When Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) asked President Joe Biden’s Department of Education Deputy Secretary, Cindy Marten, on Wednesday if there are two genders, Marten refused to answer.
The incident happened during an Education and Labor Committee hearing in which Miller questioned if teachers and school employees could lose their jobs for stating the “biological and genetic fact that there are two genders.” Marten repeatedly attempted to redirect Miller’s question before finally brushing the congresswoman off by saying, ” Thank you for your questions.”
Here is the dialogue:
Miller: Deputy Secretary Marten, when Secretary Cardona testified before this committee, I asked him about the department’s guidance to school teachers that they could be charged with harassment if they say that there are only two genders, male and female. I asked the secretary how many genders there are, and he couldn’t answer. Could you please tell me, “How many genders are there?”
Marten: Well, I’d rather talk about the bigger value around our students being able to learn in —
Miller: But under your guidance, under your guidance, you are saying that teachers could be investigated for harassment if they state the biological fact that there are two genders.
Marten: What’s most important is that all campuses—
Miller: Are you saying that teachers could lose their jobs over this, but you can’t actually say how many genders there are?
Marten: We don’t make decisions at the local level about teachers, but what I can say —
Miller: This came from the Department of Education. This is not local. If it was local, I assure you, regular Americans, including rank and file Democrats, are furious that the Department of Education is promoting the teaching of gender identity in schools. It’s a made-up concept that’s going to have significant implications. Every human is either a male or female. That’s a biological fact.
Marten: Thank you.
Miller: So you still can’t say how many genders there are?
Marten: I can tell you that the Department is committed to student safety and all students’ rights to access education —
Miller: But what about the teachers that teach biology or genetics, and they say that there’s two genders? Male and female. Your Department’s guidance is saying that they could be subject to investigation for harassment. What do you say about that?
Marten: And the end of the day I know that —
Miller: I know that you know its’s hard to come up with an answer that could satisfy parents in our country.
Marten: Thank you for your questions.
Miller: Yeah, did you have an answer for that? Because teachers could be losing their jobs over this, over stating the biological and genetic fact that there are two genders. It’s your Department that put this guidance out. You’re making teachers vulnerable, and even students perhaps, that don’t feel safe in locker rooms or bathrooms, and they go in and communicate that to perhaps a principal or a teacher; perhaps then they’re accused of harassment. This has really got significant implications, so I hope next time you could tell us how many genders there are. Thank you, and I yield back.
Miller was specifically referencing a June 2021 memo sent out by Biden’s Department of Education around the time the Biden administration announced that Title IX protections would be expanded to cover transgender students in schools that accept federal funding. In the memo, titled “Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools,” the Department of Education lists examples of the types of incidents in the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division (CRT) at the Department of Justice and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education can investigate.
A few examples of “the kinds of incidents CRT and OCR can investigate” include [emphasis added]:
- When he starts middle school, a transgender boy introduces himself as Brayden and tells his classmates he uses he/him pronouns. Some of his former elementary school classmates “out” him to others, and every day during physical education class call him transphobic slurs, push him, and call him by his former name. When he reports it to the school’s administrators, they dismiss it, saying: “you can’t expect everyone to agree with your choices.”
- An elementary school student with intersex traits dresses in a gender neutral way, identifies as nonbinary, and uses they/them pronouns. The student’s teacher laughs when other students ask if they are “a boy or a girl” and comments that there is “only one way to find out.” The teacher tells the class that there are only boys and girls and anyone who thinks otherwise has something wrong with them. The student tells an administrator, who remarks “you have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes.”
- On her way to the girls’ restroom, a transgender high school girl is stopped by the principal who bars her entry. The principal tells the student to use the boys’ restroom or nurse’s office because her school records identify her as “male.” Later, the student joins her friends to try out for the girls’ cheerleading team and the coach turns her away from tryouts solely because she is transgender. When the student complains, the principal tells her “those are the district’s policies.
When Miller finished questioning Marten, far-left squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) called Miller’s line of questioning “nonsensical” and praised Marten for her ability to “stay the course.”
Miller told Breitbart News exclusively that Omar’s insult was empty and still provides no evidence that there are, in fact, more than two genders.
“I would ask her the same, very simple question. How many genders are there? They claim our questions are nonsensical, but when asked, they have no response,” Miller said via email on Friday.
Miller, who to no avail previously questioned the Department’s stance on gender, said Marten refused to answer because “the Biden Administration surely recognizes that their radical ideology is not supported by the American people.” She further contended it is yet another area where the government is attempting to surpass the role of parents.
“The danger is that teachers are prosecuted, losing their jobs even. Confused children are troubled & bullied. Parents lose control of their children’s education and are not able to support their children and protect them from indoctrination in the workplace,” Miller said. “It is already affecting students, teachers, and parents; look at the father who was arrested in Loudoun County for trying to protect his daughter and other schoolchildren from being assaulted by “transgender” mentally ill children. It’s time for parents to take back control of their local school boards.”
Just a few months back during a budget reconciliation markup meeting Democrat Rep. John Yarmuth (KY) said the government knows better than parents when it comes to vaccinating children against the Chinese coronavirus after Miller proposed legislation mandating that schools obtain parent or guardian consent before vaccinating children.
He said in opposition to the amendment:
I know I’ll get in a lot of trouble for this, but I want to refer to the sponsor’s premise for the amendment, and the first words out of her mouth were, ‘parents know what’s best for their children.’ I think the evidence is compelling and overwhelming and widespread that they don’t.
Another squad member, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), went as far as calling the proposal “nonsensical” and railed against people who refuse to follow “the science” of masks and vaccines. The Education and Labor Committee ultimately opposed the amendment along party lines. The amendment has yet to go up for an official vote to be included in Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation, which doubles as a leftist wishlist.
Miller said “absolutely” when Breitbart News asked if Democrats hold the same attitude that parents do not know best for their children when it comes to gender ideology.
“I believe in parental consent. It is time to speak out against indoctrination and abuse of children,” she said. “No school or government should consent on behalf of children for any matter. Believe it or not, children across our nation are being administered the vaccine without parental consent! It should be a priority of Congress to give power back to the parents.”
Parents have been mobilizing across the country in opposition to government overreach in schools, particularly regarding vaccine and mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and gender ideology. In fact, as of July, there had been more school board member recall efforts in 2021 than in any year since 2006. The rejection of woke indoctrination in schools manifested on the national stage when Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor race on November 3. Voters across all demographics took to the polls to keep Democrat Terry McAuliffe from becoming governor after Youngkin specifically campaigned on empowering parents.
Glenn Youngkin delivers remarks at a campaign event in the parking lot of Vito’s Pizza Bar & Grill on October 28, 2021, in Amherst, Virginia (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).
Miller agreed with many of her GOP colleagues when asked if Youngkin’s win could be a foreshadowing of a “red wave” in 2022.
“I think it’s safe to say that Youngkin’s win energized parents to stand up against a woke ideology in schools. Glenn Youngkin sent a clear message to government bureaucrats: treat parents with more respect,” she concluded.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter.