'Buy a spine': NCAA President Charlie Baker hammered by Republican senators over male athletes competing against women

Republican senators repeatedly questioned the NCAA president over not having a policy to prevent males from competing against females in college sports.

NCAA President Charlie Baker defended himself from an onslaught of inquiries from senators like Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who presented the NCAA's own guidelines to the president.

"Your guidelines say, biological men can go in and use the women's locker room if they want to. What the women want has nothing to do with it, they're not mentioned in here, at all."

"I believe our guidelines give people optionality with how they choose to use their facilities," Baker responded.

Flabbergasted, Hawley read from the policy, revealing that "transgender student athletes will be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet in accordance with their gender identity."

"That means men will be able to use the women's locker room," he added.

'Go to Amazon and buy a spine'

During the hearing, Baker also appeared to suggest women could use other locker rooms if they felt uncomfortable, saying, "Everyone else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so."

The NCAA executive continuously cited federal law and recent rulings as to why the NCAA hadn't created a rule to prevent men from competing against women, a claim both Sen. Hawley and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) both refuted.

Hawley explained that there is no federal law preventing the governing body from creating their own rule, while Kennedy accused the NCAA of doing nothing but cashing their checks and sucking on their teeth.

"Why don't you take a position on transgender/biological males competing against females? You just told me it wasn't fair," Kennedy carried on.

In response, Baker referred to a "federal standard" as the reason why no NCAA policy had been made but said he was willing to "work with" the government on it.

"Why don't you do it on your own?" Kennedy asked, clearly confused.

Baker again cited "federal law," but Kennedy said the NCAA should stand up and say the law is wrong and then develop a different set of rules.

"Why don’t you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?" Kennedy concluded.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the issue of transgender athletes in the NCAA was not worthy of 'focus.'David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

'Let's focus on ways to actually improve women's sports.'

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) continued the push for rules to separate sports by gender, telling NCAA officials that they have to "make certain" they are protecting women's sports.

Blackburn said her office hears about the issue every single week, specifically noting that women are facing constant harassment for speaking out against the issue.

At least one Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), appeared to side with the NCAA. However, Durbin seemingly suggested the issue wasn't important at all.

Durbin posted a clip from his own time questioning the NCAA president, in which he asked, "How many NCAA athletes are there?"

"510,000," Baker replied, before revealing there are "less than 10" transgender athletes at the college level.

In response to the clip, Durbin said the NCAA should put its focus elsewhere.

"510,000 NCAA athletes. Ten or fewer transgender NCAA athletes nationwide. Let's focus on ways to actually improve women's sports," the senator wrote.

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