Paula Scanlan - Special Projects Ambassador, The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Six, twenty two, our time here on Houston's morning News. So,
boys competing in girls' sports is still happening, and we
know it's happened right here in Texas. We've done several
stories on this up in the Dallas area, where school
systems were advising parents who had boys who wanted to
compete as girls that as long as they had the
right sex on the birth certificate, you know, get the

(00:21):
birth certificate change before you move here, and you'll be
good to go. So they're finding ways to circumvent the law.
Paula Scanlon joins US Special Project's Ambassador for the Riley
Gains Center at the Leadership Institute. One thing we found
out about the progressive left, Paul, is that they are
more than willing to bend and break the law in
order to follow their agenda.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I mean absolutely, we've seen this in things even beyond
this issue. But I will say though, you guys in Texas,
I'm from the northeast. You guys are lucky though that
you do have a governor that cares for you. I
mean Riley and I actually, back in twenty twenty three,
sat with Governor Abbott when he signed an act banning
men from women's sports in your state. I mean, you
also have Ken time Ago who fights for you, guys,

(01:03):
and so just know that that is something that you have.
And while there are instances that are going on in
Texas where this is still happening, you have leadership that
is willing to fight for you. And that is exactly
what I want to see all fifty states have. And
we're seeing this explodere across the country that it doesn't
matter what state these leftists are in, whether it's California
or right down in Texas, they're still trying this and

(01:25):
they are still saying we don't care about the rules.
And what's even worse about it is majority of Democrats
don't even agree, so I don't even know who they're
fighting for. But again, this is not unique to you, guys.
We're seeing this happen across the country.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, and you mentioned the attorney general. He's launching an investigation.
He has launched an investigation, he's seeking depositions on this now.
So there's going to be some people who are going
to have to answer to what it is that they've done.
But again, it shows that even states that have passed
these laws, laws are generally only as good as your
willingness and ability to enforce them.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Absolutely, but I do think that you have people that
are willing to enforce down in Texas. But it takes
everyone listening actually to be able to help this truly.
I mean, it takes the grassroots people. It takes the
kids and the moms at the high school that see
this happening to report these stories. And so if anyone
who's listening, this is really where you come into play.
We cannot finish off this issue if you're not willing

(02:21):
to talk about it and you're not willing to report
what's happening at your high school, at your middle school,
at your college. It really takes those people reporting these
stories for us to really finish this off. And us
at the Riley Gain Center, we're here to support you
in doing this. And so while this is incredibly discouraging,
I want everyone to know that we all have to
do this together. And I really think that that's my
main message again, to continue to fight for this. It

(02:44):
takes all of us.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
What would you like to see if states do There
are twenty six states at this point that if I
passed these laws and they have to do a better
job of enforcing these laws. But it seems to me
that one of the reasons why these school systems are
willing to break the law because they don't really have
any fear of punishment. They're not worried about losing state funding,
they're not worried about losing federal funding. Do we need

(03:07):
to tie some really strict penalties to these laws to
make sure they are enforced.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, I mean we've seen Trump obviously what he said
with the governor of Maine. I absolutely think that if
you are allowing men to compete on your girls' sports
teams at a high school, middle school, whatever school, you
name it, you should lose federal funding, you should lose
accreditation for people to be able to attend your school.
You should be penalized very very, very high. And I
think that that is something maybe that hasn't been written

(03:36):
into these rules, So maybe that's something we can add.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
But again, in.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Conservative states, with conservative leadership President Trump himself, there is
a desire to see this issue through, to get men
out of women's sports completely, and I think that that
maybe is a great update that we should definitely bring
to people. But in the meantime, again, it really is
up to the individuals that are going through this talk
about it, because if you don't mention what's happening, if

(03:59):
you don't bring up these stories, if you don't fight
for it, if you don't try to boycott these events,
no one will know that this is happening to you.
So that's really the best place to start.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Your parent be the squeaky will Paula Thank you. Paula Scanlon,
Special Projects Ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center at the
Leadership Institute