Sen. Josh Hawley called ‘transphobic’ by Khiara Bridges in Senate hearing | USA TODAY

Republican Senator Josh Hawley was accused of transphobia by an expert witness during a Senate hearing on an abortion restriction case.

RELATED: Gay lawmaker spars with Republican over anti-trans bill

Khiara Bridges, testifying as an expert in race and reproductive rights, called out the Missouri Republican senator's line of questioning as being "transphobic" during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the abortion restriction case – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – which prompted the Supreme Court unravel Roe v. Wade last month. ​

In the exchange, Hawley first probed Bridges by asking her for clarification if she was referring to women when she said, "people with a capacity for pregnancy." Bridges then responded by noting to Hawley: "Many women, cis women, have the capacity for pregnancy. Many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as non-binary people who are capable of pregnancy."

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#Hawley #Senate #LGBTQ

59 comments

    1. How refreshing to see someone say something stupid and think they’re being witty. She even took the opportunity to giggle at her own delusion.

  1. Got to love the bias in the title. Have to setup the narrative and have this professor not seen like a crazy person and someone looking down on others.

    1. @spitfire1945 I think she gave the answers on all questions she got. And once again where is the embarrassment?

    2. @Николай Николай She was being asked perfectly rational, polite and straightforward questions to fairly establish her position precisely without misunderstanding and reacted like an angry toddler. How dare someone (and a US Senator no less) not prostrate themselves at her feet and accept whatever she decides without equivocation? Her tone becomes hostile, self-righteous and downright rude. At one point she is engaging in the intensely disrespectful method of repeatedly talking over her ‘enemy’ to not only prevent his opinion even being heard, but also to patronise and corner him. He coolly notes her attitude and the logical inference of what this means for how she routinely deals with people in less esteemed circumstances than his, but she was probably hyperventilating with rage to such an extent that she didn’t notice his subtle aside.

      That’s before we even get started on the emotive terms used such as ‘transphobia’ like it’s some kind of drop the mike argument ender. Or deeply offensive straw men arguments of suggesting he was promoting violence against transgender individuals, encouraging them to commit suicide or even denying their existence at all. And as for the concept of male pregnancy… well… As I understand it, females are universally understood as those in a species who produce the large gamete in a coupling, even into the plant kingdom. Whether you like that or not, is your problem. Or are you suggesting there might be gender dysmorphic whales, eagles and sequoias?

      And in anticipation of the same kind of car alarm triggering, I am perfectly satisfied that some people genuinely are affected by disparity between their physical body and psychology. I wish them all love and peace in finding the best way to live with the difficulties this may cause them. But simply declaring themselves a Tyrannosaurus if they choose, does not make them one and does not entitle them to angrily dictate to others that this is how they must be addressed. For the life of me, I can’t understand why it is so outrageous to be considered as a trans man or trans woman instead of claiming a status that they plainly do not conform to.

    3. @DJM 5084 you wrote a lot of text but your comment is not working from the beginning, because she was replying to him in a good constructive way, until he interrupted her with his ‘Wow’ which wasn’t calm and respective as you tried to explain and from there everything has started 🙂

    4. @UCUhBSupZqI8DYNRSviEnVGQ a lot of text again, you pay attention on her ‘machine gun’ but do not pay attention on him interrupting her many times before this point, so she just having a conversation with him on his level 🙂 and he didn’t give any rational and logical explanation about the purpose behimd his questions, he was only asking new questions all the time 🙂

    5. @Николай Николай The ‘argument’ started with her branding his perfectly reasonable question as ‘transphobic’ and this led to his exclamation, not the other way round. The senator retained his composure for the most part whilst the provocateur was hostile, condescending and disrespectful. But their respective conduct is not an either/or situation that excuses the actions of the other as you so desperately want to reduce it to… and to get away from the substantive aspects of the debate such as the simple biological truth of males not being capable of pregnancy for example.

