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President Donald Trump has invited a women’s volleyball player who was injured by a transgender athlete as a special guest to his speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday.
The announcement of Payton McNabb, 19, was first shared in an exclusive report by The Daily Caller early Tuesday.
“I’m so incredibly thankful for the chance to be a part of such a historic event, and to have my story contribute to a larger conversation, and really just highlight how big this issue really is,” McNabb told the Caller about the invitation.
“All the emotions kind of set in right when it was happening. And I remember, I just started crying because I just couldn’t believe it. I was just so thankful that we finally had an administration that was willing to do that and to stand up for women, because it feels like we’ve been talking about this for years now, and no one was listening,” McNabb added.
McNabb has testified that at 17 years old while playing for her high school girls’ volleyball team, she competed against a team that included a biological male. During the match, she was struck in the head by a spike from the opposing player, rendering her unconscious for 30 seconds.
She has stated that the incident resulted in severe injuries, including a brain bleed, traumatic brain injury, partial paralysis and loss of peripheral vision in her right eye. The president is expected to recognize McNabb during his speech on Tuesday while promoting his recent executive order prohibiting biological men from participating in women’s sports.
The Trump executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” was signed on Feb. 5.
“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” it stated.
“It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,” the order added.