A Harvard-educated Democrat lawmaker argued recently that “modern science” recognizes six sexes, not just two.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a former English teacher who holds a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University, insisted there are actually six sexes during a committee hearing on a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s K-12 sports.
“The bill seems to think there are two,” Talarico said. “The one thing I want us to all be aware of recognize is that modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six—which, honestly, surprised me, too.”
He went on to explain that there are not only females (XX) and males (XY), but also single X, XXY, XYY, and XXXY sexes.
Science has long recognized the latter four as chromosomal disorders, including trisomy 21, the condition that leads to Down syndrome.
While they have little to do with the transgender movement, Talarico’s aim seemed to be simply to muddy the waters on gender identity and to attempt to derail a frequent point made by conservative skeptics.
“The point is that biologically speaking, scientifically speaking, sex is a spectrum, and oftentimes can be very ambiguous,” he said.
If it wasn’t recorded, you wouldn’t believe us.
Texas representative @jamestalarico yesterday, “Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than 2 biological sexes, in fact, there are 6.” @BethStelzer was quick to set the record straight. pic.twitter.com/IMwVSqaPaA— Save Women’s Sports (@SaveWomensSport) April 22, 2021
Beth Stelzer, president of Save Women’s Sports, rebuffed Talarico’s claims during her testimony before the committee.
“The other quote ‘sexes’ mentioned are disorders of sexual development that are variants of XX or XY chromosome,” she said. “They are still disorders of male or female.”
Talarico admitted he is “not well versed in this issue area,” joking, “I’m not a scientist, I’m a politician, which is a lot worse than a scientist.”
