't feel sorry for anything I said is because I didn't say anything bad.
No matter how many times you want to write in an article how hateful I am, If you don't have a quote to prove it or a video to prove it, nobody with a brain in their skull is going to believe it.
And people are starting to wake up to the way that the media works and the lies that it spreads to try to decredit people who have opinions that they think are harmful, but that really just, like, Anybody could agree with.
They don't want us to exist because us existing makes it all fall apart.
And it exposes the weakness and insecurity in their own position, especially in this instance.
But as you can imagine, I've had some experience with the media and all of this for quite some time.
And it is when you take a step back and you just understand why they're doing it, why they are seeking to silence anyone who is, you know, holds a different view than the one that they are pushing at any given time, you know, We stand strong in knowing that we're speaking the truth and that's what it comes down to.
One of the most important things for me was having people who had gone through that, who had had a smear campaign against them for I've been called things that they weren't.
Reach out to me and encourage me and let me know it's going to be fine.
Because it is very scary to go from just living a normal life, knowing who you are, to having your face all over the internet.
And having articles written about you that have total inaccuracies and are untrue, and having people obsess over details of your life that are none of their business.
There was an article written about me and my boyfriend going to the beach.
What does that have to do with anything?
We laughed it off, but it is shocking, it is scary, and the amount of people, including you, who have been in this game a lot longer, and not just on this issue, but other ones, and faced the backlash of people who want to silence you, just letting me know this is going to be fine, it really did help a lot.
And it was crazy because when I first posted about it, immediately it was all negative.
It was really bad, like really bad.
And I just left my phone and went to the beach for a while and I came back and there were people reaching out to me, like some of them who I knew about, to encourage me and let me know that, you know, you're doing the right thing, we support you.
And that honestly was one of the biggest things that gave me strength to keep going.
And then actually getting to be with other women who are doing the same thing all together in that room and hear people like yourself speak about it, who you know far more about the ins and outs of Title IX than I did at the time.
You've been involved in politics much longer, obviously.
I'm just a skateboarder who got sucked into this, and it was all by accident.
Just seeing it is really inspiring, and I want other girls to know that there is such an amazing team of people who will back you and who are fighting for you.
So don't lose hope, because that's all we've got at this point, and we've got to keep going forward.
And the more people who get involved in this fight, the better.
But I really appreciate, like, even getting the opportunity to talk to you on here because I could have slipped through the cracks.
It could have not gone viral.
And my life could have actually been really negatively impacted.
But that did not happen because people actually took the time to combat the hate and to spread my story and give me the chance to speak for myself.
So it's still a bit surreal, even six months out, but I've gotten used to it.
You're right.
It can be so scary because of the unknown and, of course, thinking about all of the smears and the attacks that unfortunately do often come.
But as you've experienced, it's something that I've even just seen over the last few weeks, what to speak of over the last few years, which is there are a lot of people, a lot of people, especially around this issue, there are a lot of people all across the country who agree, who understand the truth.
Again, this isn't something controversial, actually.
This is just the truth, the biological truth of the difference between men and women and boys and girls.
And so, you know, you're speaking out just like you, you know, you mentioned you saw Riley Gaines and that gave you some courage to say, hey, you know, if she's speaking out, I should speak out too.
And I know that there are other people who are seeing her and they're seeing you and they're seeing others and finding that courage themselves.
And that to me is where we find that hope.
Is knowing and understanding, most importantly, that you're on the side of truth and that you're standing up for what is right and just and fair.
And knowing, just knowing you're not alone.
Sometimes we are alone in these battles.
It's not always the case.
But in this one, there are so many people across the country Um, who appreciate your courage, who appreciate those like you and Riley and others who are stepping up and willing to put yourselves out there, put your face out there, put your voice out there, take the arrows as they come.
Um, because they may not feel comfortable doing so, or they may not have the platform I think?
And we got to know each other in the gym, like our whole friendship.
We weren't on the same committees.
We probably wouldn't have hung out or known each other much at all.
When you're working in the house, there's 435 people.
And so really, you get to know people if you work on the same committees or issues or things like that.
But we got to know each other in the gym.
He's a wrestler.
He was a mixed martial artist.
And so we had like a group of about 20 or 30 members of Congress who worked out together, 6.30 every morning, Democrats and Republicans, and all the other stuff just fell away.
And I was thinking about that as you were describing, you know, skating.
