Man Punishes Woman for Defending Female Athletes
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Summary
Laurel Libby has garnered national attention over the past few weeks, and rightfully so. She has a backbone of steel and moral courage that is rarely shown. A few weeks ago, in the House of Representatives, again in the state of Maine, she was censured by the House Speaker, Speaker Fecto. Why did this happen? Well, that would be because she has defended women. She is a woman who has been open in her defense of common sense and of women.
Transcript
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With a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms and a weighting depth of 900 millimeters,
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Welcome back to the Gainsborough Girls podcast.
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That's where you can find all things Gainsborough Girls.
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That's where you can like and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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Please be sure to share these episodes far and wide.
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Today's guest, we are talking to Representative Laurel Libby from the state of Maine.
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She's garnered national attention over the past few weeks, and rightfully so.
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She has a backbone of steel and moral courage that is rarely shown.
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A few weeks ago, in the House of Representatives, again, in the state of Maine, she was censured
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It means you don't have the right to vote on the floor.
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Again, why her constituents voted for her in the first place.
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So in short, her constituents don't have a voice.
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Well, that would be because Representative Libby has defended women.
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She is a woman who has been open in her defense of common sense and of women.
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The chair understands that the member does not intend to submit an apology to the body.
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The member will be in violation of House Rule 401, Part 11.
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The member will not be able to cast a vote or speak on the floor until the member has come
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back into compliance with House Rule 401, Part 11.
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Oh my gosh, I watched this video and I'm mind blown.
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Remember in 2021, the party of follow the science.
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However, this interaction, of course, in conjunction with the interaction between President Trump
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and Governor Mills, which we will discuss on today's episode, look, the girls of Maine,
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the girls and women of Maine deserve so much better than the leadership, again, of Governor
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Mills and the Maine Democrat majority are currently offering.
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We are so grateful that Representative Libby will not be bullied into rejecting, again, basic
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common sense that men have no place in girls sports.
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And she's got big news and how she's pushing back and why, again, she won't apologize.
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Check out this episode with, again, Representative Laurel Libby here.
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Well, Representative Libby, thank you so much for joining the Gains for Girls podcast.
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It's becoming more common, but the stand that you have taken and how unapologetic you have
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been in a political climate where it's not welcome, it's not the cool thing to do, even
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still, even with Donald Trump in office, especially in the state of Maine, I just have so much admiration
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and respect for you, for your courage, for everything that you have done and will certainly continue
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to do to champion women, to champion common sense.
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So to be able to chat with you on the Gains for Girls podcast means so much to me and to,
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But I just wanted to start with, look, there's this photo of you and it's you're standing on
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the house floor, you've got Speaker Fecteau standing up there and you're being, I mean,
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I mean, I bet you never thought you'd be here as a woman having to defend yourself for
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So can you just share with us a little bit about your background and really what has caused
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you to gain the national attention and national praise that you have over these last few weeks?
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Yeah, first of all, I want to say such mutual respect, Riley.
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Certainly a month ago, if you told me I'd be sitting here having a conversation on your
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But President Trump had just come out with his executive order.
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The Maine Principals Association had made it clear that they were absolutely not going to
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We're going to continue to allow biological males to participate in girls' sports.
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And so when a male won the pole vaulting championship here in Maine, it just seemed the absolute right
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thing to do to say, hey, this is what's going on in Maine.
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I didn't even say in that post, it's not right.
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Ironically, I just laid the facts out there and we've seen what happened since.
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The fact is, it is absolutely not fair for biological males to be participating in girls' sports and
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to be taking our girls' place on the podium is absolutely unacceptable any way you slice it.
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And so I told Speaker Fecto the night that I was censured, we had a meeting prior to that
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censure prior to when I stood in front of him in the House chamber.
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And I ended the meeting telling him, Speaker, you're going to go down in history as the man
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who silenced a woman for speaking up for girls.
