Smithsonian director stumbles before Congress when questioned about basic concepts of sex and gender

The leadership of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History faced tough questioning in the U.S. Congress.

During a House of Representatives hearing examining political activism in public cultural spaces, the institution's director, Anthea Hartig, appeared hesitant and evaded basic conceptual questions about sex and gender posed by South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace.

The exchange became heated when the lawmaker directly questioned the official about the content presented to children.

"You have men dressed as women and you have them on display in front of children. Do you believe that men can become women? Yes or no?" Mace asked, showing images of museum exhibits featuring drag queens.

When Hartig refused to answer directly, deeming the question irrelevant, the congresswoman retorted, "What is a woman, Dr. Hartig?" The director simply noted that the institution seeks to "represent, not categorize, all Americans."

The confrontation continued when the South Carolina representative questioned the museum's explanatory panels, which inform visitors that there are more than two genders and that gender is not always determined at birth.

"Enlighten me this morning: How many genders are there?" Mace pressed.

After hesitating for a moment, the museum director replied: "I'm not sure which glossary you're referring to," later adding that she would be willing to review the material to respond in writing.

When the congresswoman pressed her on when her own gender had been revealed to her, Hartig smiled and replied that she did not consider the matter relevant to the conversation before she was cut off.

White House report denounces "institutional capture"

The tense congressional hearing comes just weeks after the White House released a comprehensive 162-page report prepared by the Domestic Policy Council.

The document, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," concludes that the National Museum of American History has been the subject of an "institutional capture" by a radical activist ideology that uses the institution as a partisan political tool rather than a shared heritage.

During her opening remarks, Hartig defended the Smithsonian Institution's work in light of the executive report's findings. The director maintained that the institution "does not take sides in U.S. political debates," arguing that its mission is limited to preserving evidence of American life in all its breadth so that the public can draw its own conclusions.