By Thomas McKinless

A House Judiciary Committee hearing on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act became a back-and-forth about gender identity politics on Thursday. Testimony from Julia Beck, former co-chair for the Baltimore City LGBTQ Commission, criticized protections for transgender women, saying that men can take advantage of these protections to harm women. GOP Rep. Debbie Lesko and other Republicans on the panel echoed Beck’s concerns, while Democratic Rep. David Cicilline called the discussion ”offensive.”