NWLC President/CEO to DOGE Subcommittee: The fixation on harming trans kids won’t fix the problems of Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 7, 2025) — Today, Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivery on Government Efficiency (DOGE) to oppose the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks towards trans people, and efforts to ban transgender women and girls from participating in sports.

Instead of focusing on how taxpayer dollars should be spent to improve people’s lives, the committee abused its jurisdiction by convening a sham hearing, “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” to double down on its obsession with transgender athletes.

Goss Graves said both the hearing and the administration’s wave of exclusionary policy proposals fail to reflect any genuine concern for women and girls.

“For over 100 days, the Trump administration has relentlessly targeted women and girls across the U.S.,” she said in her written testimony. “From defunding critical scientific women’s health research and gender-based violence prevention programs, to weaponizing civil rights laws against gender equity and inclusion, to attacking the programs that are critical to the well-being of women and families, from Medicaid to Head Start. It has completely ignored the real issues threatening safety and opportunity for girls and women, including in the area of sports.”

Goss Graves told lawmakers during the hearing: “The fixation on harming trans kids — it will not fix the problems of the American people.” She noted attacks toward transgender women and girls harm all women and girls.

“Today women and girls continue to lose out on opportunities to hone their athleticism — not because trans women and girls are being included in play, but because schools cannot be bothered to provide them with the same quality of equipment, facilities, safe areas to train in, or coaching they furnish to their men’s and boys’ teams,” she stated in her testimony. “I invite those who profess their commitment to equal opportunity in sports to shift their focus from perpetuating attacks against a vulnerable group of women and girls and instead join NWLC in addressing the actual barriers women and girls in sports face to equal athletic opportunity.”

A livestream of the hearing is available here, and Goss Graves’ full written testimony can be provided upon request.

For interviews with Fatima Goss Graves or NWLC experts, contact [email protected].