It's like you show up and it's just people.
And we formed actual friendships based on who we are as people rather than anything to do with politics or anything else.
But he has six kids and three boys and three girls, and they all either wrestle or have wrestled.
Both his older daughter as well as the boys are phenomenal wrestlers competing at the national level, winning national championships.
And so for his older daughter, Lara, I think she's 13 now or 14, and they're concerned about her and both what kinds of opportunities will be available to her because even as we are in the 50th anniversary of Title IX, there are still not...
There's not a Division I female wrestling team at all major colleges.
It's very rare in universities.
And so they're starting to look at...
Because she is somebody who I could see competing in the Olympics one day.
So Mark Wayne and I introduced legislation before I left Congress.
It's called the Protect Women's Sports Act to very simply uphold the intent of Title IX and acknowledge that it was created due to the biological differences between the male and female sex.
When we introduced that legislation, again, his girls directly facing the implications of these changes, he and I got so much hate.
So much hate.
For me, colleagues of mine coming up to me and saying, how dare you?
Colleagues of mine from the LGBT community, how dare you?
Creating, again, the same thing, that same kind of reaction that you got.
And, you know, these things are never easy to do, but they are the right things to do.
And I was in Oklahoma recently and had a chance to hang out with the kids there.
And it was just awesome.
It was awesome to...
Take this really important issue and take it out of the political realm and just remember these are about our kids.
These are about these young girls like Lara who has incredible potential in her passion and pursuit of wrestling.
She'll come home at the end of the day from the gym.
At like 6 o'clock after school, she's done with wrestling practice or whatever, and she's sitting there on the weekend.
She's like, man, I just wish I could go back and wrestle.
I wish I could go back to the gym.
That's all she wants to do, which is so cool.
And I can relate to that.
But could that excitement and passion be lost if you know that it's not an equal opportunity for you?
Right.
And yes, it can.
I know a lot of girls who just won't even enter contests now.
I don't want to do contests until I know that contests are fair.
And the ones that reach out to me, they're all ones that are like, yeah, this doesn't happen here.
And there actually are groups in skateboarding that don't allow this, smaller groups in like the Florida Amateur Skate League.
And it's not across the board agreed upon, despite what people want you to think.
But that's good hearing that Democrats and Republicans go work out together and it's fine.
And that's how it used to be for everything.
But I think everything's become this politicized thing and all these issues are black and white and you have to agree and be in complete compliance with everything and it's all or nothing.
You can't even talk about it.
And even just going to the skate park now, you can feel that from certain groups of people or from certain areas.
Like when I skate in a college town, for example, it's a different feel than when I skate out here.
I'm sure.
That's a whole other conversation of itself of what's happening on college campuses.
Yeah.
It's unfortunate.
And I think this is the thing about who we are as a country and how deeply, deeply concerning it is, once again, that whether it's on a college campus or on social media or at work or whatever, that people are afraid to speak.
People are afraid to have dialogue.
People are afraid to have conversation because things are just so, so, so politicized.
And there are actual potential negative consequences of people being canceled or fired or having opportunities in sports or other areas actually taken away.
I think there's also been a bit of, I don't know what the right word would be, but reverse cancellation starting to happen.
In my case, for example, maybe I'm the exception, but I didn't get kicked out of anything or fired from anything.
I got job opportunities.
I got opportunities to go to speak at events.
I have traveled to places that I never would have traveled before.
And I've gotten to meet so many incredible people who are all working on this issue.
But I took one of those jobs.
For me, it's been nothing but opportunities and support, and all of the hate and backlash is online.
Yeah, interesting.
I wish that people realized that.
I know that people do lose their jobs over this, and I just hope that there are more...
Cases like mine where there are more opportunities because of it than there are losses.
And I think we're going in that direction now because people are realizing that it is scary to speak up about and that I didn't want to become a voice on this issue.
I didn't want to do all this stuff.
Even just getting attention for it is kind of uncomfortable for me sometimes.
But when you're put in a position If you think about it like I do, when God puts you in a position that it's uncomfortable, but you know that it's the right thing to do, you've got to trust it.
And I'm glad I did.
I feel like if I hadn't trusted it, I would still be wanting to speak up now and be really unhappy with having not yet.
And that's really where that strength comes from.
As I've been through a lot of these challenging situations, whether in person or online, and it has been, it's been both, where you can just feel people's anger and hatred seething through.