      Your observation about the length of my replies is notable for similar reasons. It seems you prefer pithy soundbites that lack substance rather than a detailed and consistent analysis. Whining that he interrupted her (after he was effectively declared a bigot without good cause) and that all manners and conventions can be thus ignored is thoroughly unreasonable. One might infer that you fear the likely outcome of having your position scrutinised in any depth.

      The logical extension of her ‘case’ is that billions of people around the world, including almost all children, are ignorant and hateful for not accepting her dubious claims that turn upside down the most basic concepts of human gender that have been accepted throughout the history of our species. And even if the radical extreme individualists get what they profess to want, it won’t end there. They will just keep twisting the tourniquet until the victim slumps lifeless to the floor.

      I am declaring myself a blue whale purely on a whim. Anyone pointing out that I don’t satisfy the basic criteria for one can be dismissed as intolerant and fascist. Oh, and don’t use too many words because that disqualifies your opinion too.🤔

  2. So by her definition then everyone can have a opnion on the RvW situation, which means the positive and negative sides of RvW either way you stand. Why isn’t she condemning the vast amount of women saying my body my choice who says men can’t say anything about it or saying men can’t have a opinion on it or that basically it’s all men’s fault?

    1. @gene lovell my grandson thinks he is super man sometimes, jumps off the couch ect. One day he wanted to jump off the roof, I had to tell him he is not superman. Reality, facts, logic amd science is what we must accept, not what one feels. My gosh theres now “fur people” that growl, jump and wait to considered animals in society literally. Mental illness is a real thing amd society is accepting it as a norm rather than addressing it rightfully. A big issue with mass shootings is mental illness. Not the gun. I could go on and on but at the end of day no matter what anyone feels they are in an abortion it is a separate heartbeat and living human body who’s life is ended, not the mother’s. Abortion always leads to death. A forcefully forced death by another humans hands.

    2. @#issuesthatmatter Well I would disagree heavily I didn’t really think about it or realize it until the video was released in uvalde Texas truthfully, and this is undisputed fact, a handgun is not as powerful as an Ar-15, a handgun clip size and accuracy are far far less than an Ar-15 again, facts, I fully support the 2nd amendment and don’t even actually have a problem with rifles or shotguns however, assault rifles should not be allowed to be purchased or even used by non military personnel because it serves no purpose at all. 

      Here’s the last fact, if any of the shootings this year played out exactly the same except the shooters had handguns or shotguns or non automatic rifles I 99% guarantee less people would have been killed and the police wouldn’t have been to afraid to go in and save lives.

      Home defense can be utilized with a 9mm, any shotgun or hunting rifles, assault rifles are overkill and pointless overall.

      I can agree that abortion should be illegal or restricted only in circumstances or non rape or incest and it has to be far enough along for science to confirm that’s actual a human being not a clump of cells. Otherwise women and girls should be free to choose wether they want to bring the fetus to term care r not especially, if it’s medically necessary for them to have the abortion.

  3. By the law professor’s logic, abortion isn’t a women’s rights issue….not about equality for women….she just blew up probably the strongest argument in favor of abortion being a Constitutional Right.

    1. @Sean Crosby But, I thought men were capable of pregnancy? At least, this is the case according to the professor. I expect at least a little logical consistency here. Also, should CIS men (i.e. real actual biological men, not pretend men) have a say in whether a mother kills her young child after birth? If so, why then and not while the child is in the womb. Either way, the child is completely dependent for survival.

    1. @Ashe are you oblivious to everything, and just spewing what you’re told? how do you not know what he’s talking about? use your brain to think on your own for once.

    2. @Peeksa Cheese I’m saying that prostate exams don’t dominate people assigned male at births’ lives, is that the defining factor of men?

    3. @Amaan Mohammed no matter how you feel about their identity they’re still people and deserve the respect of not being treated like they’re not.

