H thank you Mr chairman um judge wise why don't we start with you until earlier this year you served on the board of the alamaa county chapter of Girls Inc now this is an organization that seems to do some good things helping disadvantaged girls um but is one that's also taken some radical positions on sex on gender girls inc's definition of gender states that quote a girl is a young person who identifies as a girl regardless of her as sign sex at Birth or who identifies as a girl while exploring gender identity or expression close quote do you agree with this definition uh good morning Senator Lee at first I will say that I believe what you're reading from is a policy regarding girls in National which I think might be out of New York my only role has been in the limited capacity in uh in Alam County where I am I have no familiarity with the remarks that you made I'm not familiar with those comments you agree with him I mean what I know of Girls Inc is that it focuses on on girls in our community primarily starting at kindergarten for literacy do you share the view expressed in the statement I don't have any opinion about those particular remarks from girls in National we've heard from uh many women um many many of whom are sexual assault survivors um parents of girls about the physical and psychological risk of being forced to share bathrooms locker rooms other facilities uh uh with biological males now this concern is far from being just hypothetical it's not one that's just being drained up in Lowden County Virginia just a few miles from here a 15-year-old boy U wearing a skirt and claiming to be a transgender girl was convicted of sexual assaulting two girls in girls bathrooms at school at two different high schools now the Schools allowed him to be in the girl's bathroom because of the same bathroom policy that from what I can tell you seem to have advocated for now have you considered how your advocacy and the positions you've taken on this front might adversely affect girls uh first of all I will say I think there might be some confusion about the article that I wrote the article that I wrote took no position about who should be able to use a bathroom everyone should be safe including girls and women in all bathrooms in locker rooms everywhere all of us should be safe I care very much about the rule of law I wrote nothing about people who are gay or straight or transgendered at all my article had nothing to do with that well here's here's one of the things you say in that article is going back to the Time magazine article quote if modern science recognizes that sex has countless natural permutations and if birth certificates physical observation and even chromosomal testing cannot reliably categorize every individual is either male or female then our Judiciary cannot be required to make gender findings antithetical to that reality could that not be extended to cover the kind of situation I described in Lon County in other words if you've got a bathroom policy that says that if you were a biological male and have been identified as as such because you have male characteristics you may not use a female bathroom I'm not sure if you were here a moment ago when I was speaking to this issue my very limited concern were about children at the moment of birth who a doctor cannot properly assign as male or female I understand that but I think you would agree the quote I just read to you goes well beyond that and so it it's one thing to to make the statement uh as you were suggesting a moment ago one that might apply in one out of 120,000 cases where you've got a very rare uh genetic abnormality or something like that kleinfelder syndrome or or something of of the like but the statement I just read is much broader than that is it not so um the St statistics I am familiar with with the World Health Organization indicates that it's approximately 1 in 2,000 one in 20,000 that are serious that is baby born every other day I one in 2000 figure is based on much different criteria and it's not actually interex position running out of time I want I want to turn to miss provenzo for a moment uh miss provino you spent some time with the advocates for human rights um this is a group that has at times taken some very radical positions now uh among other things they've made statements suggesting that they see their more conservative uh neighbors as oppressors stating quote today's anti-trans and anti- queerness is largely rooted in euroamerican colonialization forced assimilation into Christianity is part of the process of cultural genocide and the imposition of a gender binary and normative forms of sexuality you stand by your association with this group and do you agree with that statement I worked with advocates for human rights as the inaugural wellstone legal fellow immediately after clerking for judge Diana Murphy uh that was in 2004 to 2006 I have no familiarity with the statements nor do I take any position on them Senator okay so you don't disagree with them now let me just ask one more follow-up question I'll be I'll be done the same group um has made some other statements other statements touching on things within the state of Minnesota um last year the group wrote uh about racism in Minnesota quote this is was an unprecedented opportunity of the Twin Cities Community to address the systemic State sanctioned violence against black and brown communities in Minnesota time and time again Minnesota's elected leaders have failed to make meaning ful change in the state's law enforcement practices and accountability mechanisms now do you believe that the state of Minnesota and its elected officials uh are fostering State sanctioned violence against ethnic minorities I'm not familiar with that statement but as you're phrasing it and explaining it to me I do not agree with that Senator okay see time expired thank you Senator Lee thank you very much Senator kachar very good