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And I think it's so critical that those of us in positions, theoretically at least, of power
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do speak up for the girls, for those who are having their rights taken away.
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Um, we shouldn't expect them to do that if we won't.
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And I think, I mean, I think the general public has got the picture for a long time and is
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certainly again, becoming more bold and saying it out loud.
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But what you just said, you are going to go down on the wrong side of history for silencing
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And that is the message that needs to be on these ads, these campaigns, these commercials
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Again, I hate to make it partisan like that because I mean, it really shouldn't be a partisan
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issue, but unfortunately that's, that's the reality of it.
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That is the message that needs to be played on these commercials when they're running in
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2026, 2028, whatever, whatever the term is time and time, time again, 24 seven, every
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single TV, that's the message that, that needs to be pushed out.
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So, so you spoke up again, you mentioned you didn't even necessarily at first insert your
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This was a male who placed fifth against the men in the men's division.
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Uh, what has the response been from your constituents from Mainers across the state, uh, since taking
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Like, have you been surprised by support by negativity?
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I think it's followed pretty clearly along the lines that we see polling on the issue,
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And that's pretty much what I've, what I've heard from folks that ratio.
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But what has been surprising is, is the sheer volume and the number of people, um, hundreds
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and hundreds of people who've reached out and said, thank you for speaking up.
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And that's been the most resonant message is don't stop.
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Um, I think people are watching and they're hungry for, uh, folks to stand their ground.
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The minority that disagrees with us is just that it's a minority, but they're so loud.
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And, and so folks are encouraged to, to see, um, someone multiple, someone's speaking up
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for the position that they hold themselves and kind of relieved.
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I think to understand that they're part of the majority that believes in common sense and
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that biological males should not be competing against girls.
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You mentioned again, that, that visual it's burned in my mind of you being censured.
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That wasn't your first run in with speaker of the house in Maine speaker effect.
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No, my first term, uh, we was the first go around with speaker effect.
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Oh, uh, he was, uh, the speaker when I was first elected and that was during COVID.
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And so there was all kinds of tyranny going on in Maine, same governor, same speaker.
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And when governor Mills finally lifted the mask mandate after a year and a half, uh, I went
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into the state house without a mask on and speaker effect.
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I had declared that the state house was still to be a masked zone.
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So I, and a few others went in, uh, I did not think it was just that, uh, once the statewide
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mask mandate was lifted, that people would have to mask just to competition their government.
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And so, um, I went in along with a few others to, um, show the way and say, it's not right.
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And, um, encourage folks to speak up themselves as well for their rights.
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Everyone's already seen the clip at this point, but we have to play it.
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Cue the clip of the interaction between governor Mills and president Trump.
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Has complied immediately, by the way, that's good.
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But I understand Maine is the main here, the governor of Maine.
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You better do it because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't.
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And by the way, your population, even though it's somewhat liberal, although I did very well there,
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uh, your population doesn't want men playing in women's sports.
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So you better, you better comply because otherwise you're not getting any, any federal funding.
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Cause I don't think you'll be in elected politics.
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That was just like the most Trump interaction ever.
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Uh, of course I love how he says, you know, she says we're following state and federal law.
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Obviously she's not following federal law and president Trump makes it very clear.
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He says, look, I am the federal law, but, but again, following this, this back and forth,
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uh, attorney general Bondi basically put Maine and a few other States on notice saying, look,
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let me be clear about title nine, you know, of the channel amendments act of, of 1972,
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what this means under our constitution, federal law, it means you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex.
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And so, I mean, there's even a risk here to lose federal funding.
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Are you surprised that governor Mills again is doubling down?
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Because if, if, I mean, what I have read is right.
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Maine has received over $5 billion in federal funds.
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I don't know how much of that is allocated specifically to, to the educational realm,
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And again, I would imagine too many Mainers to risk all of that.
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And that this is the Hill men and women's sports that governor Mills is going to die on.