    1. It’s a religious cult. As an atheist, I recognize it easily. I thought we were past religion dominating society but it seems in the absence of Christianity, people simply fill the void with another belief system. It seems no matter the belief system, when people feel extremely convicted to their beliefs, they feel it’s their duty and obligation to force you to adhere to their beliefs. This is quickly turning into a theocracy too. Take title Ix or example, now “misgendering” is a punishable offense… that is the same as blasphemy laws. Someone who doesn’t agree to their religion is now punishable for not following the doctrine…

      Don’t underestimate this stuff, Christianity is going on 2000+ years now…

    2. @Phlyp I can also recognize this easily as a Christian. We have known in history that groups that are genuinely Christian run much better than societies that reject God. When that happens, all morality tends to break down, and Sin becomes OK in the eyes of man. Thus leading to the inevitable collapse of society.

  4. The moment you realize you’re transphobic and that men have babies. 😮. If I’m going to breastfeed I’m going to need bigger breasts.

    1. @M. Gonz nice try but first – your time code is not right 🙂 and second – she said that ‘your line of questioning is transphobic and it opens up trans people to violence by not recognising …’ she couldn’t finish because she was interrupted. So you better check your eyes and ears if you see in these words that ‘asking a question immediately results in violence’ 🙂

  5. There are two videos out there this one and another camera angle where it’s her full face not a side profile. The lady looks darn right crazy you haven’t seen it check it out. I think there’s a reason they do the side profile because you really can’t tell how crazy she really is.

    1. @Janise Anderson You’d have to be pretty crazy yourself to think she won this exchange. “YOU’RE TRANSPHOBIC” is not the win you think it is, especially when you are asked questions that you obviously didn’t answer. Not to mention she literally acts unhinged.

  6. I don’t know who this lady is but my reaction to this clip is utter confusion and annoyance. Her reactivity is so toxic. I think if she genuinely had something to teach him she would‘ve? “You’d learn a lot”… ya great way to drive a point home.

    1. @Николай Николай Sorry, I’m with West Son on this one. You need a logic course. She brought the trans agenda in to a discussion about pregnancy and abortion. Utter nonsense and lack of respect and decorum on her part. I’d say less toxic and more just blatantly idiotic though…

    2. @Trevor Watts so trans people can’t get pregnant? Why are they not considered in this discussion? I think she has a point

    3. @Николай Николай I’ll keep it simple. XX chromosome people can be pregnant. Their gender status is completely irrelevant. XY people can’t be pregnant. My statement includes ALL trans genders so there should be absolutely no problem.

    4. @Николай Николай when it comes to matters of pregnancy, it’s clear to me gender is confusing to everyone and not everyone agrees. I’m pretty sure everyone agrees a VAST majority of the population of the planet falls into the category of having xx or xy chromosome pairs, which in turn indicate whether that individual can carry children or not. How about we completely remove this “social construct” of gender from the discussions and arguments and simply rely on this VERY binary condition. Since gender is apparently non-binary, let’s quite mixing it in and muddying the waters and just rely on straight up biology. Can I get a few thumbs up on this one?

  7. I saw a clip and knew i wasnt getting the full story. Im just glad that people in the comments are as sane as I am!!! Labelling the line of questioning as “transphobic” was so dismissive and ignorant of what the conversation was acc about!!

  8. Was she looking to make the headlines? Why is my world coming to this? Omg she’s a professor and so unnecessary.

  9. Can you just feel and see the elitism in this sorely confused reality denier? The smugness of these lunatics is impressive as they talk down to others using nonsense words and arguments.

  10. I’m not a fan of the senator by any means, but I have to side with him on this one. That lady is nuts.

  11. “Do you believe man can get pregnant?”

    Sen (any sane human being on earth):- “no I don’t believe that men could get pregnant.”

    ” sO yOu ArE deNyInG tHaT tRaNs pEoPLe eXiSt” 🤡🤡 🤡

    1. Well written. Her imaginary association of his answer to what she decided his answer meant is quite telling of her state of mind.

  12. When do we get to a point where us normal people STAND UP and INSIST THIS DRIVELING NONSENSE STOPS?! 😡 Birthing people? Chest feeders? This woman is making a TOTAL FOOL of herself and should NOT BE EMPLOYED AS AN EDUCATOR.

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