Lt. Gen. Richard Clark's support for 'demigender' questioned in Congressional hearing

Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool

In a recent congressional hearing, Lieutenant General Richard Clark, the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy, voiced his unwavering support for initiatives that advocate for various gender identities, including "demigender." Yet he conceded that he does not entirely comprehend the term.

In a line of inquiry from Congressman Matt Gaetz, it emerged that Clark was unable to provide definitions for the gender identity terms featured in ongoing training programs.

Gaetz highlighted the Brooke Owens Fellowship, a program supported by the Air Force and designed for women. He observed, "you’re literally pushing a program in the academies that says, if you’re a cisgender woman, a transgender woman, a non-binary, a-gender, bi-gender, two-spirit, demigender — what’s demigender?”

BREAKING: U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent Can't Define Gender Ideology Terms That They Promote on Campuses!

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/v2OAGq0LFl

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) July 19, 2023

Clark responded, “Sir, that’s a — that’s a term of the people that are eligible for that particular scholarship that it’s available in person to — it’s a person who looks at their gender in a, in a different, a different way than I do, sir.”

When Gaetz repeated the question “what’s demigender?” Clark responded “I’m not really sure, sir.”

Demigender is described someone who may feel that they have a partial, but not a full, connection to a particular gender identity.

Clark further conceded his unfamiliarity with the term 'agender'. This term is generally understood to denote an absence of gender, aligning with the perspective that gender is predominantly a social construct.