Yes.
I find my peace and my strength in God's unconditional love.
And what else matters, actually, when it comes right down to it?
And I think that's where when we talk about hope and when we talk about Where we find that strength in the midst of chaos and the midst of darkness and hate is in God's love and what His love inspires in every one of us.
Especially in the position that you're in, when you're dealing with people who are coming at you with hate, how do you respond?
You know, and I think that's really key in this whole debate and conversation is when people are standing there calling you names, how do you respond?
Because there's a choice.
You can respond to hate with hate and anger and more name calling, or you can respond with strength and courage and truth and love.
Yeah, and sometimes you have to not respond at all because sometimes people just want to get a rise out of you.
And it's not that they actually want to have a conversation, understand each other's point of view.
When they do, I think you should take those opportunities.
And that's why I've done other interviews that you'll never see that have been burnt and are gone forever.
But yeah, it's...
It's pretty sad that people will attack someone they don't even know over this.
And that's why it hasn't...
There are moments that I've really struggled.
And it's weird when people are like, oh, you're really strong, you're really brave.
And I'm like, oh, you should see me when I'm not on camera sometimes because it is scary.
And I remember the first couple of weeks having panic attacks about it.
And there was a moment actually...
I think I only talked about this in an interview with Tim, but that just by chance, the person who I rented my studio from in Israel, in Batyam, when I had just spoken up, my first interview came out, and by chance, they had messaged me.
There was also a bit of a language barrier, but they had basically requested that I leave the apartment.
And I actually thought for a moment that I was getting kicked out of my home.
Who asked you to leave?
The guy that I rented from.
But it ended up being a total misunderstanding.
I thought he was like, you went on the news and said this, you're out of here.
But all it was was that he wanted to offer me money to move to a different room so that he could put somebody else in my room.
But because of the language barrier, it sounded different.
But right then, when I thought, oh my gosh, I'm actually getting kicked out of my home, that was absolutely terrifying.
And I think that was actually kind of a test that God had put there for me to be like, are you going to freak out?
Are you going to panic?
Are you going to make a plan?
Are you going to get this clarified?
And I got it clarified while also kind of having an idea of what I would do if I did get I know there are people who get fired from their jobs.
There are girls who've gotten suspended from their schools for speaking up.
And it's ridiculous.
And I do hope that those things get rectified.
I do hope that those people get the apologies that they deserve.
But in the case of people just coming after me, hating me on the internet, I feel more sorry for them.
I just feel like if you're commenting or sending messages to a stranger on the internet to tell them to hurt themselves for any reason, you're probably not in the greatest mindset or mental health.
So I wish you all the best, but it doesn't make it okay.
But I'm glad that I have the perspective to know that so I don't really feel impacted by the messages.
Honestly, this is kind of...
I don't like to admit this, but some of them, like, they're kind of funny.
You kind of get a kick out of them.
Read them with my friends and family.
That's like the mean tweets thing I've seen different celebrities other people do.
I thought I could make like a show where I just drink wine and read hate messages.
It would be hilarious.
I think it'd probably do pretty well.
That might happen.
Yeah.
Send me the link.
Send me the link when you do.
Coming soon.
Yeah, exactly.
I think what's good, I mean, other than kind of the entertainment value that I think it would be pretty funny and entertaining.
But I think it's also good, those kinds of things, because it takes away kind of the so-called power that those mean social media messages and attacks have and their intended effect, because you're not giving them what they want.
Yeah, and it's actually scary thinking about what is the intended effect, because there are absolutely stories of people...
Right.
I recently heard the story because I saw Blair White, who's a trans YouTuber who actually advocates for women on this issue and covers all sorts of really woke content and talks about her opinion on it.
She made a video, this must have been a while ago but I came across it, about Dave Chappelle and his comedy and he had a friend who was a trans comedian who spoke in his defense and received an awful backlash from that community online and whether it was entirely related to or not did end up taking her life like a week later.
It's pretty scary to think that that's actually the end goal of some of these messages.
Yeah.
That is horrifying that anybody would ever want to encourage somebody to do that, or even whether it's to hurt yourself or to take your life or just to make you feel terrible.
Yeah.
It's just wrong.
Most of us learn this in grade school that this type of bullying is wrong and that it's not appropriate in any situation.
And if you behave like this, it really says a lot more about you than it says about the person you're attacking.
