Dr. Khiara Bridges appeared before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion access in post-Roe v. Wade America on Tuesday, battling beliefs Senator Josh Hawley espoused that she said were transphobic and subjected trans people to violence – a response the Republican from Missouri made clear he did not appreciate.
A Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Dr. Bridges earned her law degree from Columbia University School of Law, and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from Spelman College where she graduated summa cum laude.
Senator Hawley focused his questions on transgender people, who the far-right have been negatively targeting from several different angles.
“Professor Bridges, you said several times, you’ve used a phrase I want to make sure I understand what you mean by it. You’ve referred to ‘people with a capacity for pregnancy.’ Would that be women?” Hawley asked.
“Many women, cis women have the capacity for pregnancy,” Dr. Bridges said, referring to cisgender women. “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.”
“So this isn’t really a women’s rights issue,” Hawley responded.
“We can recognize that this impacts women while also recognizing that it impacts other groups,” Dr. Bridges said, smiling. “Those things are not mutually exclusive, Senator Hawley.”
“Oh, so your view is is that the core of this, this right then is about what?” Hawley asked.
“So I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic. And it opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing that –” Dr. Bridges replied before being interrupted.
“Wow,” Hawley interjected. “You’re saying that I’m opening up people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who can have pregnancies?”
“So I want to note that one out of five transgender persons have attempted suicide. So I think it’s important –” Bridges explained.
“Because of my line of questioning – so we can’t talk about it?” Hawley again interrupted.
“Because denying that trans people exist, and pretending not to know that they exist,” Bridges again tried to explain, before again being interrupted.
“I’m denying that trans people exist by asking you if you’re talking about women having pregnancies?” Hawley inquired.
Bridges repeatedly asked him if he were denying their existence.
“Are you? Are you?” she replied. He did not answer.
“Do you believe that men can get pregnant?” Bridges continued.
“No,” Hawley, seemingly outraged, replied.
“So you’re denying that trans people exist,” Bridges explained.
“That leads to violence?” Hawley skeptically asked.
“Is this how you run your classroom?” Hawley continued. “Are students allowed to question you or are they also treated like this?”
Dr. Bridges exclaimed that students “absolutely” are allowed to ask questions, and invited the ultra-right Senator to visit.
“We have a good time in my class you should join. You might learn a lot,” she said as Hawley attacked, saying her students are told “they’re opening up people to violence, by questioning.”
“You might learn a lot,” Dr. Bridges replied.
“I’ve learned a lot,” Hawley added.
“I know,” Bridges concluded.
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