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Yeah, it is a crazy Hill to die on because Mainers don't support her stance.
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And, uh, you know, we do Maine relies on federal funding.
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As far as the educational portion in K through 12, we're looking at $250 million a year,
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Uh, when governor Mills stepped into office, we were at about a $7 billion budget.
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She's blown that up to being almost 12 billion, six years later at this point.
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And so when you do the math that 250 million a year, half a billion dollars in two years
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And Mainers certainly don't support taking the federal government, uh, to court and spending
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more taxpayer dollars to fight on an issue where it's clear we stand, uh, on the side
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of, uh, girls and ensuring that biological males are not participating in girls sports.
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So any way you slice it, it is the wrong stance for governor Mills to take.
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And yet they've chosen to, to die on this Hill, uh, when they really don't have the support
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Uh, you have just dropped a, a really bombshell lawsuit in a federal court.
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I don't believe that the speaker of the house has the constitutional authority to strip my
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More particularly the voice and the vote of my constituents that elected me to represent
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them, uh, by censuring me and inserting this punishment that says I can't speak or vote.
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Uh, my constituents don't have any representation in the state house, uh, taxation without representation
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I won't apologize for speaking the truth, but I think it is incumbent upon me to do everything
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And so we have sued in federal court, um, and we are looking to resolve this through
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the courts since it seems that the speaker, um, has no intention of being reasonable.
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And really when it comes down to the math, uh, in order to actually eject me from the house,
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they have to have a two thirds vote according to our main constitution.
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And they don't have that, which is why they've had to do this end run around the constitution
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and have a majority vote to censure me instead.
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And so we'll see where this goes in the courts.
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But, um, that is, I think of paramount importance to get my constituents voice back.
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Uh, I have been saying for a while now, this is how we fight back.
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It's what the left truthfully has done such a good job at.
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I mean, you heard it, Governor Mills said it, we will see you in court.
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They threaten and they pursue lawsuits like nobody's business.
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So to, to be on, I mean, the offense like you're doing is incredible.
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I wish everyone would follow whether you're an elected official, uh, who has been targeted
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in the same way that you have, whether you're just an everyday person who has been targeted.
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Uh, of course I know it's, it's a financial responsibility.
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It's a huge time investment and an emotional investment at that.
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There's a lot that goes into it, but I believe this is the past path forward.
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Uh, but more importantly, as you, as you mentioned, uh, for your constituents to have their representation
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Are you still just like being totally stonewalled here?
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Yeah, I went into the state house last Tuesday, one week following my censure.
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And I sat there in the chamber and it's a really weird feeling to know that if we had
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a roll call or an issue come up that I, you know, felt passionately about that, I would
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have no ability to speak to it or vote on the record.
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When you, when you think about it and the left wants to talk about again, I hate to
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make it partisan, but we take it back to, you know, prior to the election and all of
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these women's who, who, you know, declared and claimed and asserted that they were going
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to lose rights under president Trump to me, again, looking at your state leadership and
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what has happened to you, uh, excuse me, this is of course in direct conflict with what
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Well, actually it's, it's true what they've said, but it's not because of Trump.
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It's because of, of Democrat, democratic leadership at that.
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So I want to play two more videos for you and I want to get your thoughts.
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Uh, let's cue the video of, uh, governor Gavin Newsom here.
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It's like you right now should come out and be like, you know what?
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The young man who's about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports,
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You as the governor should step out and say no, no.
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Well, and I appreciate, but like, would you do something like that?
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So that's easy to call out the unfairness of that.
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There's also a humility and a grace that, you know, that, that, that these poor people
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are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression.
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And the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time
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How can we address this issue with the kind of decency that I think, you know, is inherent
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Newsom apparently started the democratic party civil war of 2025.
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Let's play one more video of house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.
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I want to ask about, uh, California governor Gavin Newsom's comments, uh, saying that Democrats
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were in the wrong for allowing transgender athletes to compete in female and girl sports.
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Um, what is your response to that after Democrats had opposed the women and girls in sports?
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What Democrats opposed was unleashing sexual predators on girls throughout the United States
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Honestly, like, I don't even know what conclusion he's trying to draw there.
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So if you're as confused as I am and don't fret, I mean, I think the majority of Americans
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But let's start with, let's start with governor Newsom.
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He's really the first one of the few prominent Democrats who has come out and, and at least
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He says it's deeply unfair, but then goes on to say not unfair enough for him to actually
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do something about it because he doesn't want to be perceived as mean is what I got
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A fair amount of word salad there that meant absolutely nothing except for highlighting that
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he does understand, uh, that this is unfair policy.
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Now, I don't think we're going to see Gavin Newsom doing anything about it.
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Um, and it's the equivalent of, you know, uh, which way is the wind blowing here?
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Gavin Newsom is a smart political animal and he understands that 80% of Americans do not
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And so he is taking, uh, you know, a little bit of a common sense position here.
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Again, I don't, I don't think he spoke to change of policy in that statement, but he did
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And we'll see if people are satisfied with that much of a concession, but it certainly
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has thrown the Democrats into a tailspin because they don't know what to do with that.
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As made very clear by Hakeem Jeffries, again, the connection of wanting men out of women's
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locker rooms and women's sports to them saying that will unleash sexual predators.
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I assume he's an insinuating that we want to like inspect genitals.
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Of course, that would be utterly invasive and a total violation.
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Every bill that I have seen put forward and every policy that we have seen by these large
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governing bodies to, uh, I guess, uh, quantify and qualify sex.
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It would be either a birth certificate, um, which I don't believe is satisfactory because
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in all but six States, you can alter your birth certificate cheek swabs.
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We've seen that in some places, which is a, you know, a simple saliva test, uh, to determine
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sex, uh, or a routine physical that every single athlete, I believe in every single state has
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So again, the whole inspecting genitals thing is, is just silly, uh, and totally, uh, I mean,
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Last thing for you, um, you really have been so courageous, so brave, but again, that's not
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to say it doesn't come with the pressures and the negative.
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So how, I mean, how have you been handling that, especially in your personal life?
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You know, we see how strong you've been on social media, but again, that that's not all
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So how have you been handling all of the negative that comes with the stand you've taken?
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You know, I've, I've gained experience over the last number of years getting really thick
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skin, but I also know that there's one source of truth and, um, I'm connected to that source
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of truth and know that we're all here for such a time as this.
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Um, sure there are hard days, but, um, I'm standing for truth.
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And, uh, we're representing an army of people out there who believe and know, uh, that there,
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And at the end of the day, God doesn't make mistakes.
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And so, um, it's an easy call to make, to speak up for truth and to stand on really firm
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I love that you mentioned, uh, for such a time as this Esther 414, uh, because the front
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half of that verse, which is often forgot about, it's often left out of the discussion,
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but it says for, if you remain silent, uh, goes on to say you and your father's family
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will perish, but I think that's very fitting, uh, for the stand that, that you have taken.
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Uh, and just as Christians, we were not saved to be silent.
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Uh, so thank you for being such a wonderful role model for me.
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Uh, but again, broader for women and girls for humanity, actually, it's not limited to
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Thank you for being a role model to, to people across the world.
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Thank you for tuning into the gains for girls podcast, outkick.com.
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You can like, you can subscribe, you can share these.
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Uh, I hope you follow representative Libby's lawsuit, uh, what she is doing there, because
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It goes beyond again, how she has personally been impacted, but how it's impacted her constituents.
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So, uh, again, you can follow her at Laurel underscore Libby on X, uh, keep up with what she's doing
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I know I said it, but I don't say that lightly.
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Uh, so you could learn something from her, her courage.
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Uh, but we will see you guys again next week on the gains for girls podcast.