Exactly.
But this can lead to people actually harming themselves or not being here anymore.
It's very confusing coming from this community that claims to be so inclusive and kind because I've never seen that type of attack from any other group.
Like, I'm a Jew, so I've experienced anti-Semitism, for example, from every political party, every type of person.
Everyone's got a different idea of how to hate a Jew.
And this is the first group that's actually said things like, go kill yourself to me.
That also is mind-blowing to me that this group that is so anti-racism, you know, include everybody.
Back when I, you know, went to these contests and kind of just brushed it off and acted like everything was fine.
Well, I was like a nice Jewish girl, but now I'm like a white supremacist colonizer to them.
It's like they change things around.
They attack minorities who don't agree with them.
There was actually a girl who made a video.
I spoke up about a New York contest that I actually wasn't at, but it was another same situation.
Trans competitor wins.
There's money involved.
The girl who got fourth place spoke up, made a video.
That video was, I think, deleted pretty quickly because she had received some comments, but...
Nobody ever talked about it.
And I think that it was possibly because she's black and it might not fit their narrative.
Wow.
So I was in an interesting position that, like, being Jewish...
I got attacked for being a Jew more than I got attacked for being a transphobe or a TERF or whatever.
I didn't even know any of those terms before I started posting stuff on the internet.
But it's very strange to me that that group will go after you for something like your ethnicity.
Exactly.
You'd think that would be off limits for them, but nothing's off limits for them.
No, nothing's off limits, and it just reveals the utter and complete hypocrisy of people who demand respect, tolerance, and acceptance from everyone else, but refuse to respond in kind if you dare to disagree or have a different view or not Or it's not even that anymore.
You have to be, you know, out on the streets protesting, you know, screaming through a bullhorn.
I mean, it is dangerous because, you know, it's not just like, well, obviously everyone's entitled to their opinion, everyone's entitled to their position and however they feel and free speech.
Everyone is entitled to that freedom of expression.
Right.
Where it gets dangerous is, and I've talked a lot about this, especially in my statement about why I left the Democratic Party, is what's dangerous is when they are in power and they are taking their opinion, which is like, you know, hey, Taylor, I don't agree with you and I don't think you should be allowed to say what you're saying.
It's one thing to say that.
It's another thing to work through the back channels of big tech to try to silence people and it's another thing when you have the Department of Justice and the FBI and all of these federal agencies that exist to serve the interests of the people but are being politicized by those in charge to further their own agenda or their own political position or their own political power.
And that's the most concerning thing about everything that we're seeing about this, about this culture of fear, you know, and self-censorship that people feel now.
Because of the consequences that they see people like you and I and others are enduring.
And they don't want to go through it.
That's what it comes down to.
And again, I keep saying this over and over because it is important about having voices and examples like yourself that people can look to and say, you know what?
I need to, in my own way, stand up for what's right.
I need to, in my own way, stand up for the truth.
I need to, in my own way, stand up for my girls or Women.
Period.
I needed to see those examples, too.
It was seeing Riley.
And also, another thing that I did some research online, like on YouTube, seeing if there were any trans people talking about this.
And who I came across was Blair White and Sarah Higdon, two trans women.
They're biological males who identify as trans women who were advocating for athletes like me.
And who were encouraging girls like me to speak up.
And then seeing Riley, like...
She acted like this was no big deal.
This is just stating the obvious.
And I went through it and they mistreated me.
So of course I speak up for myself.
And I thought, why did I even have to think twice about it?
It was really inspiring.
And now I've met Riley and she's such an incredible young woman.
She's so inspiring.
She's just a really great person, and I know that people say terrible things about her, too.
Like, she recently posted some of the messages she's got, and I get similar ones.
And it's like, we don't deserve this, but we can take it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for being willing to take it.
I know you're going to continue to drive on.
It was probably skateboarding and probably for her being a high-level athlete in swimming and, you know, a college athlete in swimming that prepared us to deal with what we've dealt with.
It's true, but there are many, many other female athletes at some of the highest levels of sport who are not.
They're not willing to stand up and speak out, and they are silent or worse perpetuating this false narrative that there is no difference.
So I just want to thank you again, Taylor, because We need more voices like yours and I'm so grateful you took the time to join me here today.
Thank you very much.
I wish you well.
Thank you for everything you're doing and thanks for having me.
▲
Export Selection